Bicycle bells

I think they have to be sold with an "audible warning device" but you can remove it, provided you have another, such as your voice ...

Whatever it is its stupid. Just look at this scenario. Pavements are for pedestrians I propose we allow people who have never even read the highway code to ride an inherently unstable two wheeled foot powered vehicle with no test whatsoever on the public roads. They do not have to have lights or a warning device, though these are strongly encouraged. Spool forward to today. We are now building cycle ways to allow side unstable ill trained people to avoid traffic, but in some cases they have to share the footway with pedestrians. Many older people are a bit hard of hearing and or blind as well. They feel safe often a footway, and road crossings that have lights have a nice rotating cone under the bottom box indicating when its safe to cross. However, town centre designers think its a great idea to remove curbs and other edge of road landmarks and allow all footway and road users to mingle. Where is the health and safety mob when you need them. The upshot of all of this is that people who walk go elsewhere, and shops close, those who do brave it get hit by cars, vans and bicycles, bicycles are also hit in the shared areas, what is the point of segregating them on the road if you are going to allow them all to mix further down. Is this some plot to maim and kill people? Brian

Ah that explains the get out of the f*cking way sound one hears a lot. Brian

We regularly walk the dog along towpaths and bits of shared use cycle highway pathways and I'd say maybe 50% of the cyclists use their bells (assuming they have them) 'ideally', as I feel we did when we were regularly cycling along such paths.

That is, if you are approaching people (and especially with dogs off the lead or on recoiling leads) from behind then you would ring the bell at such a distance that 1) the people are likely to hear it and if going at a 'reasonable pace (for such shared use tracks), far enough away to give the people chance to react and gather their dog(s) etc.

We had this several times of our ~3.5 mile dogwalk yesterday and it works very well.

The Lycra racers aren't welcomed on the towpath or Parks in any case but many will ring their bell, even if they are often going too fast for us to react with any confidence / effect (recalling the dog etc).

Most cyclists will acknowledge when you have given them free passage and / managed the dog with a 'thanks' (that we respond to with 'you are welcome' or somesuch). ;-)

There is rarely an issue when the cyclists (or joggers etc) are coming from the front of us as we obviously have time to move to one side and make sure the dog is close [1].

Only once have I been 'clipped' by a cyclist approaching silent and fast from behind and may have been knocked over, if I wasn't quite so substantial.

There is a similar sort of unspoken rule when approaching other dog walkers (you rarely seem to overtake each other).

If their dog is off the lead then it is generally accepted that yours can be too, on the general understanding that any dog let off the lead is going to be reasonably well behaved.

When we first rescued ours, we would react (generally just bark loudly at) everyone who came within 10m of us and would act like a nutter when passing other dongs when on his lead. We would never let him off if a cyclist was coming past and certainly not a jogger.

Just a year on and he generally takes no notice of joggers, cyclists or other people, especially if he has seen them coming. He is also much much better with other dogs, especially if both / all are off their leads, rarely even doing much than just running up to them, braking hard and them doing their normal sniffing / greeting before 1) playing / running or 2) just walking past.

Whilst he may only be a terrier / something (Hyena?) mix, he is pretty bright. It only took two dog sausages cut into small bits to teach him to press a reception type bell with his paw (anyone remember Hector on Breaking Bad). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

AIUI it wasn't a legal requirement, but all new bikes for the last few years have to be sold with one fitted.

Personally it's the first thing I remove. I don't believe it is a legal requirement to have one fitted.

I find bike bells rude, and mostly useless. If I need to warn someone when cycling, I have a voice, and can ask "excuse me".

The legal requirement was and still is to have an audible warning device. However, the meaning of that was challenged in Court and it was ruled that the human voice counted as an audible warning device.

Shame so many motorists park on it.

I had a horn with a squeezy rubber bulb :-)

Owain

That's to stop the cyclists riding on them. Would you rather a pedestrian be run down by a cyclist or run down by a stationary car?

More likely to be run over by a moving car when they have to walk around it.

And give the old folk a heart attack.

Its modern bicycle lights that bug me. Blindingly bright and often flashing! Why? We often hear warnings on TV news etc. of flashing lights which may upset folk with Photosensitive epilepsy. What effect could bloody flashing bike lights have on an oncoming epileptic driver?

Mike

Best warning device would be a klaxon from a 1950s bus. Adrenaline is brown!

Mine didn't come off a bus but was very effective!

Probably pre-war - I can't remember how I came by it - and completely pitted with rust but a drop of oil was allit needed. About 4" in diameter

Lever projecting upwards with a dome on the top.

Press down sharply against spring tension with palm of hand and release.

Serrated flywheel spins at high speed and hits against the screw in the centre of the diaphram.

Nobody could say they didn't hear it!

Quite agree some are brighter than a car head light on main beam. On coming cyclist(s) with such light(s) tends to get the benefit of my main beam.

Attract attention, which is no bad thing but not when the light is causing dazzle. A short single pulse at about 1 Hz is all that is required. I have sneaky suspiscion that to be legal bike lights should be steady and not cause dazzle. I don't think the law precludes the use of flashing lights but they can't be the only lights.

Not sure you're allowed to drive if you have photosensitive elipesy. Low sun and regular spaced objects...?

I think the idea is that they conserve energy whilst drawing more attention to their existence.

If they cause discomfort to others then I believe are illegal.

I've never had a flashing light on a cycle that was anything other than a marker (so more of a flashing 'thing' / lens than a beam as such). Most of my bikes have real lights with a main beam and dip, that I use to see where I'm going, not impact others.

Not good I shouldn't imagine (and therefore not good for the cyclist either).

The thing is, as a regular pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist and car driver I can see what some see, or how they are treated (often bullied) by other, typically bigger vehicles.

Once you have been pushed onto the pavement on your cycle [1] by people who then say they didn't see you, might make you go OTT when it comes to making sure you *are* seen.

Similar with us on the tandem. They 'see' cycle and assume it's only doing ~12 mph, not 20 ... and so try to overtake whilst (say) approaching a keep left bollard and rather than backing off (overtaking vehicle keeps clear), they cut you up because you are 'only' a cycle.

And another reason to be OTT might be that with car V cycle, it's rarely the cycle comes off best, even when they are in the right.

Cheers, T i m

Yup.

I will often change what's fitted for something more suitable and supplement that with an airhorn.

When sold it is, not thereafter.

That may depend where you are and how you use them.

If say on a towpath and approaching someone from behind, a single 'Ting' (or dring) is taken by most people in that situation to mean 'please be aware I am behind you and likely to be coming past soon'.

I have never been offended (nor has anyone I've spoken to on the matter) by such use in such situations.

However, if they wait till they are right on top of you then sound the bell like an old Fire Engine, then yes it's being used more aggressively and would be considered so by most. Kids tend to do this but you give them leeway because 1) at least they are trying to do what they are told and 2) better that then they run into our dog or end up in the canal (and not just because we put them there for running into our dog). <weg>

Then you might not be using it correctly or are in situations where it's unlikely to work well?

Well, if you were to 'ask' with most of the elderly who are walking the towpaths round here you would end up asking directly to the back of their heads before they heard you.

A 'ding ding' however carries a lot better without having to be loud and is more recognisable by most as to be a polite indicator of your presence (or so I've experienced / observed).

The airhorn is reserved for car drivers who seem oblivious to your presence. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Nonsense. Pedestrians will look for cars when stepping off the pavement, just as they wait for pedestrian crossing lights to go green. Of course, when using crossings pedestrians have to take into account the retarded cyclist who thinks traffic lights are there solely to stop cars.

Rubbish. A bike tells the pedestrian that a bike is in the offing.

Whereupon I look around to find the little old lady or small child wanting to ask a question. I don't expect a bicycle.