I drive so little that I don't have any experiences with poorly visible cyclists on the road. But I do a lot of running along a path shared by cyclists and pedestrians. At dark, I look like a Christmas tree: high-vis jacket, head lamp, white and red million mile light on frong and back, respectivelly, and flashing armbands. It's unbelievable how many completely dark pedestrians and cyclists I encounter on my runs. Sometimes I don't see them until they enter my light cone, and I have to put serious effort into avoiding them. Everyone should be made wear reflexive elements at dark, regardless whether they plan on stepping on the road.
this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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Éire / Ireland
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Cars should all require high visibility paint since they are what kill people. Especially relevant during low visibility conditions.
I mean, fuck cars and all that but cars have lights on them.
yup, and daytime running lights (DRL) are becoming increasingly common.
They make no difference to safety in any of the studies I've seen. (there are differences, but not statistically significant - and some of the differences are cars become more dangerous)
Cars are more dangerous in general now than before, due to being larger and with worse blind spots. The point of this comment chain is that the visibility of the car makes no damn difference.
I saw someone comment on another platform that the helmet wasn't really necessary in Holland. Apparently it's because they have well-designed lanes where cars don't mince up cyclists on the daily.
Helmets and high-vis are a good idea, but surely this is just tinkering around the edges as long as we have politicians complaining about cycle lanes.
Someone living in Amsterdam for 4+ years here: no one wears helmets and it’s very safe to do so because yes, you pretty much never share the road with cars, or if you do they have to drive at 30 km/h max.
Thank you for confirming! It’s hard for many of us here to imagine safe cycling . I’m in my mid forties and it’s too common for traffic to pass so closely that the car mirror almost touches your elbow.
That is a pretty silly argument. You can fall and crack your skill while the bicycle is immobile. If you fall and land on your head it is dangerous without a helmet, regardless of whether any cars are involved.
That sounds incredibly unlikely. I’ve fallen twice, know others that have fallen multiple times (in much more dangerous situations than just standing still) and if your accident is just falling on the pavement you will most likely fall on your side which is a long way to get your skull cracked.
Compared to the danger of falling on pavement or asphalt, cars are like a billion times more likely to cause your skull to crack and even the best helmet will only do so much compared to just removing cars from where people bike.
Everyone should wear a helmet while near steps.
Mysteriously, when paint isn't counted as infrastructure, bikes have a better time of it. Who woulda thought?
Are they sure it isn’t because their skulls are thicker?
Cars should be sold without doors, to prevent people from getting killed.