Sorry, because this topic has prob already been covered many times and because I always show cyclists on the road the greatest respect by giving them a wide birth when overtaking and often wait before overtaking in order to do that, don't want to push them into crappy edges of our roads.
But, picked up a car in Norwich late yesterday afternoon - in the dark.
Coming out of Norwich towards A 47 I encountered 10 cyclists. Of those, 8 had no lights showing, and all 8 also had v. dark clothing. One of them emerged out of a side road on my left, went across in front of me to the pavement opposite - no lights, black trousers, jacket and hoodie - virtually invisible! Good job I was only doing about 15 mph at the time ( Oh, and thanks for the one finger salute! What had I done wrong??)
The remaining two had good lights, reflective jackets, reflective bits on trousers, flashing things on wheels etc. so easy to see, easy to slow down behind, easy to wait to overtake and give plenty of room to.
Why? When good lights are so cheap and a reflective jacket thing costs only a couple of quid?
Oh, and those drivers with nice DRLs on the front, please switch on your lights so you have REAR lights showing on these dark, foggy, lots of spray mornings and evenings!!
Rant over, sorry, not a good day today!! (5 hours to get from Burgess Hill to M40 in an R8 this evening!! Not sure I was using car to its full potential!!)
P
|
|
Re the R8 - try 2nd gear?
|
BB,
Never got the chance! - M25 in carpark mode tonight, both directions! Usual Friday evening!!
Did find a nice clear stretch of dual- carriageway when nearly home for about a mile - enough to use about 10% of R8s capacity!! And took some back roads between M 40 and E Mids - not fast but enjoyable handling and response. Lovely car. Pity I'll never own one!
P
|
Ooooooh an R8. Name dropper. Can you fit a tow bar to one?
Now if my Premium Bonds came up that is one car I would seriously consider. A humble V8 would more than suffice.
|
Yep, name dropper, that's me!! - R8 (V10 - none of that paltry V8 ;-) ) bit of a rarity car for me - only had about 4 or 5!! Not sure about towbar but Mrs W always says, if I express a wish to own such a car (fat chance!) "Could we get a fridge in the back??" Couldn't even get her shoe bag in let alone her suitcase.
Talking about name dropping, did I tell you about the Doblo van, 400k on the clock, dents, dings and scatches on every panel but went like a song and did 60+mpg! R8 doing about 20mpg.
Doblo more my kind of car!! (And not every youthful Corsa driver challenging you for a race!!)
P
Last edited by: PhilW on Fri 20 Nov 15 at 23:54
|
|
Had to drive the lorry through Haverfordwest today. There are currently road works in the town which have necessitated a temporary one way system being put into place on the Cardigan road. It is heavily signposted at the affected junction, but I was, for some reason, not the least bit surprised to encounter a cyclist pedalling casually uphill against the flow of traffic.
|
Had to drive the lorry through Haverfordwest today
Horrible place to ride through (on a m/cycle)....I was shocked how the streets were so driver unfriendly...Had a near miss up (or down the road in Newport (not the big horrible one) on the same journey. Some Muppet riding a mobility scoot the wrong way up the road turned left right in front if me to go down a hill to my right. Stopping a fully loaded RT on that dodgy road surface was a real credit to German engineering. Slight feathering from the ABS, no dive and it stopped in its own length...on a lesser bike he and I would have crapped ourselves. I'm convinced he never saw me. Totally invisible that a fully illuminated RT is ....
Last edited by: R.P. on Sat 21 Nov 15 at 02:16
|
Strange experience coming home yesterday in the dark: as I rounded the final blind right-hander into the straight part of my road (on the inside of which one of the resident oldies regularly parks an unlit dark blue Jetta, so I'm always looking for what might be coming the other way on my side) I found myself facing four very bright, very white lights, two of them very high above the road - and apparently nothing else. Thinking it must be a large piece of agricultural machinery, I stopped and began mentally preparing to reverse out of its way.
It was, of course, two cyclists, each with an LED lamp on the handlebar and another on the helmet. The rest of their kit must have been black or nearly so, because nothing reflected my lights. One fell in behind the other and we passed safely enough, but it occurred to me that these two probably thought they were doing the right thing by showing two bright lights to the front - and I suppose they were. But without any reflective material to give them shape and substance, they're presenting a confusing spectacle even to a relatively alert and attentive driver like me; perhaps a Qashqai mummy (more likely an XC90 mummy here) wouldn't have been looking in the first place and wouldn't have seen enough to be confused.
|
It's no news that Cambridge has more than its fair share of black clothed unlit invisible pavement riding one way street wrong way zooming red light jumping high speed mad cyclists who get very mouthy if offered advice by anybody, including the police. Indeed a colleague of my Mrs was well clouted by one only two days ago (he didn't stop of course) riding fast on the pavement, and she was in pain for some hours. If that had been me old mum it would have been much more serious.
For balance, there are lots of proper cyclists too, the majority, who abide by everything and enjoy and revel in cycling in such a small flat easily commutable place, and that can only be good for everyone.
However, this winter will be extra interesting as there's going to be a new element in the mix very soon. They're turning off all the streetlights. Should be fun.
|
>> However, this winter will be extra interesting as there's going to be a new element
>> in the mix very soon. They're turning off all the streetlights. Should be fun.
did you specify a laser targeting device on your leccy car, or does it consume too much power?
|
>> However, this winter will be extra interesting as there's going to be a new element
>> in the mix very soon. They're turning off all the streetlights. Should be fun.
>>
Starting to turn the lights back on here now. They are all being upgraded to LED lights which allows them to be dimmed - apparently the savings being made will allow them to go back to being on all night
|
>>
>> Starting to turn the lights back on here now. They are all being upgraded to
>> LED lights which allows them to be dimmed - apparently the savings being made will
>> allow them to go back to being on all night
>>
Bless you. We just spent untold millions putting the LED ones in. That was a disaster story in itself (pavements fenced off, holes, blocked with earth, left for literally months all over the county and the Council say the contract doesn't allow them to force the contractor to do anything about it).
Now the new lights are all in, and yes, they are now dimmable. So they are going to dim a few key lights and shut off all the others anyway, LED or not.
Bit of a waste of time that. In our village, there must be about a hundred lights altogether. They are dimming something like five, at the main entrances and exits, and shutting off all the remainder, they tell us.
One will have to walk to one's chippy wth a torch.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Sat 21 Nov 15 at 18:14
|
>>
>> Oh, and those drivers with nice DRLs on the front, please switch on your lights
>> so you have REAR lights showing
>>
Get a Volvo. Even the oldest ones have the rear lights on with the front DRLs.
|
Some other makes do too, but I've not worked out the pattern. My TDS doesn't, even though the rear lights are LEDs, so the power consumption and bulb wear would be minimal.
Really like my front DRLs, by the way. I get a little nudge of satisfaction each time I see them reflected back at me - even if it's only off the car in front in another M4 queue. Current F-series 3s have two rather dull square blocks instead of my four LED rings, although there's probably a sound reason for that - smaller lamp units, perhaps.
|
Darwin award Cyclists! - Boxsterboy
