Thus spake the beardy weirdy on his Piedersen(spl?)-esque upright as I politely berated him just after Southwark Bridge for having jumped every single red light between Waterloo and the City on CS7. He’d pushed through every large group of cyclists, all the rest of whom were waiting patiently and correctly behind the ASL.

He then proceeded to say that my rear light (Moon Shield 60, helmet mounted and flashing) was “distracting, which is illegal. Distracting drivers is illegal”.

Was he a totally wrong asshat as well as just being an asshat?

it was TJ and he was doing it because its safer definantly TJ

MAX power 2.5W and beam has to be visible at 90degrees to direction of travel… I was told as a small boy

I suspect not, although have no idea for sure. I would have pointed out to him that you were not going to take any notice of his opinion on legality of anything since he clearly doesn’t know the law regarding traffic lights, which after all is quite simple.

It used to be the case that flashing lights weren’t legal- light law was stuck in the past for years, LEDs weren’t legal either. But that’s pretty ancient history.

I once got stopped by the police on the motorbike because my hi-viz vest was flapping around and that could distract other road users. One of those stops where one officer is leading the charge and the other one looks mortally embarassed 😆

A flashing, red rear light is legal on a bike. Running red lights ain’t.
You win!

How did he know you were distracting drivers? Were there crashes in your wake? If so, I suppose he must be right!

Your reply to him should’ve been “your level of stupidity is illegal, I’m going to perform a citizens arrest”

He had to say something because he’d just been pulled up on his behaviour, and of, course he couldn’t be wrong about anything. Unless it’s like looking into the heart of the sun, take no notice.

On the flash setting those are pretty intense, especially if mounted up high right in following drivers field of vision. No idea if they’re illegal though, wouldn’t have thought so.

pointed out to him that you were not going to take any notice of his opinion on legality of anything since he clearly doesn’t know the law regarding traffic lights, which after all is quite simple.

I did. My fellow commuters raised many a wry smile or surreptitious giggle in support. 🙂

I believe the lights are meant to be affixed to your bike, so technically he was right.

relevant bit of the highway code
Flashing lights are permitted by you are also meant to have pedal, front and rear reflectors and lights that conform to a BS standard.
The also a thread recently about allowed power of lights.

I believe the lights are meant to be affixed to your bike, so technically he was right.

I have a light affixed to my bike, on a constant beam.

At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights lit. It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85). White front reflectors and spoke reflectors will also help you to be seen. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.

I have front and rear reflectors, as well as pedal reflectors. Also have both fixed and flashing lights fixed to both ends of the bike. (Then a helmet, reflective on clothing, ankle bands and a flashing helmet light. Reflective sidewalls, as opposed to wheel reflectors, though.). For the unlit part of my commute, I use the front light on constant, not flashing.

Therefore, I feel that I fully comply with the applicable law. He didn’t.

Im pretty sure someone mentioned on here that the law on flashing lights was changed in 2006?

although to be fair some rear lights can be very dazzling these days!

but of course you did have a light fixed to your bike also ……

The correct, mature response here is:

‘Your MUM is very distracting’

On the flash setting those are pretty intense, especially if mounted up high right in following drivers field of vision. No idea if they’re illegal though, wouldn’t have thought so.

+1! Those moon shields ARE very annoying on flash (at night at least). Utterly dazzling if you’re behind one.

Whilst flashing red lights aren’t illegal, that doesn’t mean you can just run the brightest one you can find pointing in peoples eyes.

He’s obviously just annoyed at you having a go at him though, but well done for doing so. I can never be @rsed these days, although i did tell someone their forks were on backwards.

‘Your MUM is very distracting’

the beardy weirdy was his mum

city boys getting their knickers in a twist

Oh and fwiw, bright lights attached to helmets are a pet hate of mine. Just the right height to dazzle all the other cyclists.

as I politely berated him

exact wording, please

anyway, wouldn’t the correct and mature response be

“learn how to shave”

the beardy weirdy was his mum

Impressive stuff! An obvious result to being told to go and **** yourself on a regular basis.

Use protection, kids…

exact wording, please

“All those red lights mean “stop”, by the way.”

Flashing lights are legal, but, they mustn’t have a none flashing mode…. So your lights are illegal….

Yes the law is crap!

Mind you it was written by ‘n’ever-ready so what do you expect!

have a read

http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations

As for the distraction thing, I suspect he is partially right, dazzling other road users and creating a hazard in doing so is not sensible.

Highway code 114 about lights does include a must. Law RVLR reg 27, whether the law includes bikes I don’t know but it may.

“so’s your face, bitch!” *jessie pinkman style*

I once saw a guy cycle up the inside of a bus indicating left. He scraped past it, just, and we both stopped at a red light a bit further on. I said something along the lines of “It’s a good idea to filter up the outside of vehicles, especially if they’re indicating left, that’s a bit dangerous…” politely, like.

Blokey boy looked incredulously at me and said “Dangerous? DANGEROUS? Do you want to know what’s really dangerous? Riding without a helmet, like you are, you idiot!”

I nearly wobbled off my bike with laughter, but from that point on did promise myself to never, ever, offer advice or critique or whatever, to anyone on the roads.

Used to run very nice legal lights, then got SMIDSY’ed by a guy pulling out of a queue of stationary traffic to do a 3-point turn without checking his mirrors.

Now I run a 700 Lumen on the front and 2 L&M Viz 180’s on the back, it has made the world of difference to how much space I’m given and no SMIDSYs since (touch wood)

Don’t like it but wanting to see my son grow up trumps some retarded law any day of the week.

yeah, advice to other cyclists generally falls on deaf ears or you get abuse.
yesterday a chap shoved through the queue of cyclists at a red light which was ok I guess as he was quicker than most, further up he pulled out between traffic as I was filtering and I had to swerve a bit – I suggested he look harder in future. at the next lights he tried to engage in some banterish abuse by telling me I was too quick and that I looked like a “massive satsuma” (with reference to my high vis top) which made me chuckle.
even if you get abuse for advising other cyclists, I still think it’s worth giving.

relevant bit of the highway code
Flashing lights are permitted by you are also meant to have pedal, front and rear reflectors and lights that conform to a BS standard.
The also a thread recently about allowed power of lights.

Interesting reading those “Rules” as many are actually recommendations, things which they state you “Should have or do while actual rules are are stated as “Must” where compliance is mandatory…

60

At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights lit. It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85). White front reflectors and spoke reflectors will also help you to be seen. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.

[/Quote]

I read that as you Must have Front/Rear lights, Rear reflector and Pedal reflectors, but all of the rest (Including Steady front/rear lights are Recommendations only.

TBH only using flashers in the dark is a generally bad idea IMO, Intermittently vanishing from drivers view, only to reappear 2m further on with a blinding flash hardly helps ensure your own safety, but it is still in compliance with the rules so crack on chaps…

Oh and fwiw, bright lights attached to helmets are a pet hate of mine. Just the right height to dazzle all the other cyclists.

Red rear flashers on helmets make perfect sense to me, an up high attention grabber for drivers approaching you from behind, but the number of goons I see with a bright white forward facing helmet light, either on steady death ray or 1000lm flash setting is getting silly…

Forward Helmet lights are for riding through the woods at night, use one on the road and the driver of every car you glance at gets blinded, half these **** are trundling along the pavement anyway, so they’ve blinded the drivers on the road with me and contributed bugger all to their own safety… Cheers.

[/Rant]

How does the law (especially regarding reflectors) apply to custom builds?

How does the law (especially regarding reflectors) apply to custom builds?

The law is still the law, there’s no exemption just because you bolted together some parts to make a bicycle…

Now I run a 700 Lumen on the front and 2 L M Viz 180’s on the back, it has made the world of difference to how much space I’m given and no SMIDSYs since

Same here. I also notice oncoming drivers are much more likely to dip their headlights (probably as they assume you’re a motorbike from a distance).

He’s a partially correct asshat IMO

No idea if your light being distracting is illegal but I am in no doubt personally that it probably is distracting and may possibly affect drivers’ vision (if it was dark at the time)

same as it would if i build a car to use on the roads……

only difference is there is no SVA to go through before it can go on the roads – the state of some of the home spannering ive seen the world might be better if there was though.

stevious – Member
The correct, mature response here is:
‘Your MUM is very distracting’

It’s not the 1980s don’t you know.
The modern default playground based response would be,
‘Your Gay’.

I live in a village where the few routes in and out are all unlit country lanes.
And there are always plenty of cyclist about especially at weekends and occasionally when in the car at night there will be one riding towards you with two banks of multiple led lights set to retina scorch.

So I return the favour and stick my lights on high beam the same as if they were an inconsiderate motorist.

I’d have thought a ‘distracting’ light would be a good thing. Better than a SMIDSY anyway 😛

Yep, my Hope V4 is bright enough on the back unlit roads to make most 4×4 drivers slow down to a crawl if needed.

How does the law (especially regarding reflectors) apply to custom builds?
The law is still the law, there’s no exemption just because you bolted together some parts to make a bicycle…

Yeah, but if you build a bike on an old frame, who’s to say whether it requires reflectors (on bikes built after 1986?) if the frame’s older – even if there’s new bits on an old frame it could be a “trigger’s broom” bike – a bike doesn’t become a new build when you change one part, does it?

I feel, however, we can agree on this;
Lights – While the law/rules/suggestions are at times vague, having good lights is better, and ‘more legal’ than not.
Jumping red lights is, simply, illegal.

I shall remain upon my lofty stallion. 🙂