Crap cycle lights

Image courtesy of tredz.co.uk

Why are so many cyclists using little, infective or no lights? 

The road I use to get home at night is heavily populated by cyclists. These range from elderly commuters, guys on £100 full suspension MTB bobbing up and down (!) to chain gangs of roadies on a club run....

Image courtesy of kevela.co.uk

Generally speaking...all the above have a dazzlingly bright head light up the front...This seems to be where the money is spent...but naff all up the back!! 99% of the time nothing on the side either! The most common up the back is a cheap little £3.00 flashing LED the like of which are intended to be used as supplementary lighting. These are normally either dirty, dim because of a low battery, pointing at the floor or otherwise obscured by the tyre/clothing etc. 

People know the law of the land says they must have one so as long as there is a red light on the bike that's fine...... sod the minimum requirements & protect yourself! 

One chap I often see has two mega bright lights on the back of his bike...but they are attached to the bottom of the seat stays which is far too low so hard to spot...he's also a kerb hugger so prone to randomly riding into the lane without looking/indicating when there is a parked car/debris.

As a side note, it's amazing how much you see that actually....cyclists hugging the kerb but not anticipating hazards up ahead so they go from 3 inches from the kerb so swerving around a car with no warning, rather then seeing it ahead, checking behind, indicating & taking the lane well ahead of obstacle. 

Come in people, lights are not that expensive...get a decent rear...Ideally a flasher and a static light. Flashing lights are great for getting drivers to spot you but they make it very hard to judge distance/speed etc...a static light solves this problem...same on the front. Keep them visible & well maintained (battery in a smoke alarm comes to mind yadda yadda) 

And to the cyclist I nearly hit with my car last night when I was pulling away from the kerb....Had I not checked my blind spot and saw your unlit self I would have squashed you. If you had lights however I would have seen you in my mirror just before I checked over my shoulder!!!!! Oh but wait, you didn't need lights because you had a hi-vis vest on (shame it was covered by a rucksack, and as it was dark no UV light to make it stand out) nice one. :D

Rant over! :)