Where I live people cycle and walk on old country roads all the time. I am a cyclist and have no issue sharing the road, but I find myself starting to hate the cyclists and pedestrians because none of them seem to have any idea that when they are out at night and wearing black/dark clothes, not having any reflective material on their clothes or bike, or have any type of light makes them almost invisible, well invisible until I'm on top of them.
I have outstanding night time vision, I've had it checked, and I have outstanding depth perception, also checked.
If seeing in the light is tricky, darkness is probably 10x worse.
Just last night I had a guy crossing wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and black shoes, he was crossing along a stretch of 2 lane road where there are apartment buildings but no street lights, or cross walk. I saw him but only because the two cars in front of me illuminated him. The guy was walking on the shoulder near the white line, I don't think the cars in front of me saw him at all, even when they passed him because he almost got clipped by the mirror of the car in front of me. I guess that was too close for him so he just turned and started crossing, he never looked, and I was maybe 30 yards away driving the speed limit which was 40. Luckily I had seen him and was fully expecting him to do something stupid so I was ready when he started to cross.
I live near a university, and there is a street that runs right through the middle of the school. It has 3 different types of lights, high pressure sodium, LED, and Halogen all in about 50 yards, the section of the street is well lit, but because of the different lights and the color of the light it's damn near impossible to see students when they are darting out from between cars. A lot of people I know avoid that street at night because they feel like they can't see anything event though it's well lit. I've notified the university, and they don't even respond to my letters.
> Where I live people cycle and walk on old country roads all the time. I am a cyclist and have no issue sharing the road, but I find myself starting to hate the cyclists and pedestrians because none of them seem to have any idea that when they are out at night and wearing black/dark clothes, not having any reflective material on their clothes or bike, or have any type of light makes them almost invisible, well invisible until I'm on top of them.
How do you cope with cows? (dark coloured ones) Or fallen branches?
In a metal cocoon of a car, you're cut off from almost all your senses. Even just your visual sense your awareness is far worse in a car than when walking or cycling. Add to that the likelihood you're traveling a lot faster and it's a recipe for disaster.
Should this also apply to pedestrians, or only to cyclists? Because everybody is a pedestrian once they get out of their car.
I used to walk to work, and I always wore a hi viz vest on winter mornings when it was still dark. But none of my co-workers (who still had to cross streets to get from the parking lot to the office) did.
I like using the car park analogy. It is perfectly legal to park in a bad neighborhood. If your car is broken into then the thief should be sent to jail. You are still dumb for parking there. This isn't victim blaming.
Can't remember the last time I saw a cyclist with lights. They seem to think that they don't need them if in a cycle lane, even when there is nothing separating it from the rest of the road.
Yes they are wrong, they are required by law to have lights. The cycle lane isn't continuous, there are breaks in it at every junction.
A car travelling in the opposite direction has to cross the path of the cycle lane to turn into a cross street. Not being able to see that a cycle is coming towards you isn't going to end well for the cyclist.
Where I live, there are laws mandating the minimum distance a vehicle has to be from a cyclist when passing (1.5m) - this distance is not covered by the available clearance in the cycling lane.
If you can't see a cyclist is in the lane, it's difficult to give them safe clearance, and driving as though you are always giving clearance to cyclists means driving closer to the other traffic lane, increasing risk of vehicular collision.
They are wrong. The law in some (all?) EU countries fortunately mandates lighting.
I have seen bike lanes where it's expected that cars will at least partially drive onto the lane because the road is too narrow.
And it's kinda ironic: pedestrians will likely blunder into the bike lane without looking, just like bikers sometimes suddenly pop before cars without the slightest care in the world.
I've seen pedestrians cross the street without a walk light in a downpour where visibility is five feet at midnight on a poorly illuminated intersection while wearing all black.
Cars have lights not just so they can see, but so others can see them. Pedestrians absolutely should have the same, or at least something approaching reflective clothing.
