Yet another traffic fatality

Horace said:

An area high school girl was killed around sunset Thursday. Her dad is in critical condition.
Neither had lights, according to the report. Two vehicles were involved.

fayettevillenc.comstory.phpOpen ↗

Can you get the Raliegh Clear Channel radio station from Fayetteville? --Karen M.

"Karen M." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Horace wrote:

Can you get the Raliegh Clear Channel radio station from Fayetteville? --Karen M.

Not familiar with it. What's the frequency?

Horace

[email hidden] (Karen M.) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Horace said:

An area high school girl was killed around sunset Thursday. Her dad is in critical condition.
Neither had lights, according to the report. Two vehicles were involved.

fayettevillenc.comstory.phpOpen ↗

Can you get the Raliegh Clear Channel radio station from Fayetteville? --Karen M.

I do not believe that Clear Channel's broadcasts could have anything to do with this incident. I
believe the open questions about this crash, which happened in darkness, are as follows:

1. Was the cyclist using a rear reflector? That is the minimum legal requirement under NC law. Dark
clothing is not unlawful, and use of a headlamp is irrelevant to an overtaking collision.

2. If there was a rear reflector, was it bright enough to perform its function reliably for the
distances requried for a driver to take action, or was its design fatally flawed by being too
dim, too small, or too easily misaligned?

3. Was the overtaking motorist traveling too fast for the sight distance conditions at that
particular curve, regardless of the posted limit?

The answers to these questions could shift the blame among the motorist, the cyclist, the bicycle
manufacturer, the CPSC, etc.

-Steve Goodridge humantransport.orgbicycledrivingOpen ↗

Horace said:

Not familiar with it. What's the frequency?

"G105." See this link for particulars: groups.google.comgroupsOpen ↗
=UTF-8&th=8b87e4f6f4660b6e&seekm=3F747E7A.3524148E%40voyager.net#link10

--Karen M. leaping to conclusions

"Steven Goodridge" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]... and use of a

Quoted message said:

headlamp is irrelevant to an overtaking collision.

Not if your lights are bright enough to illuminate the surroundings and create a "pool" of light the
way car headlights do. Using a dual 12w spot/12w flood system, I've been told my headlights
contribute as much to my night visibility from behind as do my three rear LED blinkies and
rreflective triangle.

RichC

"Horace" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

An area high school girl was killed around sunset Thursday. Her dad is in critical condition.
Neither had lights, according to the report. Two vehicles were involved.

fayettevillenc.comstory.phpOpen ↗

Strangely, the article said neither person was wearing a reflective vest, and neither bike had
lights. But they were struck by a car rounding a curve and hitting them from behind. Bicycle
headlights, while very necessary to prevent accidents involving cars from the front or side, would
have been no help in preventing this.

Why do they mention reflective vests? Are these considered a standard safety item in the area? I
never see people wearing them in Raleigh. They add only a little visibility over a good reflector.

Assuming the bikes had their CPSC rear reflectors on, and the reflectors were properly angled, they
should have been reasonably visible from the rear. I suspect the driver was over-driving her
headlights and that is why they weren't seen. But not enough details given to really conclude this.

To tie this into another rear lighting discussion going on in rec.bicycles.misc, Forester objected
to the CPSC rear reflectors because they are non-optimal and based on a faulty 360 degree reflector
assumption. They waste a lot of surface area on side reflection. Forester, and I certainly agree,
thinks that a reflector devoted to rear reflection is much better, having about 3x the brightness of
the CPSC reflector. And he thinks amber is better as that returns more light than a red reflector.

However, I've done tests with the standard CPSC rear reflector. As long as the weather is OK ( no
rain or fog), they should make one visible. Easily visible in the headlights from a block away. The
3 inch amber reflector Forester recommends is a LOT brighter, brighter than any of the LED
taillights people normally use, and should make you visible even in adverse conditions (I've tested
all of these in heavy fog). Mounting the reflector low - say on your fender if you have one, makes
the reflection MUCH brighter, as it catches the brighter part of the car beam. I doubt you can do
any better than this.

So a reflector is sufficient for most conditions, especially a 3 inch amber. More might be nice, but
certainly isn't always necessary and probably would not have made a difference in the case referred
to in the article.

-Pete

[email hidden] (Steven Goodridge) wrote;

Quoted message said:

The answers to these questions could shift the blame among the motorist, the cyclist, the bicycle
manufacturer, the CPSC, etc.

Can't shift blame away from the motorist-- subtract the car and nobody gets killed, period.

Chalo Colina

Rich Clark said:

Using a dual 12w spot/12w flood system, I've been told my headlights contribute as much to my
night visibility from behind as do my three rear LED blinkies and rreflective triangle.

Do you get by with just a belt and suspenders, or do you glue your pants on as well?

Chalo Colina

"Chalo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Rich Clark said:

Using a dual 12w spot/12w flood system, I've been told my headlights contribute as much

to my

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

night visibility from behind as do my three rear LED blinkies and rreflective triangle.

Do you get by with just a belt and suspenders, or do you glue your pants

on as well?

I only glue my pants on when visiting certain downtown neighborhoods alone after dark.

However, when you're in the lane every night on a road with no shoulder and the average car is going
over 50mph, you *really* want drivers to see you from a long way away.

RichC

Peter Rosenfed said:

visible. Easily visible in the headlights from a block away. The 3 inch amber reflector Forester
recommends is a LOT brighter, brighter than any of the LED taillights people normally use, and
should make you visible even in adverse conditions (I've tested all of these in

You are quite correct with all this, but I thought I should add something regarding the LED
blinkies. I used to work shifts, and those days I still took the car to work every day (night). I
worked 22:00 to
06:00 shift. Lots of guys was (and still is) commuting that time of the night, and all of them here
in Secunda use LED blinkies. My point is, you can see those blinkies a _long_ way off. I would
say I used to be able to see one at least 400meters off. ok, this is a largish town, not a city,
and the streets aren't very brightly lit at night.

I can't see how a driver can't see them. I dunno about fog though, we don't get that very often.

--

QUIPd 1.02: (193 of 658) -> Get a life - I tried but I couldn't find the ftp site
##2166 #'Mandrake Linux.'

Johann S. said:

I can't see how a driver can't see them. I dunno about fog though, we don't get that very often.

You fail to consider that there are some drivers who, just from an engineering standpoint,
shouldn't work.

I wonder sometimes if they drive up and hit things just to see what they are...

Rich Clark said:

"Chalo" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Rich Clark said:

Using a dual 12w spot/12w flood system, I've been told my headlights contribute as much

to my

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

night visibility from behind as do my three rear LED blinkies and rreflective triangle.

Do you get by with just a belt and suspenders, or do you glue your pants

on as well?

I only glue my pants on when visiting certain downtown neighborhoods alone after dark.

However, when you're in the lane every night on a road with no shoulder and the average car is
going over 50mph, you *really* want drivers to see you from a long way away.

Ah, that makes more sense contextually.

Perhaps you could pull a trailer with one of those "Your Speed: XX mph" signs on it. :-)

Chalo Colina

(Chalo) said:

Perhaps you could pull a trailer with one of those "Your Speed: XX mph" signs on it. :-)

Powered by a hub dynamo, no doubt. 😉

I've always wanted to see what happens if I do three-digit speeds approaching one of those -- does
it top out at 99, or does it error?

I haven't seen one on a suitable road in a long time, and now I drive a vehicle that's limited to
just under 100.

Quoted message said:

Chalo Colina

--
Rick "Now where can I get a UNIX speed daemon?" Onanian