Horses and flashing front lights.

[Ming the Merciless]

[QUOTE 5038780, member: 9609"]he is actually morseing SAS, you're supposed to keep out of his way.[/QUOTE]

Surely SCS Special Cyclist Squadron

 

[Tin Pot]

This thread is very good.

I came here to rant, but I'm too busy crying with laughter.

 

[Maenchi]

count me in with 'don't agree with them' opinion and the 'cover my eyes' reaction.

 

[andrew_s]

Were the horses displaying lights?

headlight

tail light

 

[oldstrath]

[QUOTE 5039293, member: 9609"]never thought about the epilepsy angle - so you could have a situation where you use a flasher to get the attention of an inbound truck, the driver has a seizure swerves across the road and its Goodnight Vienna - not good

Have just calculated the flash rate of mine - 3.5Hz (30 flashes in 8.55sec) so just under the requirement, but just.

Only had it on for 2.7 miles the night - seen nobody, no cars, horse riders just some cattle in a field.[/QUOTE]
Truck driver really ought to know by now that he has photosensitive epilepsy, and probably shouldn't be driving ,- the list of possible triggers is a ot longer than just bike lights.

Having said that, I'm not really sure why one would use a flashing front light on unlit roads - surely a steady light is much better for seeing?

 

[Tom B]

Yes they are awful lights and horses hate them. You don't need 26 billlion nano watts to be seen.

Was it just me that had to calculate how many watts 26 billion nanowatts is....

I arrived at 26.

 

[EasyPeez]

Horses wear blinkers for safety reasons! They can see back along their own bodies, so what they can't see due to wearing blinkers, they can't shy at.

Whoosh?

 

[Tin Pot]

[QUOTE 5039561, member: 9609"]
I am not using the flash to see but to be seen. [/QUOTE]
The vast majority of drivers, reasonably attentive, will drive up to a cyclist in the dark entirely without lights, see them in the headlights and pass them, perhaps feeling mildly annoyed that the cyclist hasn't afforded them the common decency of having lights on.

The average driver who thinks peds and cyclists have no right to be on the road, is posting on pistonheads while eating a bowl of cereal and watching a movie, will run clean over your strobing quasar-strength light, you, into a field and back onto the road without pausing for thought.

At best it gives the headlines the opener "A cyclist, who had bright lights on, was hit and killed yesterday..."

Not that I'm a pessimist.

 

[ozboz]

Your girlfriend's a Centaur?!

Mmm, very droll,
An idiom in my day , perfectly accepted and understandable ,
However, if you must partially de- humanise the Girl , at least give her some courtousy and apply the feminine name for these mystical and mythological creatures, or, possibly your were unaware of this ?

 

[jefmcg]

Mmm, very droll,
An idiom in my day , perfectly accepted and understandable ,
However, if you must partially de- humanise the Girl , at least give her some courtousy and apply the feminine name for these mystical and mythological creatures, or, possibly your were unaware of this ?

Wow, really? You are going to complain about a throwaway joke about a centaur, which is not one the ways our society belittles women and immediately call a grown woman a "Girl", which is.

(yes, and I am sure she calls herself a girl, because society perpetually tells as that the most important attribute a woman can have is youth)

 

[ozboz]

Wow, really? You are going to complain about a throwaway joke about a centaur, which is not one the ways our society belittles women and immediately call a grown woman a "Girl", which is.

(yes, and I am sure she calls herself a girl, because society perpetually tells as that the most important attribute a woman can have is youth)

Yes really , I do complain about a throw away joke which in my opinion is derogatory to her as a person, a friends sister almost had her career ruined because of some smart arse and their throw away joke on Facebook was picked up by some nasty piece of work , (oops there goes another idiom ) and it escalated to the point where she ended up very close to resigning ,
And yes I call her Girl ,to my knowledge it is not cast in stone , ( oops , I'm at it again ) when there is cut of point in life that a female has to drop this if she does not wish , a term of endearment , from friends , family , lover ,

 

[Apollonius]

Riding a bridle path yesterday (in daylight) and came up behind a horse and rider. Started talking about 30m behind the horse and slowed right down. The rider moved left to let me pass. I said cheerfully, "I believe the best thing to do is to pass wide and slow and keep talking." "That is exactly right, thank you," she said. Everybody happy. Not difficult is it!

 

[classic33]

Were the horses displaying lights?

Tail light?

 

[oldstrath]

Riding a bridle path yesterday (in daylight) and came up behind a horse and rider. Started talking about 30m behind the horse and slowed right down. The rider moved left to let me pass. I said cheerfully, "I believe the best thing to do is to pass wide and slow and keep talking." "That is exactly right, thank you," she said. Everybody happy. Not difficult is it!

Except when they decide to ride on a narrow cycle path and the only way to pass "wide" would be in the field. So the rider demands you get off and walk because "you frighten my horse". Since the horse is way bigger than me and has metal shoes, I'm never clear why it's allegedly the frightened one.

Then the horse stops to deposit a load, which the arrogant twerp on top has no intention of clearing away.

 

[Ajax Bay]

asking someone to do a trivial thing like getting off their bike for a moment is nothing when compared with the fear and risk associated with being on board a bolting horse.

(Typing as a relatively capable horse rider (and having enjoyed the odd 'bolt') I sense an imbalance here. Perhaps if he/she is unsure of their horse, they should ("do a trivial thing" like) dismount and control their horse while the cyclist passes, pedalling or not. I think the issue of whether the route is a 'cycle' (or shared use) path or a bridleway also has a bearing on management of this need to pass one another.