Beautiful picture.

Nice to see at least one driver with their lights on driving on 18th at dusk. Yesterday I was hit by a cab driver making a u-turn closer to the bottom of the street by the tennis courts. I was on my bike going north up the street with a front white light and a rear blinking red light. The cab driver was going south with no lights on at all. He failed to even signal and started turning into my lane. I shouted and tried to get out of the way, but he hit my leg and bike. Fortunately I finally got his attention just before he completely ran me over, and the only injury I received was somewhat self-inflicted inasmuch as it came from pounding my fist on his hood to avoid losing my balance. If there had been no parked cars on the street and he’d been turning any faster, I would have been a goner.

Let’s please avoid the usual bikes versus cars arguments and simply let this serve as a reminder that it’s getting dark pretty damn early these days. Please err on the side of caution and just turn your lights on–bikers and drivers. And be careful tomorrow of the kiddies.

And fyi, if you’re a biker and don’t have lights, Waba is giving some away for free. Go to http://www.waba.org for details.

Couldn’t agree more, mappo. It’s just no matter how careful you ride, or even if you go by the letter of the law, if a cab or other automobile driver hits you or comes close, a lot of commenters are usually inclined to argue the cyclist had it coming just for being there. My point is simply, that it’s time to keep an eye on the amount of sunlight out there.