Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

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Phil Fouracre
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by Phil Fouracre »

Simple really, if the sun is low, use the car sun visor and drive slower!!!
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ANTONISH
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by ANTONISH »

I keep a cap with a long peak in my car. It definitely helps with the sun at low angles.
It does look somewhat incongruous on one of my years :(
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Plus One for walking instead of cycling sometimes

Closing one eye might help when one is dazzled. I always have my sun visor down
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mjr
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by mjr »

ambodach wrote:With low sun my only routes for heading out cycling head roughly SE straight into the blinding sun. If I have difficulty seeing I have no confidence in dozy drivers so go for a walk instead.

I assume that means you have walking routes in other directions, so couldn't you walk the bike out along one and start from wherever they go?

Times like this, I'm glad of the kerb between cycleway and carriageway around here, even if it's only a low one. At least I'll probably hear a blind motorist scrape their vehicle up it and have time to hit the ditch!
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ChrisButch
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by ChrisButch »

Phil Fouracre wrote:Simple really, if the sun is low, use the car sun visor and drive slower!!!

Unfortunately too many people seem to assume that the sun visor fitted in the car will be enough, but very often it isn't. The visors in most cars cover only a small area - when the sun appears below the bottom edge or to the side they become useless. Hence the need to have to hand something like the visor caps I mentioned earlier.
pwa
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by pwa »

ChrisButch wrote:
Phil Fouracre wrote:Simple really, if the sun is low, use the car sun visor and drive slower!!!

Unfortunately too many people seem to assume that the sun visor fitted in the car will be enough, but very often it isn't. The visors in most cars cover only a small area - when the sun appears below the bottom edge or to the side they become useless. Hence the need to have to hand something like the visor caps I mentioned earlier.

A couple of weeks ago I was out with my daughter who was practising for her driving test and after a period of rain the sun came out. We had the glare of the sun itself and reflected glare from the wet road surface.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Poor bloke even if its just a knock and nothing broken.
I squished my pelvis a year ago and I struggled home and could not bear weight on one leg unaided for over two weeks, fortunately it cleared up completely, age was not a reason my GP said.(60)

This 71 year old may well not ever get back to any fitness.
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ambodach
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by ambodach »

mjr wrote: 27 Nov 2018, 1:24pm
ambodach wrote:With low sun my only routes for heading out cycling head roughly SE straight into the blinding sun. If I have difficulty seeing I have no confidence in dozy drivers so go for a walk instead.
I assume that means you have walking routes in other directions, so couldn't you walk the bike out along one and start from wherever they go?

Times like this, I'm glad of the kerb between cycleway and carriageway around here, even if it's only a low one. At least I'll probably hear a blind motorist scrape their vehicle up it and have time to hit the ditch!
I ride a trike and my current one is not suitable for offroad so I could take the trike in the car about 12 miles away to a safer bit but this is not often easy and certainly not environmentally friendly.
fastpedaller
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by fastpedaller »

pwa wrote: 27 Nov 2018, 8:27am
Low sunlight can be made worse by crud on the inside of the windscreen. Anyone got any really effective way of cleaning the inside? I've spent ages trying to get ours clean in the past and not been 100% satisfied with the results.
A proprietary window cleaner solution may be the answer, or water with a dash of methylated spirits mixer in ...... and keep using a clean bit of the cloth otherwise it's easy to 'move the grease around'. I suspect some diesel fumes or similar come in through the vents. When I clean the windscreen on my wife's car I tend to use about 4 sheets of kitchen roll.
cycle tramp
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by cycle tramp »

Yeah absolutely...

I always keep this in mind. Last Thursday a car pulled out of their driveway, I had the the sun behind me, and was almost hit...

.. equally cycling slowly up a bridge, during one spring evening, I failed to see a man and his dog, until the last few metres, simply because the setting sun behind him..

....nazis war planes used the sun for for the same effect...

If you read Guy Martin, he writes about driving around a corner and smashing his van into the back of a parked vehicle - as he rounded the corner he was blinded by the sun. Apparently the police arrived and were thinking of charging him for driving without undue care and attention when during the time they were speaking with him, another vehicle rounded the same corner and also smashed into the parked vehicle..

..personally I try not to go out during periods of low sun, but like last Thursday the weather was too good not to.
It's time to go :-)
ANTONISH
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by ANTONISH »

cycle tramp wrote: 29 Nov 2022, 5:53pm

....nazis war planes used the sun for for the same effect...

I'm sure Biggles did that as well
pete75
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by pete75 »

cycle tramp wrote: 29 Nov 2022, 5:53pm
....nazis war planes used the sun for for the same effect...

Actually it was the pilots who did that. All competent fighter pilots did it, regardless of their political party membership.
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fastpedaller
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by fastpedaller »

If the sun is low it's worth either keeping the visor down for the complete journey, or being aware of where the sun is and putting the visor down before turning the corner.
ANTONISH
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by ANTONISH »

fastpedaller wrote: 30 Nov 2022, 4:30pm If the sun is low it's worth either keeping the visor down for the complete journey, or being aware of where the sun is and putting the visor down before turning the corner.
I do that - unfortunately my stature doesn't place me high enough, hence my long peaked cap which I don whenever the sun is low.
There is no good reason why a driver should be dazzled.
fastpedaller
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Re: Cyclist In Collision Low Sunlight A Factor.

Post by fastpedaller »

ANTONISH wrote: 30 Nov 2022, 6:30pm
fastpedaller wrote: 30 Nov 2022, 4:30pm If the sun is low it's worth either keeping the visor down for the complete journey, or being aware of where the sun is and putting the visor down before turning the corner.
I do that - unfortunately my stature doesn't place me high enough, hence my long peaked cap which I don whenever the sun is low.
There is no good reason why a driver should be dazzled.
But try getting a jury to believe that :(
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