Light it up folks!
Bike lights have sure come a long way, baby. Â No more fiddling around with brackets & screwdrivers (unless you really want to) – you can now brighten up your ride in seconds with a couple colourful, rubberized & powerful LED wrap lights.
Although things are improving, I’ve been amazed at the number of folks that still don’t seem to care about or understand the importance of using bike lights when riding at night.  There’s a good reason it is a legal requirement of all cyclists – making yourself visible to drivers, pedestrians and your fellow riders decreases your chances of being in, or causing, a collision. Period.
While it’s always important to do our part as cyclists to be visible on the road, it becomes vital in inclement weather – snow and rain significantly reduce driver visibility and dramatically increase your chances of getting clipped because… “I just didn’t see you!”
But my lights keep getting stolen!
Yes, bike lights tend to be easy to steal and theft is often an excuse for not having them. Â That said, I’ve found a great system that can work for anyone.
- Both my front and back lights come on and off in a snap, and then hook nicely onto my caribeener with my keys.
- I put the lights on when I unlock my bike, and take them off when I lock it back up again.
- The keys & lights then get clipped onto my bag/belt-loop so that they’re always where I can find them, and ready to go. Â Highly recommend!
So, no lights? No excuse! Please do us all a favour and pay a quick visit to your local bike shop. Â You might even find the awesome lights that I just picked up – they come with a usb cable so that you can recharge them through your computer!!
You’re right Yvonne! No excuses! My solution is dynamo lighting in my front hub with wired lights. Though somewhat costly, they’re very reliable, and hard to steal. And I know they’ve saved my skin and maybe my life because they are continuous and BRIGHT. Car drivers usually give me a wide berth. Whew!
As a sometime car driver I am hyper aware of bicycle riders, but at night, bikes with no lights are putting themselves in extreme danger! Please, please everyone light your bikes! The brighter the better.
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Great point! This is one of the four key things to remember which I stressed in the defensive cycling essay “You own your spaceâ€, published the afternoon of Jenna Morrison’s death.
Lights are non-negotiable in what you must have before riding between dusk and dawn. If you really want to do it safely, use lights anytime it isn’t sunny or brightly cloudy (which only really happens in the summer months).
I have had lights stolen too — on one memorable occasion they got away with my seat, post, back light and all my tools. But I now keep a set of emergency lights on my helmet. If someone steals my bike light, I can make it home with my helmet lights.