Invisible Cyclists in Solstice Dark

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

In the car, I really do get to notice what can and cannot be seen from a
motorist's point of view. And I am appalled to discover just how hard it
can be to see cyclists and pedestrians, and how few of them seem to be
aware of this.

Much winter clothing is dark or black to begin with. Then many ride
entirely without lights, or just a little reflector. Great aurioles of
light surround the street lights and the headlights of the oncoming
cars, casting everything else around them into a pitch black shadow from
the glare.

With the "great aurioles of light," Elisa makes a point that the
youngsters in the crowd may not be aware of.

About 15 years ago, I visited a museum devoted to medical matters.
They had a display illustrating the effects of aging. Part of that
showed how aged eyes become cloudy. Supposedly, protein changes in the
lens put a cloudy halo around every bright light. I recall thinking
"Hmm. That doesn't happen with me."

And it didn't - back then. But the effect is beginning to be
noticeable now, 15 years later.

Young people don't normally have this problem, and they may make the
mistake of assuming that, since _they_ can see unlit cyclists and peds
at night, everyone else can. Not so!

So you cool young dudes and dudettes - put lights on your bike, and
carry a tiny LED light when you walk (if you ever do actually walk).
Use reflective stuff, too. It doesn't take much, but it takes
_something_ bright to be seen.

Remember, we old fogies are not only unfashionable and confused, we're
half blind!

- Frank Krygowski

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip) Remember, we old fogies are not only
unfashionable and confused, we're half blind!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'll be 88 in a couple of weeks, so I guess I have the right to say this.
Older people take longer to form a meaningful picture from what enters their
senses, and longer to react. We try to compensate for these losses, but
many of us don't realize, or hate to admit they occur. The changes are so
gradual we're not always aware of them.

BTW, Elisa, your writing is delightful: "The windscreen empties like a
movie screen with the projector turned off."

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In the car, I really do get to notice what can and cannot be seen from a
motorist's point of view. And I am appalled to discover just how hard it
can be to see cyclists and pedestrians, and how few of them seem to be
aware of this.

Elisa, I've done this too -- while driving in the dark and passing a
pedestrian or a cyclist, made a note of what it is that I see first. Usually
it's some sort of reflective clothing. Even a tiny reflective patch on a
pair of cycling shoes or reflective piping on a jacket will catch my eye
before the rear blinkie is noticeable. It certainly spurred me to put
reflective tape on my headtube (white) and rear fender (red), and on my
helmet (hi-vis yellow), and wear a fred-like orange vest with a huge
reflective strip, front and back.

I also make a point of complementing peds who are highly visible while I'm
on my bike. Having your dog simply wear a reflective collar makes a huge
difference as you walk with it along the roadway shoulder. I'm not whipping
along so fast that I can't call out, "thank you for being so easy to see!"
as I approach and pass. What I find the worst are the stealth peds -- black
pants, black jacket, dark hair, nothing reflective or illuminated. I don't
think they realize how difficult they are to see.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but for those of you who do cycle
in the dark, please make sure you are as visible as you can make
yourselves. Perhaps do a visibility test with your gear - ask family or a
neighbor for feedback on whether you can be seen and at what distance,
especially if you are sharing the road with cars and headlights.

The 'choir' are still awaiting a wafflycat jpeg ... 🙁

Quoted message said:

Safe riding to all,

You too. Although mine is a little mothballed at the moment. New Years
resolutions .. stop being such a lazy ****, learn to pull a reasonable
wheelie and learn to rollerblade better and backwards.

"Leo Lichtman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip) Remember, we old fogies are not only
unfashionable and confused, we're half blind!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'll be 88 in a couple of weeks, (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess age has also affected my ability to add, or remember. <ake that,
"I'll be 78 in a couple of weeks..."

Leo Lichtman said:

"Leo Lichtman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip) Remember, we old fogies are not only
unfashionable and confused, we're half blind!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'll be 88 in a couple of weeks, (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess age has also affected my ability to add, or remember. <ake that,
"I'll be 78 in a couple of weeks..."

Time does speed up as we age. I know I made it from 50 to 60 a lot
faster than I did 10 to 20
;-)

Leo Lichtman said:

"Leo Lichtman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip) Remember, we old fogies are not
only unfashionable and confused, we're half blind!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'll be 88 in a couple of weeks, (clip)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess age has also affected my ability to add, or remember. <ake
that, "I'll be 78 in a couple of weeks..."

I was gonna say, Leo... 88?!? 78 is impressive enough!

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:43abba84$0$20854

Quoted message said:

Much winter clothing is dark or black to begin with.

In defence of dark clothing - bright colours don't really work in the dark.
One of my colleagues looked at my dark silver jacket and asked why I didn't
have a yellow one on until I explained that the silver was made of
reflective material and therefore far more visible than any bright colours.

--
Simon Mason

Simon Mason said:

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:43abba84$0$20854

Quoted message said:

Much winter clothing is dark or black to begin with.

In defence of dark clothing - bright colours don't really work in the dark.
One of my colleagues looked at my dark silver jacket and asked why I didn't
have a yellow one on until I explained that the silver was made of
reflective material and therefore far more visible than any bright colours.

--
Simon Mason

Nonsense. Light/bright colours are much more visible than dark colours
when picked up by headlights or any other lights for that matter. Thats
what "light" or "bright" mean more or less i.e. more visible. DARK
CLOTHING IS WHAT YOU'D WEAR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN. Or are you
arguing that black is white?

happy christmas
Jacob

Quoted message said:

Nonsense. Light/bright colours are much more visible than dark colours
when picked up by headlights or any other lights for that matter. Thats
what "light" or "bright" mean more or less i.e. more visible. DARK
CLOTHING IS WHAT YOU'D WEAR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN. Or are you
arguing that black is white?

With Scotchlite Black Diamond material, black can be white at night ;-)
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?W=0&Manufacturer=&UberCatName=&Cat=cycle&CategoryName=Reflectives&ProdID=5360011877&UberCat=0

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In these dark winter months, I am car-pooling with a colleague to get to
work. Although I am impervious to cold, I am not happy about cycling
because of the poor visibility. My road to work is poorly lit, my eyesight
is bad, my balance perturbed by the dancing beam of my front light and my
glasses fog up every time I stop.

In the car, I really do get to notice what can and cannot be seen from a
motorist's point of view. And I am appalled to discover just how hard it
can be to see cyclists and pedestrians, and how few of them seem to be
aware of this.

Much winter clothing is dark or black to begin with. Then many ride
entirely without lights, or just a little reflector. Great aurioles of
light surround the street lights and the headlights of the oncoming cars,
casting everything else around them into a pitch black shadow from the
glare. A few days ago, I was standing on a pavement waiting for a bus,
looking directly into the traffic. Two cyclists swooped right in front of
me - they were less than 30 feet from me before I even noticed them.

I see riders in stealth clothing quite often - it's little wonder that they
get hit, sad though that is. At night I ride in a bright yellow Altura
Nevis - it's very visible. Also I don't use one of those tiny LED lights on
the back but a large area one that has several LEDs in it and a large
expanse of reflector/refractor lens. I ride in the countryside so I am quite
easy to see because of the lack of distracting light sources, if I was in a
town I would be very nervous of riding busy roads in the dark.

John

Eatmorepies said:

I see riders in stealth clothing quite often - it's little wonder that they
get hit, sad though that is. At night I ride in a bright yellow Altura
Nevis - it's very visible. Also I don't use one of those tiny LED lights on
the back but a large area one that has several LEDs in it and a large
expanse of reflector/refractor lens. I ride in the countryside so I am quite
easy to see because of the lack of distracting light sources, if I was in a
town I would be very nervous of riding busy roads in the dark.

That's more lack of confidence than real risk. I ride frequently in
London in the dark and have very little that gives me concerns.

I've been looking at bike lights for conspicuousness following recent
threads here. For the front, conventional halogen or similar lights
blend into the background of car lights but the bluish tinged white LEDs
do stand out. The most effective I've seen is two out of phase flashing
white LEDs on the front which were unmissable even with a lot of car
headlights around. For the rear a really bright red slowish flashing
LED seems to be the best but they still blend in rather too well with
the surrounding red car lights.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

In these dark winter months, I am car-pooling with a colleague to get to
work. Although I am impervious to cold, I am not happy about cycling
because of the poor visibility. My road to work is poorly lit, my
eyesight is bad, my balance perturbed by the dancing beam of my front
light and my glasses fog up every time I stop.

In the car, I really do get to notice what can and cannot be seen from a
motorist's point of view. And I am appalled to discover just how hard it
can be to see cyclists and pedestrians, and how few of them seem to be
aware of this.

Much winter clothing is dark or black to begin with. Then many ride
entirely without lights, or just a little reflector. Great aurioles of
light surround the street lights and the headlights of the oncoming
cars, casting everything else around them into a pitch black shadow from
the glare. A few days ago, I was standing on a pavement waiting for a
bus, looking directly into the traffic. Two cyclists swooped right in
front of me - they were less than 30 feet from me before I even noticed
them.

On mornings and even in the broad daylight of the lunch hour, there is
frequently a freezing smog that not only soups up the air but makes the
ground slippery. This smog can come on quite suddenly - all is clear,
then the car descends into a barely perceptible valley and the
windscreen empties like a movie screen with the projector turned off.

For night riding it has been my personal practise to wear a reflector
vest and blinkie lights on armbands. I have a LED headlight and a small
red backlight. But my lesson from this is that perhaps even I need to up
the ante. I shall get myself a yellow reflector parka from Glow Dog, and
wear that even as a pedestrian. And I need more blinkies, especially in
the back.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but for those of you who do
cycle in the dark, please make sure you are as visible as you can make
yourselves. Perhaps do a visibility test with your gear - ask family or
a neighbor for feedback on whether you can be seen and at what distance,
especially if you are sharing the road with cars and headlights.

Safe riding to all,

EFR
Ile de France

Great article.

Please remember, even if you don't need lights to enable you to see,
lights make you visible to other people. Motor vehicles generally move
much faster than bicycles. If you and a motor vehicle driver can both
see the same distance under current lighting, the mvd will typically
have far less time to react to your presence and avoid turning you into
a hood ornament. Do yourself a favour and be obvious.

On behalf of commercial drivers (and cyclists) everywhere, Merry Christmas.

"Eatmorepies" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I ride in the countryside so I am quite easy to see because of the lack
of distracting light sources, if I was in a town I would be very nervous
of riding busy roads in the dark.

Funny, I have the opposite attitude -- I feel fine riding in town, where
there's lots of amibient lighting, then when it's just little ol' me
peddling along the dark, dark road in the middle of nowhere. I think we're
all just more naturally confident in the environment where we have the
greatest experience.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Claire Petersky said:

What I find the worst are the stealth peds -- black
pants, black jacket, dark hair, nothing reflective or illuminated. I don't
think they realize how difficult they are to see.

They certainly don't.

I did a little reading on the research regarding ped (and cyclists)
visibility. One paper talked about an experiment on a closed course,
where motorists were to drive slowly toward a pedestrian standing in
the road directly in front. The motorists were to stop when they saw
the ped. With dark clothing and no reflectors or lights, the first
pedestrian subject actually had to jump out of the way to prevent being
run over! And the driver _knew_ he was there... somewhere!

And again, it's a shame, because the papers showed that it takes only
minimal measures to be easily seen. Small reflective patches on wrists
or shoes, or very small lights, made peds easily noticeable and
recognizeable a great distance away ( hundreds of yard, IIRC).

What worked best, BTW, was reflectors that showed "human walking"
motion, the characteristic swing of arms and legs. We're hard-wired to
notice that motion. This helps pedal reflectors work, I believe.

I rarely walk at night without a tiny flashlight.

- Frank Krygowski

Quoted message said:

Nonsense. Light/bright colours are much more visible than dark colours
when picked up by headlights or any other lights for that matter.

That's true, but not true enough.

I was driving at night on an unlit street last week. A half-mile ahead
of me was a shopping center with bright lights. I nearly hit a cyclist
-- I only saw him at the last minute when I saw his silhouette in the
supermarket lights. I swerved to avoid him and that's when I noticed
the faint outline of his flourescent yellow jacket in my headlights.
After I passed I saw that he had a very bright front light.

Bright colored clothing is not generally adequate for night visibility.
You might as well be wearing black. I don't ride at night without
lighting front, back and sides. I generally have reflective material on
me, bike, or bags also.

RFM
http://www.cyclelicio.us/

"Eatmorepies" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I ride in the countryside so I am quite easy to see because of the lack
of distracting light sources, if I was in a town I would be very nervous
of riding busy roads in the dark.

My experience on country lanes is that the greatest danger is being blinded
by oncoming traffic and losing the edge of the road. It is then easy to
veer either into the middle of the road or into the ditch.

Neither are good. On country lanes a light that says to the driver 'dip you
[censored]' is required.

In town a combination of something flashing and something reflecting seems
to work well.

T

in message <[email hidden]>, Claire

Petersky (') said:

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In the car, I really do get to notice what can and cannot be seen from
a motorist's point of view. And I am appalled to discover just how
hard it can be to see cyclists and pedestrians, and how few of them
seem to be aware of this.

Elisa, I've done this too -- while driving in the dark and passing a
pedestrian or a cyclist, made a note of what it is that I see first.
Usually it's some sort of reflective clothing.

Driving home recently, coming out of the streetlit area into the dark
with dipped headlights, slight river mist, I saw a /something/ ahead of
me which I didn't immediately interpret. There was a red light, not very
bright, and nothing else clear at all. Fortunately I assumed it to be
the nearside rear light of a car with a defective offside rear light,
and steered to pass it wide. I didn't see the pedal reflectors until I
was really quite close, and it was only when I'd seen them that I could
interpret from the blur an elderly man in dark clothing on a bike.

It was startling to me how close I was before I could interpret what I
was looking at, and had I not already been well out on the carriageway I
would have to have braked quite sharply. To be fair his light wasn't
very bright at all, and I think his pedal reflectors must have been
dirty, but it was still a surprise - I think myself very careful of
cyclists. Bright, blinking rear lights and retro-reflective trim on
clothing are definitely worth it.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'll have a proper rant later, when I get the time.

Tony W said:

My experience on country lanes is that the greatest danger is being blinded
by oncoming traffic and losing the edge of the road. It is then easy to
veer either into the middle of the road or into the ditch.

I figure that I can step sideways rapidly enough, so I head for the
dazzling lights whilst obviously shielding my eyes. That way I don't
fall in the ditch I now cannot see.

Works a treat up here.

On one occasion I stopped in teh middle of the road becasue I could not
see due to the twunt dazzling me. As it was a single track road and he
wasn't going very fast he had almost come to a halt before realising
why I wasn't moving. He dipped and then apologised. It is quite
civilised up here.

...d