Nobody wants to play “Spot The Cyclist”!
Maydown Traffic Police officers provided this cyclist on Dunhill Road with a high visibility jacket to get him home safely. Especially at this time of year, make sure you are easily seen, as shown in photo 2. #KeepingPeopleSafe pic.twitter.com/i8hE3eyfuw– NI Road Police and Safety (@NIRoadPolicing) 23 November 2021
This is the time of year when police forces and road safety groups think about what advice to give road users as night approaches. Usually that means lots of posts like the one above for the live blog …
Playing devil’s advocate, some might say that’s okay, at worst an awkwardly worded message that conveys a lesson most cyclists already know. However, there are an even larger number of responses that see it as victim-blame and all a bit unnecessary considering the number of stories we see of cyclists wearing hi-vis goggles killed or seriously injured. The Surrey Roads Police Unit is at the forefront of this argument … the Northern Ireland Road Police account is not.
– Girl on a Brompton and other bikes🚴ðŸ»â€â™€ï¸ (@girlonabrompton) November 24, 2021
The post asked cyclists to use high visibility, saying “no one wants to play Spot the Cyclist!” You could (without controversy) argue that it is the duty to everyone on the road to play at spotting the cyclist always. Either way, they said a hi-vis jacket was given to the person they spotted without. #KeepingPeopleSafe.
Reaction? Yeah, let’s do that …
You’re not keeping anyone safe with this garbage on Hiviz.
– CyclingMikey is fed up with crime on the road. (@MikeyCycling) November 24, 2021
How about addressing the fact that so few drivers can be bothered to play “Spot The Cyclist” even in broad daylight?
– Richard Hallett (@hallettrichard) November 24, 2021
So how come the 3 times I got knocked off my bike by riders, I wore hiviz and my bike lit up like a Christmas tree?
And yet I have never been bowled over wearing black … 🤔🤔
– John Lamb (@sheffieldlamby) November 24, 2021
And it’s not just the police force making a pop … as the clocks rolled back up, author Philip Pullman took to social media to complain about the “damn fools” who were driving through Oxford at full speed on bikes without light or high visibility …
How many weeks before the clocks move again?
