Rich' Bates says:
Quoted message said:Driving my dad to the airport early this morning I learned (fortunately to noone's expense) that
when a well lit cyclist is travelling at 90 degrees to me as I approch a roundabout, the lights
can be seemingly invisible, and the reflective scotchlite worn by the cyclist can blend in with
the black and white chevrons behind him/her.
The Cyclists Touring Club Publication, "Cyclists and aRoundabouts, a review of the Literature" says,
section 7.10,
"Vehicle entering/cyclist circulating accidents are by far the most common type of cyclist accident
at roundabouts. Given that circulating traffic has priority over entering vehicles, it would appear
that drivers are predominantly at fault. There is a need for research into the detail of cylist
accidents at roundabouts, particularly in terms of accident severity, vehicle speeds, driver/cyclist
characteristics and the paths of the motor vehicle and cyclist involved."
What the report doesn't say is anything about this being a problem only at night. Perhaps it is just
as bad during the day.
That CTC report was written twelve years ago. I don't think the research the report calls for has
ever been done. A Dr Paul Rosen at York U has apparently just come out with a review of bike
research, and what other research is needed, but I haven't read it. Supposedly it's at
<http://www.york.ac.uk/org/satsu/Projects/whitehall/>
Jeremy Parker
