He was wearing a black, non reflective jacket, a black helmet with no lights on, he had reflective shorts he did have lights on his bike but from what I can remember the lights were quite dim and the weather and time of day didn't help the general visibility, nor did his type of clothing. If he had got my plates would he be able to take me to court, no body was injured, I just feel guilty, only passed test in February and I have never had any traffic offenses
Since you didn't hit him, there is no need to worry about it this time. But if you had hit him, you would have been found at fault, assuming you had the stop sign. There are probably local laws requiring a cyclist to have a rear reflector and a headlight during nighttime hours, which it sounds like he probably had. There are no other requirement for high-visibility clothing, etc. It is amazing to me how so many cyclists like to ride in all or mostly black clothing with the poor visibility that comes with that. Kind of suicidal, but as drivers it is our job to see and avoid cyclists and all other hazards. If the weather is bad, you need to slow down and look twice as hard.
As a cyclist, I run bright flashing lights front and rear, day and night, wear high visibility clothing and avoid traffic areas as much as possible because I know drivers just don't see us sometimes.
Since there wasn't an accident you have nothing to worry about. Even if you had struck him, I doubt you would have been found at fault considering the circumstances as you described them.
Better luck next time then. Cyclists are a menace on the road.
do you have camera in your car on? if yes. it would be a good evidence. Good luck! ;)
