Cyclists need to be made more aware of the dangers of riding on the road in low light conditions. This is the key message that comes from findings from a survey conducted by the Queensland University of Technology’s School of Optometry and Vision Science.
Philippe Lacherez, a post-doctoral fellow at QUT’s School of Optometry and Vision Science, surveyed 184, mainly Australian cyclists who had been involved in collisions with cars about the conditions surrounding the collision.
The results showed that in many cases the driver “looked, but didn’t see” the cyclist in time to avoid the collision.
“We found crashes disproportionately occurred during low-light conditions such as at dawn, dusk or at night. Only 34 per cent of cyclists in these low-light crashes were wearing reflective clothing and 19 per cent of them said they weren’t using bicycle lights at the time of the crash,” said Lacherez.
He warned fluoro clothing, while conspicuous during the day, was not visible in low light.
“Cyclists should add reflective strips to their knees and ankles because the pedalling movement makes light from the headlights bounce back to the driver making it easier to register they are there.
“Cyclists also need to wear a reflective vest and, of course, have lights on their bike to increase their chances of being seen in low-light as well as at night.”
