Suicidal Cyclists
In Holland a lot of people take a bike to get places. This might sound like nothing special but I’ve met many foreign people who were actually surprised by all the cyclists in our country.
Of course it’s good for your health to cycle rather than take the car but I seriously believe that a lot of the people that use a bike after dark secretly have a death wish.
Why? Well, when I drive to work about 90% of the cyclists I see (or actually don’t see!) aren’t using the light on their bike. They cycle about on dark roads, in dark clothes without any light on their bikes. As a driver in a car, it’s very hard to see them. Especially when it’s foggy outside, or raining.
Most of them are youngsters, and they don’t realize that they are practically invisible when cycling about like that. When you point it out to them, they’re very surprised and actually don’t believe me.
I think there should be some kind of class for cyclists where they are confronted with their radical and maybe even suicidal behavior. All those commercials on TV about using lights aren’t working.
And what kind of pisses me off is that, when an accident occurs, the driver is to blame. This doesn’t automatically mean that the driver has to pay for it all, that depends on various factors, including expectancy; if you could have expected a cyclist to be there. So most cyclists hear ‘drivers are always to blame’ and their systems shuts down, they go through red lights, without lights, in dark clothes even when weather circumstances are bad. So quiet frequently you’ll find me cursing behind the steering wheel.
But I have to be honest; there are just as many drivers that annoy me in the same way these suicidal cyclists do, but I’ll leave that for another day’s rant.
Jeff, Amber, Karen, Sarah, Stella
5 Comments on "Suicidal Cyclists"
That’s definitely reckless, but in my town, the drivers hit you because they are driving too fast to pay attention.
I prefer walking, or maybe taking the bus, but there should be classes on many different things.
Pretty much everyone here in Denmark also cycle. When I was younger I didn’t always have the lights on my bike but these days I do. When my daughter is older I am going to find her some of those lights you can leave on your bike so that at least isn’t a excuse. When I was a kid it was those huge lights – I wish we have had diodes.
Happy new year!
We have a class over here for it; cycling proficiency test. In my primary school you had to have one to be allowed to cycle to and from school, to prove you weren’t dangerous to yourself and others. It’s a very good idea. You had to pass the practical (which included going out on the roads) and then the written exam – which was basically health and safety.
Sounds to me like they are hoping to get hit by a car! That would drive me crazy too… but so do drivers. 
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I know someone who died because he was cycling at night and was hit by a car. He had no lights, no reflectors no visibility whatsoever and he has a wife and a young son. Then while I was living in London, this girl died just outside of our school in Hammersmith, hit by a truck on a zebra crossing.
Maybe they should have a class, but trying to talk to cyclists who refuse to think about safety and other people is like trying to talk to sex maniac teenagers about AIDS and family planning.