GET A LIGHT!

See the rest of this amazing comic, from the ever Talented BikeyFace.  Get some awesome prints of her great work here, tell her BostonBiker sent you over.

I honestly don’t know what people are thinking, but you need lights.  You need a red one in the back, a white one in the front and you need to have them on and at full power.  Its dark 24 hours  a day now, so the USB rechargeable ones are nice, but I don’t care if you have to light the front and back of your bike on fire, you are 100% invisible without a light.

Reflectors are nice, but they don’t work for pedestrians or other cyclists, or if the car has its lights off, or if it comes at you from a strange angle….basically you need to be lit up like a gaudy Las Vegas sign all the time every day (seriously).

I almost ran into another cyclist the other day, there was a line of cars facing me (as I was going up the Longfellow towards Cambridge), and they had no lights or reflectors.  They were completely invisible until I was about 3-5 feet from them.  Similarly some crazy ass runner did the same thing, except he was running TOWARDS me.

All in all I would say in the last two or three weeks I have had more than a dozen close calls with people dressed totally in black riding or walking with NO LIGHTS.  (I think that pedestrians need lights as well, especially when out for a jog in the street, or when j-walking.)

Get em, use em, love em.  LIGHTS!

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Cyclist Leads Police On Bike Chase

And gets all of about a half mile down the street before they catch him…come on dude, really?

Brookline Police arrested a Brighton man yesterday who allegedly ran a red light on his bicycle and lead police on a short pursuit in Coolidge Corner at rush hour.

John D. Keamy, 21, reportedly shook his head and said “no” to a police officer who told him to pull over after the cyclist allegedly rode through a red light at Harvard and Beacon Street at 6:14 p.m., according to Brookline Police.

Police said Keamy continued riding his bicycle north on Harvard Street as a police officer got into a marked car and began pursuing him with the vehicle’s blue lights flashing. Police said Keamy was passing the rush-hour traffic at a fast pace and weaving in and out of traffic without using hand signals while police chased after him.

Police Officer Lloyd Davis Jr. was then able to cut in front of Keamy’s bicycle with his police cruiser just before Thorndike Street, and when Davis got out of the car and ran toward the bike, Keamy finally stopped for police, according to the police report.(via)

I am disappointed in you for four reasons, 1, You ran a red light. 2. You did so while a bunch of cops were watching. 3. You failed to stop when the cops ordered you to (most likely they would have given you a warning). And 4, you couldn’t make it more than half a mile in rush hour traffic?!?!

Weak sauce on all counts, you sir are right out.

(thanks to Ron for the tip)

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