Monday, September 12, 2011

Optical illusion

The days are getting shorter; lately as I ride in to the office the sun is very low on the eastern horizon and a lot of headlights are in use.* (Sigh. I like when the days are getting longer...)

This morning as I rode in the bike lane toward downtown, I saw a cyclist up ahead, in the bike lane. He had a steady-glowing red light. I assumed it to be a taillight, but was baffled because it seemed to be closing distance on me. And sure enough, by the time we were a block or so apart, I figured out what I was looking at. It was an adult male cyclist, wearing a helmet, riding up the wrong side of the street... with a red light clipped to the visor on the front of his helmet. We crossed, me in the bike lane, he in the parking area between the bike lane and the curb. (Sigh again...)

* I haven't started using the lights again yet, under normal circumstances. (Bob T swears by using lights all the time, even in the daytime... and there's doubtlessly some wisdom in that. Motorcycles are mandated to have always-going headlights because it enhances visibility and thus safety. I really oughtta switch to rechargeable batteries and go that route. But that's a different topic.)

1 comment:

Bob T said...

A wrong-way light on a wrong-way cyclist? Somehow that makes perfect sense.

I believe in using lights (actually strobes) during the daytime based on what I read here.