What kind of dumbass rides a bike with no lights in a snowstorm at 6 am?

He was wearing dark clothing, no less, and I damn near hit him. I had a hard enough time seeing cars with proper headlights, let alone a bike with nothing to make it visible.

x(

at 10 PM wearing black (and walking out into the street with the shovel)

I just about killed him last night!

I'm not that brave (I'll bike in light rain but not in snow), but I understand for some people that's the only way to get where they're going.

I'm criticizing the decision to do it with NO LIGHTS and in DARK CLOTHING. First of all, it is against the law to ride in the dark with no lights. Second of all, it's just plain stupid -- if nobody can see you, you're going to get hit eventually.

A bike light costs less than $20.

Dark clothing is a big problem, just in normal weather. My neighborhood was designed without sidewalks, so people go for walks on the road itself and are oblivious as to how hard they are to see.

Or more.

Still...I'm sorry if he couldn't afford a car. I couldn't see the bike to tell if it was a nice one (and even so, I have no way of knowing whether he paid $900 for it, or $50 at a garage sale). I understand that reflective winter coats are hard to come by. Hell, I couldn't even tell if it was a "he" (I'm going with that). I'm sorry if he couldn't afford a proper light. T

But he needed to do SOMETHING to allow drivers to see him. Reflective tape, maybe? I was sitting at a stop sign, and looked both ways before proceeding, and I didn't see him AT ALL until, if he'd been on a path to hit me (he was three seconds away from doing so), he would have. He didn't even appear to have reflectors (that come installed on most bikes). It wasn't even a matter of me buzzing past him with a "fuckin' bike hippie" attitude. I bike (with lights and reflectors if it's dark out) and I've been nearly run down by cars (and, in one case, a city bus). I am courteous to bikes when I'm driving. But I can't avoid something I can't see.

I'm sorry if this sounds mean and Republican of me, but I think in the interest of, well...not dying, and an otherwise law-abiding motorist not killing them...you need to find a way to ride safely and visibly.

(Most people, when asked "what kind of dumbass drives without headlights, taillights, hazards or brake lights during a snowstorm at 6 am" would agree that the person is indeed a dumbass, and wouldn't look particularly sympathetically upon the "well, they're all broken and he can't afford to fix them so he'll just hope for the best" excuse.)

What a dumbass. :eyes:

dunno

wearing dark clothes and no lights. I almost some every day in my neighborhood. I always wear light clothing, a reflector vest, a headlamp, and sometimes those little blinky LED lights.

At dusk, wearing dark clothes, standing out in the middle of the lane in the middle of an unlit block, waiting for a break in traffic. Damned near hit him - he walked back to the curb at the last moment.

I understand being caught out late in dark clothing, but at least cross at a corner where there's a street light.

I saw him toolin' around on his bike the other night when it was snowing. This guy's clothes seem to be made exclusively of hemp though, so it's probably not the same guy.

in the 1970's, during which I refused to drive a car and bicycled everywhere.

I began to hate cars and began to feel that they and not I, had no right to the road. But then again, I lived in Southern California, and I had lights on my bike. I also always tried to wear light clothing.

I had my share of tough accidents, nonetheless.

By the way, I abandoned the war against the car and now own one. I often find myself cursing a this or that bicyclist, but then I am forced to remember who I once was.

on an unlit country road in the pouring rain at 4:30 a.m. Wearing black and with no reflective gear. I almost hit him, but saw him at the last minute. The eejit had the unmittigated gall to flip me off.

Let's not judge who was on that bike. What the only means of getting to work was that bicycle and that was the only bicycle they could afford.

Yeah, in a car-vs-bike accident, the car's going to win, unless that car ends up swerving to miss the shadowy form, skidding out of control and hitting a tree.

There *is* a bus here. It's not great, but it's doable. I've bike-commuted to a night class, and I intend to bike commute to school next year (and dodge my share of cars, I'm sure), but when the weather is truly crap, I will be taking the bus or driving/carpooling.

Again, I go back to the "can't afford to fix the headlights" answer. That car shouldn't be on the street in the dark or during inclement weather, period.

There are also inexpensive ways to make yourself visible -- again, a headlight doesn't cost that much (much less than a traumatic injury, in any case). If that's even too much, there's reflective tape or lighter clothing or the reflectors that were supposed to be on the bike to begin with. This bike, and its rider, had *NOTHING*.

Any time of the night, any time of the year. I don't like it either.

:rofl:

Kidding!

A thoughtless one, that's what kind.

That's the only kind of dumbass I can think of offhand...

maybe they were saving up for them