teenagers no lights

Surely this isn't on the schools, is it not the responsibility of the parents? My two cycling age kids are 8 and 4 and they have lights on their bikes - I wouldn't let them out the door without them and I'll be following that up when they're teenagers too.

Defo there is a trend of boys on black Fiido bikes, in black duffle coats with no lights over the last couple of years.

Road deaths in Ireland in the 1980s

1981 572

1982 533

1983 535

1984 465

1985 410

1986 387

1987 462

1988 463

1989 460

Road deaths in Ireland in the 2010s (keep in mind there are over twice as many cars as there were in the 80s)

2010 212

2011 186

2012 163

2013 188

2014 192

2015 162

2016 182

2017 155

2018 137

2019 140

2020 147

teenagers do stupid stuff, like running in front of traffic, not wearing bikes on lights etc. drive slower in residential areas where you're likely to come across teenagers at night and try to be more aware of your surroundings. don't look at your phone for one.

never have never will. i must be the only person who doesn't have issues seeing people walking or cycling or any other things when i'm driving. lights are sufficient for bikes in my opinion.

no i'd probably blame the person driving

thanks so much for your concern. i suggest you drive slower and put your phone in the glove compartment when driving too especially at night.

And will you be keeping a builders vest on your passenger seat, so you can pull it on when you get out of the car to go to the shop/cafe/wherever? You know, for when you're a pedestrian?

I'm not sure of the point of this thread anyway. How many of the teenagers with no lights on their bikes does the OP think will be reading this thread?

Of course it matters how luminescent they are, you completely contradict yourself in the second paragraph 🤔🤔. I don't drive around with my lights off at night, I'd like cyclists to return the favour.

Is this like a new version of pink unicornism? We can't see those mystical invisible cyclsts and pedestrians, but we have faith in the belief that they exist.

Reminds me of a conversation I had at a dinner table not too long ago. We were discussing a friend of mine who had been hit by a car while cycling in the hard shoulder in daylight. One of the people atthe table started saying that, she knew it wasn't his fault, but you know the way cyclists come out of nowhere, sometimes. I pointed out that for the 80 or so miles I'd cycled the previous week, I was always somewhere. I've yet to master the trick of appearing randomly on a road.

Mud flaps? I've never bought a car that had mud flaps fitted. And if I had, they'd be coming off straight away. Bit like wearing wellington boots with a suit.

There's legal responsibility and personal responsibility.

As a driver you are legally responsible for not crashing into people and cyclists, whether they are lit up or not. That was the first part of my post.

The second part of my post is personal responsibility, cycling without lights at night is a really stupid, reckless thing to do. It doesn't, however, legally absolve you of anything if you crash into someone not lit up, so the ultimate responsibility still lies with you, the driver.

I agree with you completely. And I agree with the op that there are loads of unlit teens cycling around in the past few weeks.

But I also have to say that my kid is a teen now and all those lovely 'rules' I had when he was younger - like the helmet and the hi-vis - are more easily abandoned by him now. More often that not, he leaves the house without even a jacket on, never mind any form of cycling protection. I don't say this lightly, it terrifies me, but unfortunately our 'control' of them eeks away as they become teens.

As for the adults without lights etc, the mind boggles. I often think people don't consider things from other points of view. I'm a big walker, and I have one neighbour at least who I am convinced will kill me some day. He flies past me, gravel whizzing, waving gleefully. He never walks anywhere so has no idea of how fast he is passing me on country roads with no footpaths. Equally, cyclists who don't drive (most teens) haven't a clue just how invisible they are to traffic. Drivers, who don't cycle, are guilty of not considering the cyclists too perhaps ..

There is an obvious need for a 21st century lighting regulation which reflect the availability of LED lights etc. Then these need to be enforced rigorously, in this age of rechargeable batteries and led lights it is much easier to maintain lights than in times past. Regulations on the standardisation of mounts would help.

So you've seen them, and a large amount evidently. I too have no problem spotting cyclists in urban areas with street lights and slow speed limits even if they don't have bright clothing or lights. I've never knocked one down or almost knocked one down.

Maybe we're both excellent drivers, maybe we stick to the speed limit, maybe we're not distracted drivers... What ever it is, we should keep doing what we're doing.