Absolutely. Am sick to death of seeing people wearing dark clothing riding a bike with no lights whatsoever.
I fell off my bike a few years ago. I was probably travelling at less than 10 mph and hit a black ice patch of road. Would have been in all sorts of trouble if I hadn’t been wearing a helmet.
Exactly and the same as me you could easily have sustained a head injury that could have been life-changing or worse. With me it wasn’t even legislation for motorcyclists at the time but fortunately I did wear a crash helmet. After the accident I had, one side of the helmet was worn away to the lining, where I skidded across the road, up the kerb and into a brick wall, need I say more?
Another time I did actually become involved in an accident with a cyclist. I was waiting at a T-junction, late one afternoon, and looked carefully left and right then slowly exited the junction, only to find right in front of me a young cyclist who unfortunately just clipped the front bumper. He fell off but was not injured so it was just a bent front wheel, which I paid to have replaced. He was wearing very dark clothes, the bike was black and the background opposite that T-junction was a wooden fence stained almost black. I simply did not see the cyclist against this, hence what happened. My fault entirely but it would not have happened had he worn something light-coloured or a high viz. jacket to be seen more easily. All in all not good but it could have been far worse.
I suspect that cyclists, scooterists etc seem to have forgotten that although they have perfect peripheral vision, and are also able to hear everything around them, vehicle drivers do not.
They alas lure themselves into a false sense of security.
It might also help them to understand the forces (and hence dangers) involved by pushing a car for a few yards, or indeed try in to stop a car rolling at very low speeds. It’s all too easy to forget just how blooming powerful vehicles are, and how we shouldn’t treat them quite so glibly!!
It is an unavoidable fact that there are many idiots on the roads and that some of them are cyclists.
The problem is that when an accident happens, it is usually someone’s fault.
That is why I believe it is essential these days to have a working dashcam.
If, as has been discussed, the accident is caused by a cyclist who is wearing dark clothes, riding an unlit bicycle in the dark and not taking care to be seen, then if he is hit by my car (unintentionally, of course) I feel that I should protect myself from any claims that it was my fault.
A dashcam provides evidence of the circumstances and records exactly what has happened.
We all need to take care on the roads and that includes cyclists, many of whom seem to think they are both indestructible and above the law.