Bicycle lights and lighting-up time

[neuron]

My neighbours 11 year old daughter got stopped yesterday by a police officer while she was riding her bike. The officer told her that she should not be riding the bike without working headlights. Because of this, the officer forbade her from riding the bike and told her to walk the bicycle home.

Now the bike was purchased recently and the girl's mother intended only allowing her daughter to ride during daylight hours. The mother was aware of the need to have headlights if the bike was on the road in the dark.

The trouble is, the girl was stopped at 5.00pm in broad daylight!

Is this a case of an over-zealous police officer at work? What are the rules about the time headlights are required to be switched on on a bike? Has this got anything to do with lighting up time?

I should explain that I'm not a driver myself and I'm rather unfamiliar with all this.

Many thanks.

[neuron]

Just to clarify, I should have made clear that headlights had not been fitted to the bike.

[dot.hawkes]

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/03.htm

[neuron]

Thanks dot

I can appreciate the common-sense rules specified in the Highway Code.

The fact still remains that the bike was being ridden in broad-daylight and the Highway Code mentions the need for lights "at night".

When does "night" begin? How does "night" vary between seasons? Am I back to this "lighting-up" time?

[oldwoman]

If it becomes foggy a car would be expected to put lights on . So in the same respect to be safe on a bike you would need lights to be fitted for such an eventuality.

[Toureman]

The policeman was just being a bullying officious prat, pity the child was not old enough to get his number so he could be reported.

Bikes are not required to have a working "headlight", at night they should have a white light at the front and a red light at the rear, there are no rules about "headlights"

Look at other bikes on the road, very few have any lights fitted.

[kempie]

In regard of the definition of "at night";

The regulations cited in the Highway Code (namely The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989) make the use of front and rear position lamps compulsory on vehicles (such as bicycles) during the period between sunset and sunrise.

Incidentally, headlamps are required on specified vehicles during the hours of darkness which are defined by these regulations as being the interval between one half-hour after sunset to one half-hour before sunrise. The phrase "hours of darkness" is now used instead of "lighting-up time".

Lights are also required at other times when visibility is restricted.

Sunrise and sunset are defined by these regulations as local sunrise and sunset.

Currently, sunset in the UK is approximately 6:50pm (East) to 7:30pm (West).

[neuron]

I see what you mean oldwoman - its a good point.. I can also see what Toureman is getting at.

I agree that very few bikes on the road have lights nowadays and the girl does seem to have been picked on.

The problem is that even if she had got this officer's number, we'd have to know our facts before we got to the cop shop to complain.

Could the police argue that "night" as laid down down in the Highway Code begins as early as 5.00pm? What does "night" mean in this context?

There was no question of poor visibility - the sun was shining brightly.

[neuron]

Thanks for that kempie. I was typing my post as you submitted yours and I did not see it in time.

Given the information you supplied, in good visibility, it looks like the officer would have been wrong to admonish her before about 7.20pm at the very earliest.

As far as visibility goes, I'm confident the child would not have gone out during foggy conditions and her mother has confirmed she would have been called in during fog or other restricted visibility.

It now seems that it's perfectly acceptable to ride a bike without lamps and reflectors as long as your not out and about between one half-hour after sunset to one half-hour before sunrise and conditions do not warrant lamps and reflectors.

If only she'd got that officer's number!

[Catso]

I agree with the general consensus above, that the officer was being over zealous.

But on the other hand, as a car driver, the number of kids on bikes I see riding around in the dark without lights frightens me. They zip on and off pavements, across crossings, shoot out of side roads. One day, I'm not going to see one of them...

I'd like it to be compulsory for all bikes to have working lights, but obviously, that's never going to happen.

[dannydingbat]

While I am not qualified to contradict anything said aboe, I was told many years ago when I was training as a policeman that a bicycle has to be equipped with lights WHENEVER IT IS IN USE unless it is only used during the day and in good lighting. It is assumed that it can start raining at any moment during your journey and/or circumstances will prevent you from returning home before dark.

This from DfT website

"The only case of exemption from regulations is for cycles which are used ONLY in good visibility during daytime. These cycles are not required to be fitted with lights."

So they all have to be fitted with lights all the time, except those referred to above.

Over zealous, yes, but a step in the right direction. How many parents buy bikes for their kids without knowing what the law is and without making sure their kids can ride them properly.

[kempie]

dannydingbat - relevant extracts from the LVLR:

Exemptions�General
4.�(3) Nothing in these Regulations shall require any lamp or reflector to be fitted between sunrise and sunset to-
(c) a pedal cycle

Requirements about the use of front and rear position lamps
24.�(1) Save as provided in paragraphs (5) and (9), no person shall-
(a) use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road any vehicle which is in motion-
(i) between sunset and sunrise, or
(ii) in seriously reduced visibility between sunrise and sunset; or
(b) allow to remain at rest, or cause or permit to be allowed to remain at rest, on a road any vehicle between sunset and sunrise
unless every front position lamp, rear position lamp, rear registration plate lamp, side marker lamp and end-outline marker lamp with which the vehicle is required by these Regulations to be fitted is kept lit and unobscured.

(9) Paragraph (1) does not apply in respect of-
(a) a solo motor bicycle or a pedal cycle being pushed along the left-hand edge of a carriageway;
(b) a pedal cycle waiting to proceed provided it is kept to the left-hand or near side edge of a carriageway;

All of this can be interpreted thus...

Pedal cycles are not required to be fitted with lights during the daytime even when there is reduced visibility.
If the cycle has lights fitted in daytime they MUST be used when there is reduced visibility.
Lights MUST be fitted at night and MUST be lit when the cycle is being ridden.
At night, if you wish to proceed with fitted lights not being lit, the law requires that you dismount the cycle and push it along the left-hand edge of the carriageway.

Another way of saying "...all of the time, except..." is "some of the time".

[WendyS]

Whilst your neighbour's daughter may have been riding her bike home in brilliant daylight, she might also have been delayed somewhere and accidentally found herself having to ride home in the dark. In four weeks' time when the clocks come forward, it will be dark at 5 p.m. and this girl will be riding her bike illegally (and extremely unsafely).

Now, don't you think this policeman was doing your neighbour's daughter a favour in highlighting the situation now, while there is time for the incident to have caused enough attention for the matter to be taken seriously and rectified? ?

Your neighbour would not be complaining so loudly if this policeman's action has saved her daughter from being run down and killed by a motorist who couldn't see her cycling along in the shadows. I'm surprised that any parent would let a child ride any bike on the public highways that wasn't also suitable for being ridden after dark if a child was delayed and caught out by the light fading.

As a motorist I have lost count of the number of times I've narrowly missed hitting a cyclist on a rural unlit road who was cycling without lights. And right now is a very vulnerable time. Kids are used to being out in daylight, but at the end of October when the clocks come forward it will be a different story and that's where the danger lies.

[juddlinski]

If your neighbour wants to prove a point she can send her daughter out with no lights on the bike until she gets run over.

Or - here's a crazy alternative - GET LIGHTS FOR THE BIKE AND STOP ENDANGERING YOUR DAUGHTERS LIFE.

this country.

[dhde]

kempie:

I've read your excellent post carefully. It just shows how important is to go back to the legislation to try and figure out precisely what the law is.

However, maybe I'd like to clarify one point. You say:

"If the cycle has lights fitted in daytime they MUST be used when there is reduced visibility. "

The legislation says:

"...unless every front position lamp, rear position lamp, rear registration plate lamp, side marker lamp and end-outline marker lamp with which the vehicle is required by these Regulations to be fitted is kept lit and unobscured."

My query is that during daytime the regulations do not require you to fix lights to your bike...so as these lights are not "required by these Regulations", they don't need to be kept lit.

So I don't think, perhaps, your assertion is correct.

What do you think about that?