Originally Posted by
Burton
The concern isn't just for my own safety but that of whoever else happens to be on the road with me. If everyone spent as
Much time and effort looking out for other peoples safety as they do their own - guess what- the world would be a much safer place to live in.
Well Mr. Burton, I do have concern for other's safety. I don't drive at excessive speed. I don't run red lights. I maintain my vehicles...bicycles and motor...so that the operate properly. I don't tailgate. I warn pedestrians when I'm passing on a bicycle.
I don't shine my bicycle lights in motorists eyes and I aim my lights so that I don't.
Originally Posted by
Burton
But the fact that someone can even post something as stupid as "undeserved concern about motorists comfort" tells me some people are simply blinded by their own self-importance.
The "undeserved concern about motorists comfort" is undeserved because bicycle lights aren't a problem for motorists. Look at mechBgon's video. His lights are typical of bicycle lights and there is no way that they are causing a problem for motorists...just like all of the other bicycle lights I see on a regular basis.
And motorists
do have to deal with brighter light sources that are closer to them than bicycle lights are. That's what my pictures show. All of those light sources were very close to what I, as a driver, was experiencing.
Motorists have to deal with hundreds to thousands of cars passing within a few feet of their faces every time they drive. I learned not to look at the lights of on-coming cars when I was learning how to drive...and I pretty sure that most other drivers learned it too.
Originally Posted by
Burton
Life's a two way street and if you refuse to look out for anyone else you have no right to expect anyone else to look out for you.
I didn't say that I don't look out for others. But I drive my car and I ride my bike defensively because my first priority is to look out for my own safety. Everyone does that. I try to do no harm but there is a balance. If my lights are weakened to the point where my safety on a bicycle is compromised, as some seem to be suggesting that they should be, that's where I draw a line about be concerned for other's safety over mine.
You say that you are concerned about other's safety and that your lights are too bright but you own
and use the lights. Aren't you concerned about other's safety first like you said above? Shouldn't you stop using those lights tonight and make the road safe for the poor drivers who will be blinded and then die?
Or do you put self preservation first?
Originally Posted by
Burton
And Mr Black - your pictures are really amusing and yet another demonstration that you decide what the 'facts' are first and then collect whatever you need to prove it. If you had exposed those pictures any longer it wouldn't even have mattered if the headlights were on. Realistically, if I had exposed mine long enough to capture the illumination of the cars headlights on the road - the LEDs would have whited out most of the photo. All my photos were deliberately underexposed which should have been very clear when I pointed out that in the first photo the brightest areas were actually direct sunlight. and sorry to have to point this out to you, but it's the orientation of the subject that determines if the photograph has been taken off to one side, NOT whether the subject has been centered.
But hey, if you want to use YOUR photos as a reference I'll match the exposure time and even match the color balance. I'll find time in the next couple days. Heck , I'll even try for an SUV.
The photos were taken to demonstrate that motorists have to deal with bright lights all the time. They were taken at night so of course the exposure time was longer but it's not overly long. The shutter speed was 0.2 to 0.3 sec. And average blink is from 0.3 to 0.4 sec. The pictures were taken in, literally, the blink of an eye.
Here's the photo information. Knock yourself out.
Picture 1
HTML Code:
Camera Model: Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
Resolution: 800 x 600
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 6.0mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
CCD Width: 5.74mm
Exposure Time: 0.200 s (1/5)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Picture 2
HTML Code:
Focal Length: 6.0mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
CCD Width: 5.74mm
Exposure Time: 0.300 s (1/3)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Picture 3
HTML Code:
Focal Length: 6.0mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
CCD Width: 5.74mm
Exposure Time: 0.300 s (1/3)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Your camera is pointed
directly at the bicycle and the lights in
all of you photos. If the camera is pointed
directly at the subject, that is the definition of 'centered'. Here's what you can do for a better test of how an on-coming driver would see your lights: Lean the bike up against the fence in your photo. Walk a certain distance from your bike parallel to the fence...let's say 24 feet or about 3 sections of fence. Now walk out 20 feet from the fence on a perpendicular line from the fence. Now aim your camera so that the lens is
parallel to the fence. The camera shouldn't be pointed at the bike but at some point 20 feet to the left of it. Now see what your lights look like.
If you look carefully at my photos, you'll see that the camera isn't aimed
at the lights. I set the camera on the steering wheel and aimed it straight ahead. That is the view of the lights from other cars when driving in a normal manner and, as I've been trained to do, not looking at the lights of the on-coming cars.