ACT: No helmet + no lights = Death wish...?

[Adam F[_3_]]

<rant>
What the hell's going on in Canberra (or everywhere, for all I know)
since daylight saving ended?

It might be time to resurrect those "If you don't need a head, you don't
need a helmet" ads - every second person I ride past after work recently
has either no lights, no helmet, or neither (and often is listening to
an ipod for good measure).

Surely tangling with another rider or a car is only a matter of time for
these people.

Question is, should I just shrug and leave them to Darwin's theory or
yell out the odd "get some lights you nutbag"? I mean, a basic flashing
rear light costs what, $10? Surely they've had time by now to notice
it's dark after work/uni....

Actually, it probably wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't keep almost
running into these slow-moving dingbats - they're not very good at
keeping left - quelle surprise.
</rant>

Sorry, I feel better now ;)

--
//Adam F

[Paul Yates]

"Adam F" > wrote in message
...
> <rant>
> What the hell's going on in Canberra (or everywhere, for all I know) since
> daylight saving ended?
>
> It might be time to resurrect those "If you don't need a head, you don't
> need a helmet" ads - every second person I ride past after work recently
> has either no lights, no helmet, or neither (and often is listening to an
> ipod for good measure).
>
> Surely tangling with another rider or a car is only a matter of time for
> these people.
>
> Question is, should I just shrug and leave them to Darwin's theory or yell
> out the odd "get some lights you nutbag"? I mean, a basic flashing rear
> light costs what, $10? Surely they've had time by now to notice it's dark
> after work/uni....
>
> Actually, it probably wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't keep almost
> running into these slow-moving dingbats - they're not very good at keeping
> left - quelle surprise.
> </rant>
>
> Sorry, I feel better now ;)
>
> --
> //Adam F

Perhaps they are in stealth mode. I've seen a few of those around my neck
of the woods. On my commute home along the Yarra I quite often encounter
skilled backwards riding cyclists also. You know the ones...they have a red
flshing light on the front to confuse the cars into thinking they are going
in the opposite direction.

P

[BT Humble]

That was a remarkably coherent rant, Adam! ;-)

Just forget about 'em, life's too short to be worrying about people
who should know better.

How did you get on with your axles?


BTH

[Theo Bekkers]

Adam F wrote:
> <rant>
> What the hell's going on in Canberra (or everywhere, for all I know)
> since daylight saving ended?
>
> It might be time to resurrect those "If you don't need a head, you
> don't need a helmet" ads - every second person I ride past after work
> recently has either no lights, no helmet, or neither (and often is
> listening to an ipod for good measure).
>
> Surely tangling with another rider or a car is only a matter of time
> for these people.
>
> Question is, should I just shrug and leave them to Darwin's theory

Yep.

Theo

[Adam F[_3_]]

BT Humble wrote:
> That was a remarkably coherent rant, Adam! ;-)
>
> Just forget about 'em, life's too short to be worrying about people
> who should know better.
>
> How did you get on with your axles?
>
>
> BTH
>

Thanks BTH, you're probably right :)

Being the lazy sod I am, I decided to go for an effort-saving kludge and
use a BMX-style chain tensioner to keep the QR in place! It's still on
order at Bike Culture, but they reckon it'll do the trick and others
swear by the Surly Tuggnut (an exxier version of the same thing).

--
//Adam F

[treadly&me[_18_]]

Paul Yates Wrote:
> On my commute home along the Yarra I quite often encounter skilled
> backwards riding cyclists also. You know the ones...they have a red
> flshing light on the front to confuse the cars into thinking they are
> going in the opposite direction.

Never understood that one mesself--it can't help them see and only
confuses oncoming traffic (yes, including me). And for some reason it
seems to be really popular this season...

Oh yeah, and another vote for "leaving it to Darwin" here (as long as
the buggers don't take you down with 'em!)


--
treadly&amp;me

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on Tue, 8 May 2007 17:54:22 +1000
treadly&amp me > wrote:
>
> Paul Yates Wrote:
>> On my commute home along the Yarra I quite often encounter skilled
>> backwards riding cyclists also. You know the ones...they have a red
>> flshing light on the front to confuse the cars into thinking they are
>> going in the opposite direction.
>
> Never understood that one mesself--it can't help them see and only
> confuses oncoming traffic (yes, including me). And for some reason it
> seems to be really popular this season...
>

Yes, I'm seeing a few of those too.

I guess it is because they are cheap and easy to get. So are white
front lights, so maybe the $2 difference is so much they won't buy
one?

Zebee

[Aeek]

On Tue, 8 May 2007 17:54:22 +1000, treadly&amp;me
> wrote:

>
>Paul Yates Wrote:
>> On my commute home along the Yarra I quite often encounter skilled
>> backwards riding cyclists also. You know the ones...they have a red
>> flshing light on the front to confuse the cars into thinking they are
>> going in the opposite direction.
>
>Never understood that one mesself--it can't help them see and only
>confuses oncoming traffic (yes, including me). And for some reason it
>seems to be really popular this season...
>
>Oh yeah, and another vote for "leaving it to Darwin" here (as long as
>the buggers don't take you down with 'em!)

On the paths, I reckon they are worse than no lights. Disinformation
screws with your judgement. You naturally assume you have more time
and that they are on the left. Good for creating headons.
Darwin doesn't care about collateral damage.

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on Tue, 08 May 2007 22:33:27 +1000
Aeek > wrote:
>
> On the paths, I reckon they are worse than no lights. Disinformation
> screws with your judgement. You naturally assume you have more time
> and that they are on the left. Good for creating headons.
> Darwin doesn't care about collateral damage.

At the moment the only path I use to get to work that has cyclists on
it at night is the Harbour Bridge path. I see a few of these but
because it's straight and tightly constrained each side (meaning
bounded by walls) and because I have good front light I don't have a
problem seeing them. THey are lit before I need to worry about their
light.

Going to be interesting when we move to Macquarie Park as about 3/4 of
the commute will be on bike paths[1]. No idea how many commuters use the
Cooks River path on weekdays, but it's much worse lit and much more
winding, a confusing red light might be more difficult to deal with
and the bloody unlit in any way ones more so!

Zebee

[1] mainly because the Cook's River and Shrimpton Creek paths take me
in a fairly straight and flat line to where I want to go.