Cyclist going over board with lighting

glic71rods46t0

-Chris- wrote: »

But still, the law can't be seen to be unfair or uneven in it's punishment based on whether you'll have a driving licence or not.
I'm sure there'd be all sorts of challenges to the "convictions" if it was implemented.

That not how penalty points work - even for drivers, points work in lieu of a conviction:rolleyes:. You accept them without going to court. If you choose to challenge the imposition of points, just like a driver does now, you can take your chances with a court appearance and possible conviction (no inverted comma's) at court

BostonB

Limerick man wrote: »

It was on his head , what ever it was. I'm not a man to lie just for a forum post, I genuinely could not see a thing, it was a very, very blinding light. Maybe he/she was looking at me as I drove close and it followed his head and beamed straight at me, but it was lethal. I wouldn't want to crash into a poxy tree :mad:

A lot of cars have dims which are too bright also, those blue white zenons.

Must be carnage out there for trees at the moment.

Chinasea

Check out the stats for fatal accidents with cyclists - don;t have the figures but I know they are above average in Ireland.

Cycling is a great way of getting around and should be embraced not scourned upon. Now that we can buy cheaper lights in the Euro shops we are seeing much more cyclists using lighting which is drawing more attention to them. If you were to go back 20 years ago many cyclists had no lights on their bikes whatsoever and were knocked down or almost invisable.

glic71rods46t0

BostonB wrote: »

A lot of cars have dims which are too bright also, those blue white zenons.

Must be carnage out there for trees at the moment.

If they were focussed and aimed at a drivers eyes then maybe. Car lights are fixed and focussed to illuminate a wide area in front of the car but are talking about cyclists with randomly aimed led lights that can end up been shone directly at drivers' eyes

-Chris-

t3kcan527jmfwy wrote: »

That not how penalty points work - even for drivers, points work in lieu of a conviction:rolleyes:. You accept them without going to court. If you choose to challenge the imposition of points, just like a driver does now, you can take your chances with a court appearance and possible conviction (no inverted comma's) at court

That's funny, I thought that the situation was that each offence had a set amount of points attached to it (e.g. 4 points for speeding), which were reduced if you accepted the fixed penalty notice and saved the courts time (unless the offence is of such a nature that they can't offer a reduced amount of points).

I put Conviction in inverted commas because there is probably a legal definition of Conviction which some pedantic poster would have pulled me up on.

BostonB

t3kcan527jmfwy wrote: »

If they were focussed and aimed at a drivers eyes then maybe. Car lights are fixed and focussed to illuminate a wide area in front of the car but are talking about cyclists with randomly aimed led lights that can end up been shone directly at drivers' eyes

As can cars, as the roads aren't perfectly level and many cars have badly adjusted lights.

It the same thing.

Goose81

There needs to be a meet half way situation here.

Clearly cyclists having lights and high vis jackets is a great thing and helps everybody, however if some of these head lamps are as dangerous as being said, then the gardai (esp on bikes) need to step up and call some of these cyclists up on it.

BostonB

Do if for the cars first.

glic71rods46t0

-Chris- wrote: »

That's funny, I thought that the situation was that each offence had a set amount of points attached to it (e.g. 4 points for speeding), which were reduced if you accepted the fixed penalty notice and saved the courts time (unless the offence is of such a nature that they can't offer a reduced amount of points).

I put Conviction in inverted commas because there is probably a legal definition of Conviction which some pedantic poster would have pulled me up on.

Nothing funny about it at all.
You are correct, sort of - if a driver accepts the imposition of penalty points, he/she does not have to go to court and get a conviction.
Imagine having a legal definition for a legal concept like conviction:rolleyes: Yeah, the pedants will be all over you for that one.

My point was and is that penalty points being extended to cycling offences will improve cyclist behaviour on our roads mainly by:

• encouraging gardai to pull cyclists for rule breaking without the necessity of having to bring them to court (unless they dot accept the imposition of points)
• cyclists wont like paying fines
• Cyclist motorists will not risk their licence
• Cyclist who wish to become motorists in the future i.e. young people, will not risk the chance of being able to drive when they're old enough
• It will place cycling infringements on an equal footing as motoring offences - cyclist like equality on the roads, lets give it to them!

glic71rods46t0

BostonB wrote: »

As can cars, as the roads aren't perfectly level and many cars have badly adjusted lights.

It the same thing.

The NCT does it for cars with badly adjusted lights. Nothing for cyclists though. Definitely time for tightening up on this issue

Del2005

-Chris- wrote: »

What happens if some doesn't have, and never intends to get, a driver's licence?

The punishment for someone, who has (or will have) a licence, breaking the lights will be greater than the punishment for someone who doesn't have (and will never have) a licence.

It wouldn't really be fair imho.

There are plenty of motorists driving around who have no licence and never intend to. The law doesn't work for people who don't fear it.

But we can't shot down an idea because a tiny minority of people will never get a licence, the vast majority of people will eventually get a licence at some stage so points will work. Can you imagine a 17 year old ringing for their 1st insurance with a load of points for dangerous road use.

BostonB

t3kcan527jmfwy wrote: »

The NCT does it for cars with badly adjusted lights. Nothing for cyclists though. Definitely time for tightening up on this issue

Have an NCT for bicycles then if you think it works for cars.

ciotog

Goose81 wrote: »

There needs to be a meet half way situation here.

Clearly cyclists having lights and high vis jackets is a great thing and helps everybody, however if some of these head lamps are as dangerous as being said, then the gardai (esp on bikes) need to step up and call some of these cyclists up on it.

The whole area of enforcement is poor and I can't see this particular issue getting much of a response from Gardai. So, I'm wondering if this is an issue where people speak up i.e. discuss it with the cyclist as mentioned earlier on the thread. Chances are the cyclist is local to the area so you're going to meet them again at some point. As pointed out, if they're made aware of it they're probably going to respond positively. Most cyclists I know (granted I'm in the cycling advocacy community) are very much aware of the issue of not being seen. These super bright lights are an over-reaction to that which is well intentioned but obviously problematic.

BostonB

Should try that with some local drivers see how they respond.