Driving home this evening I was amazed at the number of cyclists that were cycling on the roads without lights. There were at least half a dozen idiots that were willing to risk their lives and get mown down by a car. Actually, there could have been a few more that I didn’t see as they didn’t have any lights.

Given that I was driving past the university there is a good chance that they could have been students, although one was a mother with a young child on a seat behind her.

And then my mind drifted back 25 years to when I was at university and the first time that I was stopped by the police. for cycling without lights on my bike. To be fair to me I DID have lights it was just that the batteries didn’t work. An excuse I seem to remember using on the bobby.

I can remember the evening very clearly. I was off to see my girlfriend and was cycling through Southsea when this policeman appeared in front of me. He told me that it was dangerous to cycle on such a busy road at night without lights (well duh!) and that I should get off and push. He somewhat spoilt the whole thing by actually saying “I want you to get off and push. What you do when you get round the corner and are out of my sight is up to you”. Inevitably I pushed round the corner and then got on and cycled the rest of the way. Well, I had a lady waiting! I did, however, manage to procure a set of batteries for the return journey.

So on the one hand I am clearly a hypocrite but on the other those cyclists are bloody hard to see with no lights. If only they would push until they were round the corner and out of my sight.

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