There's a good little article in Albury-Wodonga's Border Mail today, noting the winter solstice with a road safety angle:
With limited hours of daylight, Border cyclists and motorists have been urged to commute with caution.
Albury policeís Insp Richard Harvey said people needed to change their habits to adjust to the minimal peak-hour visibility.
"5pm is when a lot of traffic builds up and pedestrians, cyclists and motorists need to be prepared for night time conditions," he said.
A recent Bicycle Victoria survey found that more than a quarter of bike riders rode at night with inadequate lighting.
I guess they mean the Shortest Day 2006 study, about which Harry Barber says:
"This is a very disappointing result. Riders need to lift their game. Cyclists riding on the road at night must have working front and rear lights."
Right on the money there Harry. It makes me both nervious and annoyed whenever I see cyclists out at night without lights.
The procedure
The study worked like this:
Bicycle Victoria volunteers surveyed six locations around the CBD between 5pm and 7pm between 7 and 14 June 2006.
The survey found 27% of cyclists riding at night with inadequate lights, 15% had no lights, a further 7% ride with a rear light only and 4% are riding with a front light only.
The survey showed that riders on St Kilda Road are more likely to have lights with more than 85% of riders had both front and rear lights.
On the other hand, 40% of the riders on Brunswick St had inadequate lights.
And the police cautioned a similar proportion of riders on Canning St. before sunrise this morning.
Other risks
Even off the road there are risks in having insufficient lighting. Riding on the trails during the colder months I usually have a few near-head-on encounters with other riders who don't have lights. This is seriously frightening stuff when it happens. And it annoys me all the more that their stupidity puts responsible riders at greater risk of injury.