{Life-Saving} Bicycle Safety Lights

Is A Cyclist Responsible For An Accident If Unwilling To Use Safety Lights?

What kind of unsafe behavior have you seen cyclists demonstrate?  

The majority of reports regarding collisions between cyclists and motorists seem to point accusingly at motorists for not sharing the road, driving at excessive speeds, and not double checking to make sure there are no cyclists before quickly turning on street corners. What we hear very little about is negligent cyclist behavior, or certain cyclists' unwillingness to take necessary precautions to ensure their own safety. While we are quick to make generalizations about all motorists being unsafe because of our own experience or hearing of someone else's life threatening encounter with a motorist, we rarely give the other side a second glance and see what they might be doing to cause preventable accidents. Namely, Unsafe Cyclists.

Just recently, another vigil was held in memory of a cyclist who was killed in a motorist related accident.  The Boston Globe recently printed a letter, written not only to express the sadness over the loss of another cyclist, but the writer aimed to identify factors he has personally observed which contribute to such accidents.

THE TIME has come for a fresh point of departure in a heightened dialogue on bicycle safety. To my mind, the emphasis should shift from creating bike lanes or wearing helmets to bicycle users’ habits and attitudes.

I reside in Cambridge, work at a university, live near campus, and bike every day. Most important, I am at an age where I don’t want to have my fate determined by the irresponsible actions of others.

Day and night, I witness countless incidents of careless, self-absorbed behavior by bicyclists. Two factors stand out: speed and lack of lights.

On a recent night, a female student whizzed by me on a narrow path with no lights to alert me to her approach. I intoned, “Where are your lights?” Her smug response: “It doesn’t matter.”

Well, it does matter. The next time might find her in the path of a turning vehicle, or find me in the way of a speeding bike.

I have two possible solutions. The first is to form core coalitions of safe bikers, who would address other bikers one to one or at the group level.

The second is more complex, but deserves thorough examination: to reverse bike lanes so that both bikers and motorists can see what’s in front of them. 

This is as basic as the oft-heard advice to walk against traffic on a dark road.

Douglas Shafner

Cambridge

There are two sides to the issue of bike safety: those motorists who are unwilling to share the road and those cyclists who are unwilling to use proper safety measures.  While it would be unfair to make generalizations on either side, the fact remains that so many deaths and accidents can be prevented by taking minimal safety measures: helmets, lights, learning and utilizing hand signals, reflective gear, and reading up on how to prevent the various accidents between cyclists and motorists, as described in a previous post.

What preventative safety measures have you been most surprised about that have saved a cyclist’s life?

BikeNSafetyPromos is committed to making and distributing the highest quality of bike safety promotional items.  Where can we start helping YOU promote bike safety?