Stay visible while cycling at night
When the days are shorter it is more important than ever to ensure your bicycle is not only road worthy but also kitted correctly for night use.
There are also several legal requirements you must adhere to when thinking about taking your bike out at night:
Cycling and the law
If you are on the roads when it’s dark your bicycle is legally required to have both lights and reflectors fitted.
- Your front light must be white and have a 110 degree visibility
- Your rear light must be red
- Front and rear lights are allowed to flash
- You must also have a red rear reflector and BS6102/2 amber reflectors on the front and rear of each pedal
Although the legal requirement is for the front light to have a 110 degree visibility, in practice not many cyclists are fully aware of this. Ensure that your front facing bike light meets this requirement to help ensure you are more visible from different angles. To give you extra visibility from the side also consider spoke reflectors.
General cycle safety at night
It is good practice to use your rear light when cycling during the autumn and winter months as the weather can change quickly and being as visible as possible on the road should be a priority.
Hi-viz clothing is also an ideal way of staying visible during dusk and dark nights. Reflective clothing is a highly effective way of being seen on the busy roads, especially when it is worn on parts of the body that move.
What to consider
- Hi-viz clothing is very effective at making you visible at night
- Add reflective items to body parts that move, i.e. shoes with reflective strips, reflective wrist bands and gloves
- If wearing a back pack or rucksack ensure it has reflective strips or areas for greater visibility
- Wear a rear light on your back pack or your helmet for extra visibility. The additional height of the light will be at eye level for most motorists
- Ensure the batteries in your lights are always in full working order and not running low
Staying visible on the roads during the winter months is important; it doesn’t cost the earth and can help you have many hours of safe cycling.
Advice guide - Securing your bike
Bicycles are often targeted by thieves because they are left poorly secured or not secured at all. It takes just a few seconds for the opportunist thief to steal a bike that is left unsecured.
Around 3,000 bikes are stolen in Nottinghamshire every year.
Follow the advice on this page to protect your bike from being stolen and to increase the chances of it being returned to you if it is stolen.
Securing your bike
- Lock your bike tightly so that your bike is difficult to move when parked.
- Ensure you lock both wheels and the frame to a cycle stand or another immoveable object.
- Always park your bike where it can be clearly seen. Use designated parking areas or secure cycle storage.
- Make it impossible to a thief to smash the lock open. Fill the ‘D’ part of your lock with as much of the bike as possible. Never leave the lock lying on the ground where it could easily be smashed.
- Ensure that you remove any items that can be taken without using tools, for example, wheels, lights, pump, panniers, seat post and saddle.
Protecting your bike
- Get your bike insured. Ask your insurer to extend your home contents insurance to cover your bicycle. Ensure it covers you for thefts outside the home. If your bicycle is particularly valuable, you may need to insure it separately.
- Register your bike with Immobilise. Immobilise is a national property database that enables police to reunite stolen items with their rightful owners. Register your bike for free at the Immobilise website
- Mark your bike. There are a number of bike marking products are available. Always ensure you use a marking scheme that is approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and preferably use a visible marking product. Bike Register kits and Selectamark are examples.
- Bike Passport. If your bike was stolen, could you describe it? Many people forget details about their bikes that could help Police reunite them with theirs if it is stolen and later recovered. Consider creating a bike passport containing details of your bike. See the example in our guide mentioned below.
For further and more detailed advice please refer to our securing your bike guide.
To speak to our Crime Prevention Unit about protecting your property and reducing your chances of becoming a victim of crime, email crime.prevention@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk
