UKH

And light yourself up like a christmas tree.

My brother is in a coma, having been hit from behind on an unlit road on his commute home.

Driver apparently said they were dazzled by oncoming lights and never saw him.

He's a safety conscious rider and normally runs two decent back lights in case one fails, so I would be surprised if he wasnt well lit up.

I haven't seen the police report, but apparently they aren't charging the driver with anything, and just putting it down to an accident.

I can't believe it's not at least careless to hit a more vulnerable road user from behind, regardless of other traffic, but I'm trying not to dwell on that for the moment as there are more important immediate concerns.

My own bike lights are decent but a bit old, so I've checked the reviews and ordered a couple of the brightest rear lights I could find and a roll of reflective tape. My high vis clothing will be checked over for wear and fading, and replaced if required too.

Recently I spent some time looking for either a long sleeved cycling jacket or warm shirt. Very difficult to find anything that wasn't largely black or a very dark shade of blue, grey or green. Eventually ended up with a dayglow yellow top from Decathlon with some reflective bands here & there, with the added advantage of being cheaper than most of the non-visible alternatives

But why is it difficult to buy something a little brighter than black ?.

end of rant.

.

I'm so sorry to hear your news and hope your brother recovers soon.

    I am a driving instructor and, like all my colleagues, we use every opportunity to teach about safe driving around cyclists, as well as all other road users - there are plenty of drivers who do not drive safely unfortunately.

    From my experience cyclists who use flashing type lights are far more visible, especially in rainy and dark conditions, so I would recommend their use. A helmet mounted rear light / reflector is also more visible than a light mounted lower - especially in traffic. Stay safe, stay considerate...

Hope he recovers. Sounds horrendous.

Really sorry to hear that. Hope he comes out of it OK. Obviously I have no idea of his condition, but if it's any consolation I've been in a coma after an RTA and I'm fine now.

There's only so much you can do with lighting, if the driver is "dazzled" by his phone, then anything going slower than him is at risk. Of course it's careless driving, but just too hard to prove and so the police will as usual do nothing.

Sorry to hear; I wish him a speedy recovery!

On the lights front, I believe there is some regulation in the EU (and probably legacy UK) on bike light brightness limits to prevent (ironically) dazzling motorists.  Certainly most front lights for MTB aren't allowed on the road, though I use them anyway, and Germany is quite strict in enforcing it I've heard.

I am very sorry to hear about your brother and cannot imagine how you must be feeling.

I often cycle to work, as it happens at a major trauma centre, and frequently wonder "what if". Near-misses happen almost daily. It is incredibly upsetting/annoying how motorists are not held accountable for their actions when their actions cause harm to cyclists. It seems to be the same everywhere in the world- it is not a level playing field.

Whatever precautions we take are only effective if other road users observe them. Flashing lights are more effective than non-flashing but again reliant on others paying attention. Fluoro gear is more noticeable but only to those looking.

I justify my cycling on the basis that driving to work and being less fit would be more detrimental to my health in the long term; but on some days I wonder....

Brains can recover remarkably. I wish you and your brother all the best.

I'd advise not!

Like most cyclists, I also drive and walk.

I walk my dog through a park and winter is notable for excessively bright front bike lights which means I have to look away / dip my head and so they reduce visibility from my perspective. Its not difficult to appreciate the issue as its effectively someone shining a flashlight in your face.

I use a pair of flashing front lights of moderate brightness. 

I think usually we pick bright from lights to see where we're going and you get a rather dull rear. I think my normal lights are 400 lm front 25 lm rear.

I upgraded my son's and wife's to CatEye ~150lm rear with the "dazzle" effect that produces a moving pseudo-random pattern. It's much clearer where the bike is on the road and being red doesn't blind the driver.

Best wishes to you and your brother at this time, hope he recovers well.

Thanks for the timely reminder....I've just started doing night time rides again.

I use a static red and also a flashing one at the back....same for the front but will also get a helmet mounted light. I agree with others regarding dull clothing, I've driven past cyclists at night recently dressed in black and it really is hard to see if they are bikes or not.....Halfords do a high vis vest for a few quid.... definitely should be worn!

Maybe they should charge the oncoming driver with the dazzling lights. Also if the driver was dazzled i hope he/she was in the process of slowing down.  the driver should be looking ahead in anticipation anyway and seen the lights well in advance of passing, if road not too bendy.

Ouch, hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.

I use (as well as lights) a reflect / proviz jacket or rucksack that "light up" when car light go in to it - works great when in unlight roads - better than wearing black!

Cycling on our roads is great isnt it.......................

I drove past a dog walker in such a bright jacket I thought it was a (low) street light! 

Best wishes to you and your brother.

I'm on solid and flashing on front and back on the bike plus another on the back of my helmet, a proviz reflective vest and reflective patches on the panniers.

I have still had multiple near misses* because the motorist "didn't see me". 

*Near misses include being hit but being uninjured.

Best wishes to your brother. I hope for good news very soon.

Just in case anyone hasn't noticed - quite a few Decathlon helmets (cheap in comparison to similar models from the brands) come with a little fitting on the back designed to take one of their small led lights.

I normally commute in a "normal" road helmet, but as my winter helmet and for less than 30 quid I bought a Decathlon MTB style helmet in high viz yellow and with that fitting on the back, and one of their little LED flashers to put there. I've used small LEDs on helmets for years with elastic holders but this is a lot less hassle, and the yellow is good for visibility in daylight. I have another flashing light on my rucksack, a constant bright back light mounted under my saddle, and often another smaller LED flashing on my seatpost. I've got pedal reflectors that clip into one side of my SPDs as well as these are very noticeable when driving. 

It's fortunate that between Decathlon and Aldi middle aisle specials none of the lights are expensive and have done me in most cases a good few years with no problems.

Be careful everyone - including drivers and cyclists!

I'd add to what TobyA says,  I have one of those proviz reflective jackets, imagine my annoyance when they appeared in the middle isle of Lidl for half the price!

I also have a spray can of similar stuff you can decorate bits of your bike with.

Hope he makes a full and quick recovery.

Toby

Sorry to hear about your brother. I hope he makes a good recovery.

Sounds like 'not driving to the conditions'. If you can't see what's ahead, you don't blithely continue driving. Depends how suddenly this dazzling occurred, I suppose.

Wishing the best for your brother's recovery.

Hope your brother makes a speedy and full recovery

https://www.provizsports.com/en-gb/cycling?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&am...

I wear one of these jackets over my motorcycle jacket on my motorbike. It is really bright when a light falls on it. Maybe not great breathability for cycling, but the helmet and bag cover would be excellent additions combined with good lights IMO

Best wishes for your brother.

This sucks massively, really hope your brother recovers properly.

Stories like this make me feel so sad, fearful for my loved ones who ride and so vulnerable when I'm out on the bike.

Something needs to change with driving laws in this country.

I don't want to drag this thread off topic so will stop here.

Best wishes to your brother Ciro, I hope he makes a good recovery.

With all these threads we see lots of "didn't see me" in inverted commas as if it's either a lie or to imply "didn't look". Sometimes that is the case but the reality is the human vision system is deeply deeply flawed and not very well suited to a task like driving especially in difficult conditions. It is perfectly possible to look and not see, it does not require or imply carelessness, unfortunately it's just how our brains work. We have blind spots and at any given time only a very narrow cone of vision is actually providing high resolution information that we're paying attention to and that assumes the eyes are actually focussed. The grim reality is most of what we "see" we're not really looking at or paying attention to at all, unless something off centre catches our attention, usually by moving across the field of view or strobing and we focus on it the brain just ignores it and fills in what it thinks should be there based on the low res information it's getting from the eyes and memory/imagination.

How does that result in not seeing cyclists? in a number of ways, particularly at junctions where the cyclist may be occluded from one eye by a pillar then even when you look they can be in the other eye's blindspot and you'd simply never know*. Move your head. If you've had your eyes in the car on the dials or sat-nav then are they really focussed out to where you're looking once you look up? Your brain will just make it up if they're not so anything new, anything you need to see it'll gloss over. Pause to focus out where you're looking before moving your head and eyes around to where you need your attention to be. In the wet everything flashes and sparkles so the flashing red lights of a bike that should be impossible to miss are in reality competing with thousands of other flashes all over the field of vision for a brain's attention, in a simple secenario we'll pick the repeating pattern out eventually but there are often complicating factors like dazzle or having attention elsewhere, where we're going, missing what is near and possibly heading the same way. Drive slower, look very deliberately in rain and think where the possible threats/hazards are beyond simply where you will be in the next few seconds. On the bike, more and brighter lights coupled with an awareness they unfortunately do not guarantee people will see you and a strategy to manage that risk, lookout and avoid. Vehicles on a constant angle closing trajectory don't move across the field of vision and also do not grow in it until they are very very close so they simply do not catch the brain's attention unless you happen (or make an effort) to look directly at them yet the viewer thinks they can see what's there, we simply don't know what we don't see most of the time. As a driver, move your head more, look directly at where hazards/treats are likely to be, pause, move on, actively look. As a rider, if you think you've not been seen by someone looking at you, assume you haven't, plan evasion and do something to grab their attention like waving or weaving or flashing your headtorch at their eyes. If we sweep our eyes around without moving our heads everything blurs, we only actually see where we let our eyes pause. Move the head, look deliberately, pause, move, pause.

*it's not just slow small stuff in visual clutter that miss we I've pulled out on a truck at a T junction in the distant past in this scenario, I had no idea at the time or for years later how it happened. Plenty more surprises while flying where it's even harder to know in 3d space where you've really looked and where you just think you have.

Also to whoever suggested illegal superbright off road headlights, please don't. they totally blind motorists and other road users particularly in the wet either forcing them to stop or, as many do, continue essentially blind putting others at greater risk. I used to regularly meet someone with lights like these on my commute and would regularly have to come to a dead stop putting me at risk of being hit from behind in their dazzle and more than once when he'd passed another cyclist became visible in the road ahead!

There's my biannual rant about thinking the worst of people who don't see and have accidents. Some are tw@s for sure, I've met a few and probably been one at times. Most simply don't have a clue how little they are actually seeing when they look, particularly in difficult conditions nor what to do to work around it. This never goes down well on here either, there'll be accusations of being an apologist for dangerous drivers and anti cyclist etc etc but the reality is nobody likes hearing and accepting how flawed their own vision is. My wife was knocked off a few years back by someone who looked her right in the eye then drove straight into her, neither had any idea how it could happen! This can happen to any of us and for most of us that's from either perspective cyclist or motorist.

jk

Really hope your brother makes a full recovery. Take care of yourself too. 

There's all sorts of factors at play, the specifics of which won't be known in your brother's case. But just having nearly been t-boned at a mini roundabout, good street lighting, flashing and steady front lights and hi vis,  I do wish some motorists would turn their heads slightly and look. 

Thanks all for the messages of support. He's currently critical but stable and in good hands. I have a cousin who was in a coma for three months and eventually made a full recovery, so concentrating on being positive and hoping for a good outcome while we play the waiting game 🙂

Please don’t light up like a Christmas tree.  You want to be lit up like a vulnerable road user, which given the way you describe your brother, he will have been.  

Sorry to hear about his accident, and hopes he makes a decent recovery.

Ah, just awful. I am really sorry to read that.

I'll spare you my views on lighting/driving etc and just send wishes that your brother makes a rapid and full recovery.

Thanks again everyone for the messages of support.

He came off the ventilator this morning, and this afternoon uttered his first words since the accident - "bloody hell".

He doesn't recognise any of us yet and can't form sentences, but is understanding and answering Yes/No questions quite reliably so it looks like the worst part is over, and we can start thinking about the long haul rehabilitation.

Good to hear mate....best wishes to you all....

This video covers how human vision works, from a 2 wheel point of view. And as jkarran says, Lights and colors cant always help. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doSDfIo61r0&t=20s

That video seemed to fail to suggest a more obvious answer: drivers should turn their head so that they do have binocular vision.

I'm also not convinced the problem is misjudging speed and distance; it is usually simply not seeing. Saccadian vision/masking might be one reason, but, again, the answer is to look more carefully.

Or indeed just to actually look. The number of drivers who "turn, indicate, look" rather than "look, indicate, turn" is increasing year on year. For that matter the number who just "turn" and completely ignore the other 2 actions altogether is increasing.

I blame the safety and insularity of modern cars. With the aircon keeping you warm, the stereo and/or phone on, sound insulation dulling any outside noises, the knowledge that you're in a safe box with seatbelts and airbags all around - todays driver has no idea what's going on outside.

Ciro: I'm glad to hear your brother is awake, fingers crossed for a good recovery.

You need to know you need to though, it's not obvious, we feel like we're seeing everything all the time, that's how it's supposed to work! Also people need to know how to look and see it's not entirely obvious. Neither bit (the shortcoming or the mitigation) is taught to drivers*.

*is it covered on advanced driving courses? Never done one so it may be but I've only ever heard/taught it in the context of flying.

Scroll down to Section5 if anyone fancies a more detailed read around vision issues, it's from the flying perspective but with a little thought there's lots of it transferable to the road https://members.gliding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/08/IC-MANUAL-...

jk

Best of luck with his recovery 

For those who don't miss anything 

https://www.google.com/search?q=counting+balls+missing+monkey+video&rlz...

Modern design doesn't help, to incorporate airbags the 'A' post is now bloody huge. It obscures a huge sector of vision, and I'm convinced many of the turns into the path of oncoming vehicles are due to a combination of the A post and saccadic masking. I now consciously look round both sides of it prior to turning.

And don't get me started on the idiot that decided tactile controls where you  can do things by touch needed replacing with flush buttons and touchscreens.

Ciro: All the best to your brother, and I hope he makes a full recovery.

My car, a sainted Octavia no less, has horrendous blind spots. The good part is that driving in traffic keeps me mobile as I have to move around in my seat to be able to see sufficiently. The bad part is that most other drivers probably don't. The worst part is that most other modern cars are probably as bad.

Ditto.

Also ditto. Very glad to hear your positive news and I hope his recovery is quick and full.

This isn't a driver v cyclist issue, it's just that cyclists are more likely to be injured as a result.  It's a human failing, and it can affect cyclists too. I've been cut up by cyclists, both when driving and on a bike myself, and even more as a pedestrian.  I think we are programmed to focus our attention on whatever seems to be the greatest threat, which is why we "see" the bus in the distance but ignore the cyclist just in front of us.  

Driving, and cycling for that matter, are complex processes which we learn to do automatically. I think the autopilot part of the brain sometimes kicks in even when the conscious brain is seeing something different. This perhaps explains how we can pull out in front of an oncoming vehicle we know is there. I have sometimes begun to move on a green light in my vision before realising that it wasn't the signal form my lane.

My approach at junctions is to give myself a commentary, sometimes out loud - "clear to the left after the silver car, cyclist to the right". I'm not saying it's foolproof but it helps to give the conscious brain priority over the autopilot.  As a driver, I dread finding myself in the situation of the OP's brother, dazzled by oncoming lights, especially in the wet. It is not practicable to slow virtually to a halt for every oncoming vehicle (which risks unseating any following cyclists) but I try to be very aware of the possibility there might be a bike ahead.

. Hope he recovers quickly.

This is an increasing problem with LED lights, particularly retrofits and reactive ones which simply don't react quickly enough to avoid blinding people.  There really needs to be something done about this.  I am not sure that even if my car had reactive lighting that I wouldn't still dim-dip manually, e.g. on approaching the brow of a hill when you can see a car is oncoming but the automatic lights wouldn't detect it until you crest it and blind them.

I also think it should be a requirement that manual dim dip controls on all cars are the same - towards you to dim/dip, forward for main beam, and such that the stalk stays in place so you can tell where it is by feel.  I once had a car (a Citroen I think) where you just pulled to toggle, and it was so easy to get confused and main-beam someone in the face by accident.

Hmm.  This doesn't sit entirely right with me, as if you're blinded you should slow down and stop if necessary.  Though hardly anyone actually does.  Not sure here.  It does seem unlikely that they wouldn't have seen the cyclist before being blinded so knew they were there and thus that if they couldn't see them any more they must stop.

Please do ensure your fronts are correctly aligned, and if they're of the type that are as bright as car lights that they dim-dip for oncoming traffic.  When cycling on unlit roads and MK Redways, I've been blinded by these super-bright front cycle lights basically shining up in the air.  That's as dangerous as car lights.  I have actually nearly hit, when cycling, another cyclist on the Redway, where you had two alongside each other, with the inside one having a really bright, misaligned light and the outside one having a very basic one, and I didn't see the outside one until the very last second because the misaligned bright light totally blocked any view of him.

Yes, by having a super-bright light shining in someone's face you ensure *you* are seen, but the child pedestrian or other cyclist possibly isn't.

Glad to hear he's awake Ciro.  Been playing on my mind ever since I read your OP.  Take care out there everyone whether riding or driving.