Cyclists must be seen

A couple of days ago a boy on a cycle had an accident with a car at Bryn Cross and ended up in hospital, Last night I went to B&M at Marus Bridge and there were about a dozen lads riding cycles around Sainsburys car park in the dark not one of them had any lights on their cycles and all of them wore dark clothing.On my way home I was waiting at Bryn Cross to turn onto Bryn Road when a cyclist again with no lights on his cycle and dark clothing rode up Wigan Road and did not stop at the red lights .He rode across the junction and luckily went onto the footpath just has traffic started turning off Bryn RoadCyclist versus motor vehicle there is only one winner get some lights or wear light clothing or both

How many of you driving in the hours of darkness have not seen a cyclist not wearing a visibility vest, no helmet, no lights on cycle and been very lucky not to have hit one.

More brains in a rocking horse than many cyclists of today

many don't want to be seen, thats why they wear masks, they are up to no good, Those boys on Suron bikes ( electric motor bikes) are totally illegal and the police can seize them,

Are surron bikes illegal. Don't they have to comply with the law?

It's not just not wearing visibility clothing and having lights, many cyclists don't repect the laws of the road. On their phones, riding down one way streets the wrong way, riding through red lights, weaving on and off road and pavement, etc.
However, there are many responsible cyclists who I guess are furious with the 'anything goes' idiots.

JR its much the same with motorists, Driving through red lights, driving whilst phoning, parking on the pavement, not many obey the 1.5 metre rule when passing us and if a cyclist and motorist collide , Who come off worse? We have to be more vigilant, think further ahead and we generally have better road sense,
We're not cycling because, we can't afford a car or, that we like the risks, Its about, keeping fit and we are environment friendly and we get together and socialise , We are the friends of the planet and should be respected by all road users and saluted as you pass and say.
" god day Sir"

Tomplum, yes I do acknowledge that. There are many erratic car drivers on the road. As for passing cyclists, when I was learning to drive early 70s I was always told to give enough room when overtaking a cyclist to allow for if the rider fell of the bike - so I'd say 2 metres!

It's not just cyclists that need to be seen as well. Pedestrians wander around at night in dark clothing and can be hard to spot. They too can be on their phones, have ear plugs in listening to music, so are totally oblivious to what's going on around them.

As to cyclists. I have the very greatest respect for them whilst driving. Not sure the 1.5M is enough to be honest, so I give them the widest berth that's available, even if it's 6ft, as anything can happen. It's the idiots (kids) on e-bikes and e-scooters that aggravate me as, not only do they not use protective clothing, but ride without any kind of illumination and you just don't see them until they're on top of you. Assuming it's their parents who buy them these vehicles, the least they can do is make sure their child is safe by having lights fitted at the time of purchase.

Another problem at night is the led street lights which are annoying and don't illuminate the road like the traditional lighting did. They also dazzle or cause sort of screaming lines on your specs. Also led lights on cars dazzle too. I'm amazed that nobody thought about safety when a policy was adopted to go to led as a cost cutting exercise.

JR, LED lighting is much cheaper, but not as safe as the old style ones for the reasons you give.

A few years ago I had to have cataracts removed from both eyes and, since then, I've been very light sensitive. When just a bit of sun pops out, on go my sunglasses, and as well when it's snowed.

I don't need to wear glasses to drive during daylight hours but, at night, the LED headlights on cars dazzle me very badly, especially with big cars where the lights are higher than saloons and, last year, I had to have glasses to drive at night so they put a special filter on the lenses which, quite honestly, don't help much. It cost me a lot of money so I'm not having the filters on again.

do you remember that advert from the sixties, the jingle went like this,

Be bight, be light.
wear something white at night,
then there was a gentleman with a newspaper under his arm and the narrator says, " even a newspaper will aid the cars seeing you,

So one day a bloke went to work in a white suit, with a white hat , white wellies holding a newspaper and,

he got knocked down by a snowplough

I hate those LED's at night

A few years ago I was persuaded by the optician to have anti glare lenses for my glasses and wore my glasses all the time. One night on my way home I did not change my glasses (wore safety glasses at work) and did not notice any difference with the glare from car headlights.After that I just stuck with my varifocal glasses and saved a fortune

Since my cataracts were removed, I haven’t needed to wear glasses at all except ones I need to wear when using a computer, but my night vision for driving was just on the edge last year when I had my eyes tested, so I opted to have those glasses made specially. I can read a car number plate at the prescribed distance - in daylight - and at night - but it’s the glare from headlights that I need them because I’m extra light sensitive now. My boss pays for my work glasses, but I had to buy my own for night driving in heavy traffic. I wish there was an alternative, but there isn’t. I need a new eye test anyway so I’ll discuss it with my optician when I go, but I do wish people would realise that drivers just can’t see them when they wear all dark clothes at night which aren’t reflective.

Case in point. Just tonight, coming home from work, I got to the top of the street where I work in order to turn right at the top. I started my turn then, at the very last second, I realised that there was a cyclist almost broadside onto me. I pulled up very sharply to let him go, but he was wearing all dark clothes, no reflection and no lights. I barely missed him. This was on a 20 mph road, but I let him get a distance ahead of me which was just as well, but that road is like navigating the krypton factor with parked cars. Anyway, I was so glad when he turned off the road, with no hand signals, and I could breathe again. Madness.

You are obviously a courteous driver Mollie, this week My cycling buddy and myself were cycling up a country lane and a car behind us was ' holding back' waiting for a safe place to pass us but, another angry driver behind that one blasted his horn in frustration then , put his foot down and shot past the car behind us and us cussin' and shaking his head, These are the people who need to calm down before they kill someone,

I try very hard to be as courteous as I can when driving, Tom, as I don't believe in road rage, even though it does exist. I've lost count of the times drivers have come out of a side street right in front of me when I've had to brake hard to avoid an accident, especially on 30 mph roads.

As I've said before: There's no need for speed. The only vehicles that need to speed are those with blue lights and sirens trying to get help to people.