Re: Daytime running light popularity

On 10/28/2024 9:38 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

Am Mon, 28 Oct 2024 07:53:33 -0400 schrieb Zen Cycle
<funkmaster@hotmail.com>:
 

On 10/27/2024 9:18 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
>

I prefer to signal my presence by how and where I ride, not by some tiny
white spot.  Using available light under poor visibility conditions such
as fog or twilight is one thing, but training motorists to ignore
anything that does not flash or glitter is a bad idea.

>
I couldn't disagree more. There is no "training" of motorists when it
comes to bikes until such time as motorists are fined for actions that
injure a cyclist. Things may be different for you in Germany, but in the
US there is still a sizable population that considers cycling on the
roadways to be an annoyance.

 This view is too short-sighted.
 In Germany, there is both a sizable population that considers cycling on
the roadways to be an annoyance and a sizable population that does not...
 Proportions vary, depending on where you look. Some cities and regions
have a toxic traffic climate...

Agreed. On another forum, a friend of mine claimed Ohio drivers were hostile to cyclists. She lives and rides around big, sprawling Columbus. I pointed out that I find our area motorists to be very cooperative. In general, I think big cities generate aggressive driving.

Coming back to bicycle lights, too much tinsel creates the expectation
that cyclists should always look like Christmas trees. Worse still, the
popular excuse for rude behavior "I didn't see the cyclist" is then
justified by the lack of daytime running lights, high-visibility vests,
reflectors on the front, back, left, right, top and bottom. There is
hardly any nonsense that cannot be declared as a necessity once it has
been established.

Also agreed! I think it's helpful to cycling when even we avid cyclists get on a perfectly normal bike wearing perfectly normal clothes and ride on perfectly normal roads, for perfectly normal transportation.
In the U.S., anyway, I think one of our biggest problems is that cycling is not seen as a "normal" activity. It's treated as something unusual, edgy, very risky, needing lots of extra protection.
And those selling "Safety!" products - day-glo clothing, DRLs, helmets, segregated infrastructure - do their best to amplify the supposed danger. Of course, rational data analysis says otherwise - but who cares about that?
--
- Frank Krygowski