See Any Bikes?
Last night I had some time to kill which I spent walking around Kenmore square watching cyclists. This is what it looked like:
Okay, can you tell how many cyclists are in this scene?
No cyclists you say? Look again! There are seven.
See?
Of course you can’t. BECAUSE THESE FOLKS NEED TO GET SOME FRIKKIN’ LIGHTS!
And I’m not talking about those tiny anemic blinky lights that look like they came out of a grocery store toy vending machine.
Real hardy lights. Ones that I can see with my eyes.
And while you’re at it, get a bunch of them. You can never have too many lights.
Okay, maybe you can.
But you’ve all got a ways to go.
Right on! 20-odd years of bike commuting (and occasional driving near bicycles) has taught me that the little “be seen light” is a dangerous myth. You need something that can compete with car headlights on a busy street, or you simply aren’t visible. Also it seems to me that many motorists judge my speed by my light’s brightness, so a bright light lets me ride safely at daytime speeds.
“Obnoxious and distracting” is obnoxious and distracting, but it doesn’t come into play until your lights are as numerous as a big rig or as bright as an SUV. Or you use strobe mode.
Oh yes. The gramma’s lamp guy is what I looked like when I first began cycling in Boston. I’ve calmed down a bit since then : )
Thought provoking drawings and points well made.
A very good blog entry! We have the same problem here in Tucson, with cyclists running down the road at night without lights or even reflectors on their bikes. I guess they trust in a benevolent deity watching over them at all times, either that or they’re just careless and/or stupid.
Biking home to Boston through Cambridge on Hampshire today the oncoming outbound bike traffic was seriously bewildering. A dozen bikes, all but one of ’em had lights, and most of those bright and flashing. I really did wonder what the heck the light show was. It took a few seconds for me to comprehend that I was seeing an approaching wave of well lit bikes. Maybe the Cambridge enforcement push for mandatory headlights actually made a difference? Either that, or this comic! 🙂