Ready Kids › Getting Around Without a Car › Badge 3 › Lesson 3.1
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Dark
Set up front and rear lights and something reflective, and see for yourself what a driver can and cannot see.
1Watch
Driver's eyes
Driver's eyes
Through a windscreen at dusk on a suburban road. Two riders ahead, side by side. One in dark clothes with no lights is barely a shape. One with a white front, a red rear and reflective ankle bands is a moving pattern. The car is closing. Freeze as the unlit one starts to move out.
22 secondsYou can see both, because you know they are there. The driver only knows about one.
2The idea
Being able to see is not being seen
Street lights are enough for you to see the road. They are not enough for a driver to see you, because you are small, dark and moving against dark. A driver looking for cars may not register a shape your size at all until they are on top of it.
Lights are for them, not you. Reflective bands on ankles and wrists move as you pedal, and moving light is what the eye catches. Yes, they look ridiculous. So does a cast.
3The steps
The set-up, and the law
Front: a white light, on, pointing slightly down.
Back: a red light, on, and visible past your bag and your coat.
Moving reflective: bands on both ankles, or reflective pedals, plus something on your body or bag.
Charged: both lights before you leave, not at ten percent.
Told: a parent knows you are out after dark.
Many places require the front and rear lights by law once it is dark or dusk. The reflectors are what you add because you would rather be seen than be within the law.
4Worked example
50 metres, from the driver's seat
A car doing 30 mph covers 50 metres in under four seconds. Dark hoodie, no lights: the driver picks you out somewhere around 20 metres, if they do. That is about a second and a half. Not enough to slow, barely enough to swerve.
Red rear light on: a small light is visible from several hundred metres on a clear night. Ankle bands: they flash in the headlights as soon as the beam reaches them, and the up-and-down says bicycle. The driver now has ten seconds instead of one and a half.
5Your turn
Lit and unlit
Lit and unlit
The same rider on the same street at dusk. Toggle front light, rear light, reflective bands and a bright jacket. The view is from a driver's seat 50 metres back, and a readout shows the distance at which the rider first appears.
Try dark clothes and nothing else first. Then add one thing at a time.
6Decide
Which one does the driver see first?
Pick one to carry on.
7Look
The set-up
The set-up
A bike side-on: a white front light on the bars, a red rear light on the seat post, reflective strips on the pedals, and reflective ankle bands on the rider.
Check the rear light is not hidden by a bag or a coat tail. It is the one that gets covered, and it is the one facing the traffic that matters.
8Find them
Which of these need to be true before you ride after dark?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 5.
9Say it
The sentence at the door
Say it as you switch them on
“Lights are for them, not for me.”
You will be tempted to skip them on a street you know. The driver does not know you.
10Do it
Before you leave this page
At dusk, put on what you would ride in and stand at the end of your street. Have a parent walk 50 metres away, about 60 big steps, turn round and tell you honestly what they can see. Then add the lights and ask again.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
White light front, red light back, and something that shines when a headlight hits it. If you cannot be seen at 50 metres, you are not ready.
Next lesson: Wet and loose