Get Some F**king Lights

it depends were they on-call doctors?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_vehicle_lighting#Other_lights

Are those god awful pale green front lights I see some people using actually legal?

I doubt it - usually they're for doctor on call.

edit - hat with a beard beat me to it.

I usually wave to get their attention, do a flashing gesture with my hand and point at my light, repeat until they get the message.

Your pick-up technique is crude, Ed, but I can't help admire it.

These are the ones I'm referring too, they're piss poor.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-5-led-front-light/

Your pick-up technique is crude, Ed, but I can't help admire it.

Some people might mistook it for "beware, I have a vulva" rather than what I'm hoping for.

Don't think those are the green ones. If I recall, red ones came in first (for the back) and then green ones because at the time they couldn't make white LEDs. That was ages ago though, before your time.

reading the wiki page I linked it mentions amber lights...

Amber yellow lights

Amber lights grant no priority in traffic and exist purely to advertise the vehicle's presence. The Regulations specifies several classes of vehicles which may use amber lights, such as towing, highway maintenance, pilot vehicles escorting an oversize load, and vehicles unable to travel over 25 mph[30] and fitting these lights to other vehicles is technically illegal (although these beacons are widely fitted to vehicles as wide ranging as security and ambulances).

if this is the case why don't bicycles use amber lights to warn of their presence? I'd have thought this was the colour if any that should be used...

Some people might mistook it for "beware, I have a vulva" rather than what I'm hoping for.

More interesting to have a vulva than a volvo judging by the last few days.

Best light ever for £15: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/lights/product/laa883-light-32406

£12!! :http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RSP-Night-Burst-5-LED-Front-Bike-Light-2-Modes-LAA883-/150554315514?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item230dbc8afa

if this is the case why don't bicycles use amber lights to warn of their presence? I'd have thought this was the colour if any that should be used...

I did, I put them on the side of my trailer and pannier (when using trailer), much like a Volvo come to think of it.

you're ahead of your time mr scoble...

Is there widely accepted hand signal/gesture for other road users to warn them to turn their lights on? The I saw 4 cars on my way home today without either lights on...I must have been doing something wrong because none of them knew what I way trying to convey with my random waving of hands.
I try "flashing" them by covering and uncovering my light, but it's not very effective. Sometimes works if you're trying to tell someone to turn off full beams though.

Some people might mistook it for "beware, I have a vulva" rather than what I'm hoping for.

No, that's this:

A TV presenter I know told me that this gesture, known as 'the vulva' is to be avoided.

I try "flashing" them by covering and uncovering my light, but it's not very effective. Sometimes works if you're trying to tell someone to turn off full beams though.

I tend to just shout "LIGHTS" and point at mine. I have got a good set of lungs in ne though.

Hipster.

Knog skink - really bright, has been coated in grime and soaked and still going fine.

My Skink stopped working after 5 months of faithful service. Contacted Knog, they guarantee the lights for 2 years, so I simply emailed the eBay shop I bought it from, sent it back, and I have the replacement a few days later. New batteries as well! :-)

What's funny is 2 days after.posting that mine went on the blink. Still, may just.be the batteries swapped it out for my backup light will check it out when I have the chance.

All this talk about people riding around with flat or switched off lights? What about the people with flat tyres? Just seen a woman riding through bethnal green panniered up struggling along at walking pace cos her tyres were at maybe 10psi and just about on the rims?

Malaysian

People like that are there for me to make sarcastic remake to.

Fair one.

Anyone reading this that has been riding round London lightless the past few days. If you heard a northerner shouting "get some lights" at you as you rode past, that was me, and please do.

If you heard a northerner shouting "get some lights" at you as you rode past, that was me, and please do.

Or me...

reading the wiki page I linked it mentions amber lights...

if this is the case why don't bicycles use amber lights to warn of their presence? I'd have thought this was the colour if any that should be used...

no i still think white would be safer. amber is a warning light for being broken down or a change in normal driving. white is easier too see i find anyway.

what gets me is when being in a car around london, you realise how many cyclists dont have lights, or only have a rear light. i was in the car with my father this evening (6.30ish) and he almost pulled out on a cyclist who didnt have a front light. he was quite obviously into his cycling and not a fair weather, so why did he not have anything on him to help be more visable to other road users. the dark coat didnt help much!

i keep seeing things recently that give drivers reasons to hate cyclists

joe garcia recently inspired me to get a proper front light, one i could see by in the absence of streetlights, not just a visibility light. cheers joe

oh and i use the hand signal: rapidly opening and closing fist with palm facing driver

joe garcia recently inspired me to get a proper front light, one i could see by in the absence of streetlights, not just a visibility light. cheers joe

oh and i use the hand signal: rapidly opening and closing fist with palm facing driver

that's what I'd use too, but I think that Greeks would interpret that as 'eat shit'. I have not yet come up with a better version though. Perhaps if you make a fist (the car) and then extend the index and little fingers to represent the beams of the headlights?

Perhaps if you make a fist (the car) and then extend the index and little fingers to represent the beams of the headlights?

Moooooooo

that's what I'd use too, but I think that Greeks would interpret that as 'eat shit'. I have not yet come up with a better version though. Perhaps if you make a fist (the car) and then extend the index and little fingers to represent the beams of the headlights?

Whip your hair back and forth while you do this to indicate the whiplash injury that will occur after a crash is caused.