turbo1889

As to amber not being a legal color. For full size heavy vehicles front "marker and auxiliary lights" are supposed to be either white or amber colored. Front turn signals (which on heavy vehicles are the ones that blink) are always supposed to be amber colored. Rear "marker and auxiliary lights" are supposed to be red colored. The only place amber is legal on the rear is for turn signals only when the turn signals are separated from the rear running tail lights and brake lights which must be red colored. Side marker lights must be amber colored except for the very rear most side marker light near the rear corner which must be red colored.

Long story short, although having your main headlight be amber colored on the front may not be fully legal having amber colored "marker and auxiliary lights" for the front and sides of your bike most certainly can be amber colored and will not result in any confusion at all since the color coding is red for the rear and amber for the sides and front. Amber is actually the only legal color for a side marker light unless it is mounted to the far rear. Since the only time an amber light is permitted in the rear is for a turn signal and only in cases where the turn signal is a seperate light on the rear with red lights in place for the rear tail lights and brake lights arguing that the presence of amber lights on the front of a bicycle could result in other road users confusing the front of the bike for the rear of the bike is ludicrous at best since the color coding for full size vehicles is very specific in that amber is for front or side use and red is for rear with the only exception to that rule that allows for an amber light on the rear being only for turn signals and only when there are already other red lights on the rear.

Amber IS the correct color code for front or side use as an auxiliary or marker light !!! And I do believe that "marker light" would be a very correct description of the lights on a bicycle that are there for the purpose of other road users seeing and noticing you as apposed to a headlight that is there for you to see by.

Sixty Fiver

turbo1889

Needed a few pictures to explain further so I went to google images search and put in a few key works to find some pictures of 18-wheel heavy truck rigs running at night with all their "marker and auxiliary lights" so I could show you guys the color coding (18-wheel rigs seem to have the same "lit up like a christmas tree" philosophy for safety as many of the smarter cyclist adopt and they do it for a living and they know their color coding):


----- White headlights
----- Amber front and side auxiliary and marker lights
----- The very last rear side marker lights on top and bottom are Red







----- Amber side marker lights (top only on this rig)
----- The very last rear side marker light on top corner is Red
----- RED tail/brake lights and top rear row of auxiliary/marker lights





----- Headlights are not on but due to clear lenses are assumably White
----- Amber front auxiliary and marker lights (to the over kill point on this rig)
----- Amber side marker lights on trailer
----- The very last vertical row of side marker light up the very rear corner of trailer is Red

turbo1889

In conclusion not only is Amber a legal color for an "auxiliary or marker light" for front or side use. It is the preferred color to use if you want to follow standard form as used on other road vehicles on your bike for people to know what is the front and what is the rear just by the coloring of the lights.

cehowardGS

To add to your very well stated points, the majority of the bikers that run bright lights front and rear are RESPONSIBLE. We aim our lights downward. It is all about trying to stay safe out there. Nobody is trying to annoy anybody, whether it be bikers, cage drivers or pedestrians. We are just trying to be safe as is to come back home to our families in one piece.

If miraculously cage drivers could start respecting bicyclists, not taking their right-of-way and acknowledge that bikers have every right to be on roads that are designated for bikes and cars, then in my case, it wouldn't' be any need for me to run lights during the day, and I could configure my night lights for just seeing.. However, until that happens, I might not be as bright as that 18 wheeler, but my presence on the road will be seen.

jolly_ross

It's not that they don't see bikes - it's that they hate us.

turbo1889

Yes, and No.

----- Some cagers do hate us.
----- Some cagers do indeed not see us sometimes.
----- And some cagers are so selfish that they don't care about anyone but themselves and since a collision with a bike represents little if any risk to them they are willing to risk our lives and some scratched paint on their cage to save themselves a half second of driving time.

----- And believe it or not their are actually some heavy vehicle operators who actually do treat us right, but I don't consider those ones "cagers". I reserve that term for the three options above.

jputnam

In Washington State, the permission for amber hazard lights is explicit -- they're authorized for all vehicles, to warn of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring unusual care. (Slow-moving motor vehicles are one hazard specifically *required* to have them, but "any vehicle" *may* have them.)

"Any vehicle may be equipped with lamps for the purpose of warning other operators of other vehicles of the presence of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring the exercise of unusual care in approaching, overtaking, or passing. ....
Vehicular hazard warning signal lamps used to display such warning to the front shall be mounted at the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, and shall display simultaneously flashing amber light"

jputnam

Amber front and rear flashing lights are both explicitly legal, at least here in Washington.

[h=3]46.37.215
Hazard warning lamps.[/h](1) Any vehicle may be equipped with lamps for the purpose of warning other operators of other vehicles of the presence of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring the exercise of unusual care in approaching, overtaking, or passing.

(2) After June 1, 1978, every motor home, bus, truck, truck tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer eighty inches or more in overall width or thirty feet or more in overall length shall be equipped with lamps meeting the requirements of this section.

(3) Vehicular hazard warning signal lamps used to display such warning to the front shall be mounted at the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, and shall display simultaneously flashing amber light: PROVIDED, That on any vehicle manufactured prior to January 1, 1969, the lamps showing to the front may display simultaneously flashing white or amber lights, or any shade of color between white and amber. The lamps used to display such warning to the rear shall be mounted at the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, and shall show simultaneously flashing amber or red lights, or any shade of color between amber and red. These warning lights shall be visible from a distance of not less than five hundred feet in normal sunlight.

Chris516

I have it on a steady setting during sunrise/sunset because road visability at those times can be a little harder to see. I went out last night at 9pm in the dark to a Five Guys, and set it to strobe to let traffic know I was on the road.

calyth

I turn on the flash when it's bad weather / getting dark, try to make sure I'm not shining it to anyone's eyes directly.

Though after my first night ride, I have a feeling I'll need to put a nice bright headlight when Fall rolls around here.

DrkAngel

Personally I recommend the flashing light during daylight. (Peripheral vision is sensitive to light and notably sensitive to flashes of light.)
I switch to steady light near dusk, when the strobe is excessively annoying.

vol

OK, good to know amber on front and rear are both legal, but are all/most drivers aware of that? For if not, then some may approach you at night when seeing your amber light, thinking it's a taillight, when actually it's a headlight. So sometimes being legal is one thing, being safe is another?

maximushq2

I don't see how a driver would think that an amber light on the front of a bike was the tail light. Amber typically means front and side markers on a vehicle so I wouldn't even be concerned about running amber up front. However, If someone was silly enough to run red up front then that could create some major confusion to other drivers. As far as running a flashing headlight, I would only use flashing in daylight hours and never at night. For a taillight however I run one steady and one flashing.

turbo1889

I think the best way to explain it to you Vol is to to re-explain that:

Amber is BARELY legal to use on the REAR and is primarily a front and side color. The one and only case where you can legally get away with using amber on the rear is for the rear turn signals and only when there are other red lights present (tail and brake) on the rear. You can't legally use amber on the rear of a full size vehicle if there are not also red lights on the rear as well after dark.

Red is the rear color and the only time you should see amber on the rear of a full size vehicle after dark is when there is red light present as well, namely in the form of the rear red tail lights (which are always supposed to be on when the vehicle is being operated after dark) and those amber lights can only be the turn signal lights (which double as hazard blinkers on about 99+% of full size vehicles). It's not the exception that amber is not on the rear, rather it is the exception that amber is on the rear since red is the primary rear color.

If you see a full size vehicle being operated on the road after dark that has only amber lights on the rear that vehicle is being operated with illegal lighting configuration since their must be constant on red tail lights in use on the rear for amber to be legal on the rear and even then amber may only be used for the turn signals which unless someone has their hazard blinkers activated should only be used when they are indicating a turn.

Add to that the distinction that most bikes unlike most full size vehicles do not block out their own lights as viewing angle changes so that if a person is running a red light(s) on the rear of their bike and a amber light(s) on the front of their bike from the vast majority of viewing angles both light sources will be visible, especially if the lights are powerful enough and aimed down enough to light up patches of the roadway their respective colors. Anytime anyone sees a road vehicle that clearly has two different sets of lights they can see mounted on different ends of the vehicle and one set on one end are red and the other set on the other end are amber. Red is for the rear so they will assume that the end of the vehicle with the red lights is the rear of the vehicle. So as long as you are still using red light(s) on the rear along with your amber light(s) up front because most bikes unlike most heavy vehicles don't block their own lights when viewed from different angles with the vast majority of viewing angles other people will be able to see at least some of the red light and regardless of what they think of amber they are going to think the red light is where the rear of the other vehicle is.

Worrying about other drivers confusing a color that is barely legal to use on the rear and can only be used on the rear for one specific application and only when lights of another color that is the primary rear color are present and is instead primarily used for side and front marker lights assumes that other drivers are way stupider then even I thought they were. I suppose it is possible that some of them could really be that stupid but even I have a hard time believing that any noticeable percentage of "cagers" could really be that stupid.

bigfred 

[Rant] Yet again, while driving my car, I've been blinded by a fellow cyclist with their 1000+lumen head light on flash mode and angle into the line of site of oncoming drivers! Please people! Use these high power headlights with a degree of care for road users including yourself. The flash may be a valuable feature during daylight hours and perhaps dusk/dawn. But, please, for the love of god, yourselves, other cyclists and road users, leave them on steady and angled appropriately down toward the road surface during dark hours! If you insist on showing little to no regard for other road users than don't be surprised when they show the same to you. [Rant off]

vol

Thank you very much for the elaboration, turbo1889. I have used amber as taillight a few times because red was not so visible in daytime. I'm glad the issues are clarified here so I will not make the mistake again. (I may, however, put an amber light that is turned off in the rear during daytime, because its lens is still quite visible, maybe no less visible than a dim red light. I think that should be OK.)

turbo1889

The color coding primarily applies to full size vehicles. Specific regs. for bikes are usually far less specific and can vary from state to state. But when riding a bike in a world of cars if you match the color coding they are used to, that seems to work out for the best in my experience.

If I only owned an amber light - I would use it rather then go without a light. But I can assure you that equivalent or better red light would be on the "next pay check list of things to get" and would put the new red light on the rear and the amber up front. Problem I have is that I can find all kinds of decent quality decent price red lights for the rear both constant on and blinky lights, and constant on white lights to use as headlights for the front. But I find that amber colored lights, especially ones specifically intended for bicycle use are far less available and there aren't a whole lot of options to pick from. I've had to resort to using the magnetic attachment temp use automobile emergency lights that take batteries instead of wire into the 12V power system or using those electronic road flare units since decent amber colored blinky lights for bikes are hard to find for a decent price. Long story short, I personally really wish that they made just as many choices of amber front blinky lights for bikes as they do red blinky tail lights.

I'm sort of surprised you have an amber but not a red since I have a hard time finding good amber ones where as red ones I can pickup anywhere with a huge number of choices available.

turbo1889

I will admit that I personally am an exception to that rule on one specific point. I have a few of my bikes that I routinely use for night commuting equipped with a secondary set of very powerful and very bright white headlights aimed directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic with tight focused beams. Those lights are not my usual headlights which are set-up to light the road for me without blinding other road users and are aimed slightly downward with wide angle lenses and top hoods that create a top cut-off horizon on the beams to keep them out of oncoming traffics eyes just like traditional automobile headlights are set-up.

My secondary set of deliberately obnoxious headlights are on a momentary contact switch which must be held down to turn them on and they are used only and specifically for "POPing!" oncoming cars who refuse to dim their brights and insist on blinding me. My least powerful light set-up for this purpose is a 1,200Lm light which is on a bike that I only occasionally night commute with. Two others have 7,200LM (2@3,600Lm) "POP" lights and the bike I specifically built for night commuting has 10,000Lm (2@5,000Lm) "POP" lights.

So, yes, I have equipped four of my bikes with lights that are specifically intended to be incredibly obnoxious bright and aimed directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic specifically for the purpose of dealing with drivers who refuse to dim their brights for me as a cyclist. I get about 50% compliance with the bike with the single 1,200Lm "POP" light and it was the first one equipped with that concept of a secondary headlight or set of headlights designed for that purpose. With the three other bikes I get nearly 100% compliance as even the most stubborn offenders in the oncoming traffic stream quickly realizes that my brights are more powerful then theirs and if they really want a war of light they are outgunned.

So, yes, some of us have a split personality and have two sets of lights on our bikes. On set designed to be as nice to other road users as possible and the other set designed to win a war of light if necessary. I wish it were not necessary but I have found that it is and its far better then being obnoxious all the time.

01 CAt Man Do

I've seen red lights used in the front on bikes and white strobes used on the rear at night. No, I don't recommend that but the people who did that likely had no other lights. Any light is better than no light when it is dark or on a dangerous road. While it might cause a moment of confusion to some, the astute mind quickly figures out what is going on and then dismisses it. In the mean time the person with the lamp got themselves seen...done.

Folks, after reading through the entirety of this thread I've come to the conclusion that there are always going to be people who buck change...even when those changes might mean some saved lives. With that thought in mind to the those folks: you need to get with the program. "The Times They are a Changing" ( cue it up now ). Flashing lights are here and here to stay. They will get brighter and better. By better I mean there will be more lamps made specifically to function for road safety and will be used by cyclist. They will get smaller and use brighter emitters. The flash patterns will be more usable and the outputs will have more levels to suit different situations. The outdated laws will fade away and be forgotten or simply not enforced. That's because in a number of years there will be so many of these lights that no one will care.

In the mean time the changes are already beginning to take place. I'm already beginning to see motorcycles using green and blue side lights. Personally I don't care as it makes them more visible. I figure if no one cares if they drive 120 mph down the highway ( which I see all the time ) no one will care about the lights they use.

At times I use front blinking white lights on front of my bike. I like the new USB style lights that work very well at dusk and after the sun sets. Mine I mount on the fork so that when on-coming traffic view me they will see both my brighter bar lamp and the flickering light down on the fork. Two points of reference are better than one. ( not to mention I have wheel lights for night )

During the day I turn my bar light on slow strobe ( 1 flash every 1.5 sec. ) This is a very bright light. I use it when on remote rural roads or when on roads with fast traffic. Really nice to have when approaching intersections with heavy traffic. If I have to stop I can always point the light another direction or turn it off.

I also have good bright rear Red blinking lights. Those I use when needed as well. Right now I'm looking to improve my rear day time visibility. Currently I run a amber drop-in torch under my seat ( very nice strobe-burst-pause ) which I can turn on/off while on the fly. Not bad but I want something that can be clearly be seen a quarter mile away on those bright sunny rural back roads. How I wish that Cree would sell an Amber and red version of the XM-L2. One of those (if over 500 lumen ) should get the job done for day time and still be very compact.

turbo1889

An add on to that last post before someone asks about legality. Headlight regs. for my state that specify the maximum allowed number and power of headlights (for full size vehicles, bicycle headlights only defined as a minimum standard) are that the maximum number of headlights allowed is four (4) and the maximum power of each headlight is 55 watts. So my "POP" lights are within the legal limit for headlights (2@5,000Lm set-up just maxed out at the legal 55 watt limit). Already had to explain that to one cop after I "POPed" him and he passed me and then swung around and pulled me over and asked what the heck kind of light I had on my bike that I had flashed him with and why I had done it (after I explained the issue to him he was actually very nice and apologized for not diming his brights for me not only that time but several other previous times before I had to big powerful "POP" lights rigged up).

turbo1889

+1 on that, and while they are at it how about offering the T-6 in red and amber versions as well.

CB HI

I see lots of passenger vehicles with amber turn signals/emergency flashers. So no problem for bicycles. Commercial vehicles are the ones with stricter regulations.

sudo bike

In practice, I have a really hard time seeing a cop pulling someone over for not having the right color light, unless maybe it was forward-facing red or blue lights. Shoot, even pulling a cyclist over for no lights seems a rare occurrence.

cehowardGS

I can very well understand your frustration on this. On the other hand, that action you speak of "1000+lum aimed at driver's line of sight" are WAY, WAY in the MINORITY. In almost every action that a lot of people do, you are going to find some BAD APPLES. Just like you have "reckless drivers" in all types of vehicles, they do not speak for the majority. Same here, those kind of IRRESPONSIBLE high-power light users are in the minority. Cannot eliminate the minority, and you cannot blame the many for the actions of the few..