Tuesday 30 October 2018

On why it is important to have bike lights at night

Biking home from work yesterday (October 29) at around 6:30 PM, the police were stopping westbound cyclists opposite the Vendôme Metro station. (I was going East.) From the body language, I believe they were doing a safety blitz telling people to have proper lights and reflectors as nights are coming earlier. And I could be wrong.* It is definitely the time for it and there is a lot of need for it.

So it was with some amusement that I saw this CBC news article about two wanted men being nabbed because they were spotted riding their bikes at night with no lights. There is something ironic in this as they drew attention to themselves by not drawing attention to themselves! ;-)

*Addendum:
My route home yesterday (November 1st) took me to the corner of de Maisonneuve and Atwater. There was this sign right next to bike path.
So I think I was right.

Because it didn't fit the flow of the post, I left out that the cyclist behind me in front of Vendome had asked me what I thought the police were up to. When I told him, he concurred and said that he often yelled "Lights!" at unlit cyclists.