How dangerous do you think it is to ride at night

[morph999]

I'm considering buying a light ( a very bright light) for my bike and riding at night here in my city. Maybe carrying a metal pipe in my bag for potential problems. I have this 25 " metal pipe and I could just put in my bag. I wonder if it's legal to carry that. Or maybe I could carry a tire iron in it and say that I use it to change flats on my bike. I got two entrances to my house, one in the back and one in the front. I've actually had two men waiting for me in my back driveway when I got back from some place. Lucky for me, I think they were just trying to scare me, I was in a car at the time and I just kept driving rather than pull in my driveway. I waited about 3 hours then came back home and they were gone. I don't live in the most dangerous area of the city but it's moderately dangerous.

I was thinking that I could use the front entrance to my house instead since it's more lit up on that side. I'd like to be able to ride all night and day. If I had the money, I'd love to ride across country, with or without a motor. I'd rather ride my bike than watch tv.

Actually, I have this big wrench that actually does work on taking the rim off my bike, I'll just put that in my bag for a weapon.

 

[Mark_A_W]

I think you need to move.

Or fix your country.


I thought you were worried about traffic.

 

[Sheriff Jon]

A wrench is a good idea to have 'in case' you needed a weapon as there is a legitimate and explainable reason to have one. Perhaps a large Crescent wrench with a wrist lanyard in the Handel to keep it in YOUR hand and not the would be assassins :wink:

I think riding at night is nearly maybe even safer than riding in the day. Providing you have a STRONG head light that you can actually see where you are going with, and SEE any imperfections or junk in the road with. But more importantly a light bright enough where others can see YOU. Plus having a bright blinking rear light or two should get you noticed and keep you in drivers line of sight.

 

[AussieJester]

I think you need to move.
Or fix your country.

hell yes, any place you feel you need to carry a weapon to feel safe is no place i would want to gotto let alone live ...

KiM

 

[Rifle]

Well, it's safer than walking that's for sure. Obviously I can't speak for where you live, but my experiences with "dangerous" parts of town is that they aren't that crazy dangerous for a random person. I was held-up at gun point once but that was due to who I was with, and I actually just ran away with my $500+ worth of stuff betting correctly they would not actually shoot me. My friends when walking have had people chase them home, but they've never actually been the victim of anything. I will say that one time in Milwaukee I was drunk and decided to ride to the dangerous part of town right when the bars were getting out and that was very scary due to the amount of people trying to scare me and the fact that it's very easy for people in cars to scare bicyclists while driving. If you break down that could allow some opportunistic crime, but besides that I wouldn't think having a weapon wouldn't help much because yer attacker would probably be choosing to knock you from a moving bicycle and if you are going 25+ I think it is very unlikely someone would decide to do this. Also, it seems just as easy to ride away from your house on a bike if people are waiting there, and maybe a bit easier to see if people are waiting there.

I know 2 people who have been killed from getting hit by cars. I don't know anyone that has randomly been assaulted. Well, one friend had a homeless seeming man come at him with a knife, but the homeless guy was so frocked up my friend easily got away with just one little scratch. You can always try it out and stop if things seem iffy. I'd maybe go with some mace rather than a wrench, but then there's always guns that may come into play. I'd hate to have my wrench used against me though.

 

[morph999]

Aren't the houses in the suburbs more expensive than the houses in the city? I live in the city. I've talked to my family about moving but I'm not sure I could find a house outside the city for as cheap as I'm living now. This house was bought in cash for $10,000. This house cost less than some of your cars. My brother and I repainted the living room and kitchen and some of the bedrooms. It looks fine. I think some of my neighbors might be drug dealers but I only feel unsafe at night, not during the day. The house next door used to beat their dog. I didn't like that too much. The dog finally hung myself by his own leash when he jump the fence and the leash got hitched on the fence and he hung himself. I've seen the cops blast down the street a few times and arrest the people down the way a bit. lol. Mostly old people live here, though by in large. Not very many young people so it's not really that bad right now. My worst fear is that the gangs take over the neighborhood.

 

[evblazer]

WOW. Not really what I was thinking when I read the subject.
Lights are good on the bike to see and be seen but sometimes you don't want to be seen! Having a switch to turn them on off would be good to sneak in.
I used to live in Bridgeport Connecticut and although it isn't the worse place in the US it was probably the worst place in Connecticut. One of the absolute worst school districts in the country and lots of crime. I rode to the train station and left my bike locked and then usually came back to it 12-16 hours later to ride home. Most times it was all there. A few times it was missing a seat, or seat and seat post and then once a busted up rim. I felt a bit safer on my bike then in a car coming back from the station. In a car I was sort of trapped even though I always left a car length open in front of me whenever I had to stop since I figured it gave me some room to move forward and turn into the sidewalk or oncoming traffic to get out of the way of approaching folks. On a bike you can kinda just go anywhere you need to and get away. I did that for a while until I heard alot of gunshots very nearby one night on my way home when I was fixing a flat. Needed a new tire among other things when I got home since I didn't fix the flat afterall. I then changed my commute to a neighboring towns train station that had bike lockers and was a much nicer area. 10 miles vs 2 but alot more pleasant.
I have a nice stun baton and a telescoping bite stick but those are for dogs in the country on some overnight rides I used to do down here in Texas. Probably work just as well on some punks but only as a last resort if riding past and coming back later didn't work.

 

[swbluto]

I think you need to move.

Or fix your country.


I thought you were worried about traffic.

No kidding. But, I think the guys he refers to might be related to ... uhhh, past activities. :wink:

Oh yeah, I had a feeling this wasn't in the 'burbs.

 

[morph999]

You mean the guys that were waiting for me? I think they wanted to just scare me. I didn't know if they planned to rob me or not but since I could see them from the road, I'm guessing it was just intimidation tactics. They didn't like me. I think they were from a street over and they didn't like that I was driving my car down their street. People are like that. That was about 2 years ago. I haven't seen them since.

 

[Demosthenes]

Yup, I'm going to second moving. The only places in the Vancouver area I wouldn't want to be in at night are alleys on the downtown eastside (main streets aren't that bad, unpleasant and full of homeless, but not dangerous) and parts of Surrey.

 

[dogman dan]

Got a yard? Get a BIG DOG, or two. But that method backfires if you can't handle a big mean dog yourself. A dog for security cost a lot too, they eat, need a vet, and chained, they don't scare anybody. Loose in the yard, they terrify everybody, but then you need expensive good fence. I lived in a shitty neighborhood for 18 years and never locked my doors, and had expensive power tools out on tables in the yard. One next door neighbor was a child molester, and the other shot her husband and burned the house down. The rental house with the child molester ALLWAYS had a drug dealer living there for 18 years. Lots of after midnight coming and going. Nobody messed with me or my wife EVER! Just don't open the gate dude! PLEEEEASE dont open that gate! Ganbangers would walk by on the other side of the street looking scared to pass my house while my dogs yammered and tried to push the fence down.

Moving is a great Idea. I'll do it too as soon as I win the lottery. Meantime more practical solutions may be better. Look into how big a can of pepper spray you can legaly carry. Bear spray if you won't go to jail with it. The bike alarm you are getting may help too if actually approached by tweaks. Looks matter too. I bet nobody thinks Amberwolf is carrying big money. Sometimes they just want to mess with you for the fun of it. The dog helps with that too, making it look no fun to mess with you. You might find them later with the dog with you.

It's hard to say if night riding is more vulnerable or not. Lots of bikers have been mugged on bike paths in broad daylight. But your particular neighborhood may definitely be more dangerous at night. Possibly not so much a function of night or day light levels, as at night they have had time to get more stoned, or if they haven't scored, more desperate.

If you are well lit up, the actuall riding is no more dangerous than daylight, especially since headlights warn you of approaching cars from behind. As always it's up to you to avoid getting hit. Don't trust a single car to see you.

 

[amberwolf]

Big dogs loose in the yard does generally work to keep people out. Especially if they are not always out there and visible, but most of the time they are. Then they don't even know where they are sometimes, and that is more dangerous than if they can always see them. My five can go in and out as they please, with occasional exceptions.

Only once that I'm aware of did anyone try to get into the yard in recent years--I heard something at the chainlink fence rattling, from inside the house with the windows open, figured it was a cat (lots of them around to do that), but the dogs investigate everything. I heard the usual clickety trotting out the back door turn to scrabbling on the tile as they burst into running, then I heard what was probably "oh shit" in spanish (dunno exactly what he said) and then lots of chainlink fence noise, and the sound of cloth tearing. When I got out there there was a long piece of jeans pantleg hanging off the top of the fence on the outside alley side, and all the dogs just letting loose barking in the direction of the other end of the alley (where the guy probably went). At the time there were only four, as Hachi hadn't been born yet.

They probably wouldn't have actually hurt him (if he had stayed in the yard) but they wouldn't have let him roam around, and Nana might've pinned him down till I got there. But since they're not small, and they all sound quite impressive, he had run before they even got outside, and cleared the fence except for his pants. Based on the timing I don't think he even got more than a few feet into the yard before the dogs scared him off (and I doubt he will ever come back).


As for riding at night being more dangerous than daytime? Nah. At night I think I am safer--I'm a lot less likely to be attacked by an individual *or* hit by a car/etc. at night than I am simply to be hit by a car in daytime, simply because of the huge difference in
A) amount of traffic on roads
B) aggressiveness of drivers during day vs night
plus the motorcycle-like lighting on CrazyBike2 and it's size/shape.

There *are* places I won't ride at night, but I would be leery of them even in daytime. When i am *really* nervous for any reason, I keep a cellphone out and with 911 already "dialled" but the Send/Call button not pressed yet, with my finger on it. Then even if I do have a problem, even if I have no time to react in any other way I can press that, and help will find me via GPS in the phone within a few minutes, most likely. Might be too late, might not, but it's insurance, plus I've noticed that suspicious people don't generally follow other people that have open celphones--I guess they assume that they coudl just yell help on the phone (true) and their little heist or whatever would get screwed up.

 

[Mark_A_W]

You guys should move to Iraq.


Much safer.

 

[Canis Lupus]

Definitely move. The only reason to live in such places is the need for work. If you can overcome that obstacle, move somewhere safer. Dogs are great, and I look forward to being in the situation when I can have a couple of German Shepherds again - I would like to breed them - but they do tie you down, just like children. I never felt concerned about security when I had two German Shepherds by my side, whether they were inside or outside.

Riding at night can be safer than the daytime, if you have the appropriate lighting and reflective gear. I like what someone else posted elsewhere about being lit up like a circus: strong head lights, flashing coloured lights, reflective gear etc. I also have a flag pole with a flashing red light, flag, plus reflective material attached. I reckon with all that, I'm a far better chance of being overlooked during the day than night.

I've often wondered what it would be like touring with a large dog. Even thought it possible to harness dog power going up the hills, rather than confining it to a trailer which has to be lugged by your own power all the time. Big dogs love to be worked, and helping out with the chore of climbing hills is something they would relish. My shepherds used to love pulling my daughter along on her roller blades.

 

[John in CR]

Wait a second. You've got 2 guys hanging around in back of your house, and you just drive away for 3 hours.????? I guarantee if I see a couple of strangers hanging around my house, I'm going to find out what they're up to and run them off. If you're not comfortable handling it yourself, which makes no sense to me in a 3000lb battering ram, then get yourself a cop to handle it with you. Another option is to go in the front door and handle it from the safety of indoors. WTF??? run away for 3 hours.

No, don't carry something heavy and useless to riding your bike. Don't you have a locking chain or cable that would make a fine item for self defense? Just don't hurt yourself while practicing.

 

[morph999]

You wanted me to roll my window down and say, "hey, what you guys doing here?" And then what? I wasn't about to get in a fight with them. They probably live around there, anyway. I'd just be asking for more trouble. They'd probably smash a window in. I've had someone do that before.

The thing is, they suprised me. The way that everything is set up, I couldn't see them from the road until I was literally within 3 ft of them so it scared me and I panicked and took off. They were hiding behind my garage. That's what scares me about being on my bike is someone hiding behind my garage or behind a tree and jumping out. And no, I didn't ask for this kind of thing to happen. I don't know who they were so if someone is implying that I do drugs or am involved in illegal activity, I absolutely am not. I only live in the city because my family moved here when I was a teenager and I've never had the money to move out.

 

[biohazardman]

A very bright light or two for your bike is good as are very bright lights with heat or motion sensors for the side of your house or yard wherever it is dark. People up to no good don't like to be seen. Bike light stuff http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16748&p=244934#p244934
There are also driveway alerts http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=driveway that sound an alarm or chime when someone enters their field of view. Some are very inexpensive and I have had good luck with them as people do not want to be noticed so promptly disappear at the sound of the tone. My neighborhood is not the greatest either especially since they built a 58 plex accross the street. Moving would be good but it costs money and takes energy. The bike addiction demands all of my money and the body has no energy so I stay. We are very lucky here as just about anyone who is sane enough to legally own a gun can get a concealed weapon permit. Just have to remember the little flashing warning the police get on their computer screen when they pull you over so move very slowly.

 

[morph999]

We are very lucky here as just about anyone who is sane enough to legally own a gun can get a concealed weapon permit. Just have to remember the little flashing warning the police get on their computer screen when they pull you over so move very slowly.

Nothing in the USA makes sense. Why would a criminal bother getting a concealed weapons permit. I don't doubt that the police have some kind of warning, either. Ridiculous.

 

[dogman dan]

Hey you want to see makes no sense, try Juarez Mexico, 40 miles from my house. Guns are completely illegal there but daily the drug gangsters spray down sombody, taking everybody on the street with him. They know nobody around will be armed but the assasins. Forget cops, the cops are one of the drug cartels. More than 2000 murders a year down there for the last 2 years. That's a gun free country too. Good example of when guns are outlawed only criminals have guns. Nearly no murders 50 feet away across the river where lots of armed texans are roaming El Paso. Many of the drug lords enjoy living safe in El Paso.

More light around the house is a good idea. With compact florescents these days, 12 watts gets you a lot of light for little money.

 

[wheelbender6]

Ride at night only if necessary. When it's necessary, be sure you are well lit. Always carry spare batteries and a spare light set.
Bicyclists in general are not frequent mugging targets. A guy getting out of his hummer H2 or Escalade is probably carrying more money.

 

[FeralDog]

Get out, or fight for what is yours.

 

[biohazardman]

We are very lucky here as just about anyone who is sane enough to legally own a gun can get a concealed weapon permit. Just have to remember the little flashing warning the police get on their computer screen when they pull you over so move very slowly.

Nothing in the USA makes sense. Why would a criminal bother getting a concealed weapons permit. I don't doubt that the police have some kind of warning, either. Ridiculous.

You are right about the criminals but as they know some are packing but not who it is somewhat of a deterent.

 

[Cold-E-Commuter]

I have heard that wasp spray works even better than pepper spray. It shoots a thin stream farther and is less likely to have a blowback effect on the user. Not tomention it works on wasps! Halogen KC offroad light on the front of the bike can also be useful to temporarily blind would be assailants prior to being blinded by the wasp spray. I know one of these draws some juice from the batteries but it is better than over riding the typical lights and crashing.

 

[Zoot Katz]

I have heard that wasp spray works even better than pepper spray. It shoots a thin stream farther and is less likely to have a blowback effect on the user. . . .

The draw back is that Wasp Spray may permanently blind the assailant who can then sue you.

 

[Cold-E-Commuter]

Did not know that Zoot. Thanks for the advise. I guess the halogen and pepper spray will do.