Advocacy & Safety - Does my helmet light blind motorists in front of me?

Hi all, I've seen a few bike lights vs. motorists threads lately but I have never really heard any on the following issue, so please weigh in:

In nighttime / low-vis conditions, I attach a Petzl Tikka II headlamp to my helmet as part of my active lighting setup. I call this active because it give me the choice to point a bright light into the view of motorists who may overlook me at intersections and get their attention before it's too late.

Anyways, when I stop behind cars at intersections, I can't help but notice how my field of view and the rear window align quite nicely so that I am basically shining a spotlight into the car in front of me. Thankfully this light has a built in tilt adjustment, so I can point it down to the ground while I'm stopped. However, this is just one more thing to be conscious of while having to pay attention in traffic. Normal car headlights do not sit at the height of the average car's rear window, so I wonder, would I be blinding drivers at stop lights by keeping the light pointed ahead? I've never gotten complaints from motorists about my helmet light, but that doesn't mean they don't get annoyed. I know it's pretty annoying when I'm driving and some raised-up truck is sitting with its headlights in my rear... Anyone here ever have problems with motorists vs. helmet lights when stopped?

You can just nod your head a bit or look away off the side some and you got no problems. Answer is no, you're not blinding motorists--they deal with brighter lights all the time.

I align my helmet light to hit the same spot on the ground as my handlebar light. That way, I can run both on lower power, extending the battery life to a full round-trip. Still have enough power to illuminate cross-traffic or turning cars.

When I stop at an intersection, I try to look away from the car's rear view mirror a bit, to reduce the amount of glare inflicted. I like to really light up cars from the front, to ensure they see me, but from behind turning away a bit is simple courtesy.

Your helmet light is unlikely to be as bright as a typical car's headlight. Many pick-up and SUV headlights shine right into the rear of a normal car. No special action on your part is required; you are no more of a nuisance than many of the motorists.

Nothing is more annoying to me than helmet light use on the road. Save them for the singletrack.

Unless I happened to be the motorist in front of you, I don't think I could give you an accurate answer. But, I think that most Petzl head lights aren't bright enough to blind a motorist. And in cities, there's usually enough ambient light to keep even car headlights from being too blinding--it's when you're out on a dark stretch of road, and some nitwit behind you is married to his/her high beams, that you get blinded. Also, keep in mind that most drivers put their rear-view mirror on the night setting, so it's focused on the rear window's internal reflection, not the window itself.

Well from most responses it sounds like it's probably not an issue and I'll go with that. The main reason I was slightly concerned I might be blinding drivers was that, when I have been hiking out after dark, I have seen other hikers out with the same headlamp as me and the thing is hella bright, obstructing my view of the terrain ahead. But that may just be a relative thing due to the fact that on the mountain at night, one is completely surrounded in darkness and there are no street lights. Thanks for the replies.

Nothing is more annoying to me than helmet light use on the road. Save them for the singletrack.

We're not talking about the peloton here. I'm convinced the girl in the Hyundai who pummeled right through me a couple September's ago would have noticed me if I had had the ability to point a light in her face and not just a bar-mounted headlight. She was staring right at me when she hit the gas so it's obvious she was in la-la land and needed a bright wake-up call. Since adopting the headlamp, I've had numerous instances where my hide was saved by pointing it in motorists' faces right as they hit the gas to turn out in front of me. I won't ride without one on city streets at night now.

I feel like you are almost asking for it if you ride in an urban environment without a helmet light. I usually keep mine tilted down so it hits right in front of my front wheel. In fraternity row, where everyone is driving like a nut from stop sign to stop sign, I tilt it up level because it's a lot easier to nail careless motorists with it. I'm sure I would have been hit by now if I didn't do this. I have seen people riding with higher powered helmet lights on the road, it doesn't impress me as a big problem. You have to be careful about where you point your head, that's all.

Given the number of motorists that I see who can't even find their dimmer switch, I wouldn't worry about it.

I've been temporarily blinded enough times in intersections by cyclists helmet lights to find them very problematic. Not fun waiting to turn and loosing track of surroundings. Or down a dark road and they look at you and suddenly you feel like you are driving into a void.
Nothing inherently wrong with helmet light, but the users I've encountered all look toward me and blind me instead of looking at the road. I don't think they realize what they are doing.
Use a helmet light, fine, but don't ever aim it at other people.

I've been temporarily blinded enough times in intersections by cyclists helmet lights to find them very problematic. Not fun waiting to turn and loosing track of surroundings. Or down a dark road and they look at you and suddenly you feel like you are driving into a void.
Nothing inherently wrong with helmet light, but the users I've encountered all look toward me and blind me instead of looking at the road. I don't think they realize what they are doing.
Use a helmet light, fine, but don't ever aim it at other people.

Where in AZ do you ride, noisebeam? Around here in Tempe and the east side it's very rare and I am mostly the only one I see using one. I am genuinely surprised you've had them shined right in your face so many times. Blinding other cyclists with a helmet light should not be an issue if we're going down opposite sides of the road, watching the road and not the type of bike the other guy is riding! I try to at least be conscientious of that. But... I suppose it only takes a quick glance to blind someone, so I could understand.

On the rare occasion I hit the MUP, I usually tilt the light down some and put it on the dim setting - that is the only case I can think of where bikes are literally face to face. Your response does give me some thought though about even glancing at other cyclists while I have the helmet light on... I will have to be careful about that.

Your response does give me some thought though about even glancing at other cyclists while I have the helmet light on... I will have to be careful about that.
I ride where you do. That is the issue: the glances. Often even on roads I am only 10' or so from the opposing cyclist. They don't need to look across the lane at me. I do look away, but that means looking away from the road. I ride about 5k night miles a year, maybe why I have more encounters.
I thnk the issue is that one can separate the looking directly at something from the blinding what you are looking at.
But most importantly don't ever look at me when am in the middle of an intersection waiting to make a left turn. That has happened twice and leaves one feeling very out of place being temporarily blinded and not sure of the status of traffic, having to pause to regain senses.

Op, is your helmet light your only headlight?
Because if it is I would worry 1st about you
seeing the road than blinding others with a 40 lumen
light. According to the company website that's the
output of your light:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/tikka-zipka-series/tikka

I highly recommend getting a light at least 300 lumens,
if you can get/afford a more powerful one; even better.

EDIT-
From the co. site:
"In maximum mode, the four LEDs deliver 40 lumens of light and provide enough light to see over a distance of 29 meters."

Something I did not read, or missed, is that when you are blinded by one of these bike lights; you can't tell how far away the light is. What's scary for the bike rider is that the driver might assume the light is much further away. (if you're blinding someone, you're probably very close) Also, not sure why the light is mounted on the helmet. Isn't that a lot higher off the ground than lights mounted on most vehicles?
I was blinded by one of these lights and I spent my time trying to figure out what it was and how far away it was. We didn't make contact, but I'm sure the biker had fun putting a scare into me.Not sure, at least for safety, if that's what you want to be doing?

By the way, what's wrong with mounting the light on your bars? I shine mine down on the ground, I can see, and more importantly cars can see me and they can figure out what I am

It also illegal to shine a white light into a drivers eyes. For obvious reasons. Don't use it on the road.

Hi all, I've seen a few bike lights vs. motorists threads lately but I have never really heard any on the following issue, so please weigh in:

In nighttime / low-vis conditions, I attach a Petzl Tikka II headlamp to my helmet as part of my active lighting setup. I call this active because it give me the choice to point a bright light into the view of motorists who may overlook me at intersections and get their attention before it's too late.

Anyways, when I stop behind cars at intersections, I can't help but notice how my field of view and the rear window align quite nicely so that I am basically shining a spotlight into the car in front of me. Thankfully this light has a built in tilt adjustment, so I can point it down to the ground while I'm stopped. However, this is just one more thing to be conscious of while having to pay attention in traffic. Normal car headlights do not sit at the height of the average car's rear window, so I wonder, would I be blinding drivers at stop lights by keeping the light pointed ahead? I've never gotten complaints from motorists about my helmet light, but that doesn't mean they don't get annoyed. I know it's pretty annoying when I'm driving and some raised-up truck is sitting with its headlights in my rear... Anyone here ever have problems with motorists vs. helmet lights when stopped?

While I applaud your consideration for how your light position may affect a motorist, I doubt any motorist is going to be thankful for your being considerate in regards to your headlamp. Car headlights while being lower, are much bigger, therefore much brighter. So I would not worry about it.

Given the number of motorists that I see who can't even find their dimmer switch, I wouldn't worry about it.

+1

Op, is your helmet light your only headlight?

I highly recommend getting a light at least 300 lumens,
if you can get/afford a more powerful one; even better.

EDIT-
From the co. site:
"In maximum mode, the four LEDs deliver 40 lumens of light and provide enough light to see over a distance of 29 meters."

I also have a bar mounted PB light which just barely bright enough to see and be seen, I couldn't tell you the wattage off hand though.

Honestly I got the Petzl light for hiking - I bought a pair for the girlfriend and I. When we started hiking at night with it I realized I could see pretty dang far, so I rigged it up to my helmet. As I said before I am able to catch motorists' attention with it no problem all the time, so I know I am very visible with it on. It lights up the road ahead of me quite well enough to be able to see road debris and i don't really see any need to see more than 29 meters in the city. In rural settings, at night I would definitely consider a more powerful light.

It also illegal to shine a white light into a drivers eyes. For obvious reasons. Don't use it on the road.

If someone is in the process of turning in front of me at night (how I broke my collarbone), you better believe I am going to shine it into the *path of their vehicle* to prevent it from happening again ...illegal or not. I misspoke if I said I was shining the light in their eyes. What I really do is point my head in the general direction of their car. It would be kind of ridiculous to go around pointing a light in people's faces, no?

If someone is in the process of turning in front of me at night (how I broke my collarbone), you better believe I am going to shine it into the *path of their vehicle* to prevent it from happening again ...illegal or not. I misspoke if I said I was shining the light in their eyes. What I really do is point my head in the general direction of their car. It would be kind of ridiculous to go around pointing a light in people's faces, no?

Not everyone with a helmet light is as smart as you are.

I also agree that safe is more important than a law that is not helpfull. I don't remember anyone who knew about the law, until I mentioned it.

If someone is in the process of turning in front of me at night (how I broke my collarbone), you better believe I am going to shine it into the *path of their vehicle* to prevent it from happening again ...illegal or not. I misspoke if I said I was shining the light in their eyes. What I really do is point my head in the general direction of their car. It would be kind of ridiculous to go around pointing a light in people's faces, no?

With your lights, you don't have to worry too much about causing problems to others. You might even want to investigate more output given your previous experiences. You can use helmet lights effectively and responsibly but you do have to remember that if you look at something, the light is probably going to go where you are looking. I've trained myself to look at objects on the road without pointing my light at them...unless I mean to. If I see a pedestrian...usually recognizable by the reflective strips on their clothing or shoe...I aim my light away from them. When I get to an intersection and have to stop, I point my head up at the stop light (helps greatly for motion sensor detectors).

I have no problem, however, with sweeping the light across the hood of a car if they don't appear to notice me or even flashing the light momentarily across their face if they continue to do whatever stupid thing they insist on doing. I won't hold my light on them unless they are particularly stupid. That happens only rarely and usually on a cross street stopsign where they are already stopped and are starting to go after other warning methods have failed to get their attention.

Be nice but be safe first.

I've been temporarily blinded enough times in intersections by cyclists helmet lights to find them very problematic. Not fun waiting to turn and loosing track of surroundings. Or down a dark road and they look at you and suddenly you feel like you are driving into a void.
Nothing inherently wrong with helmet light, but the users I've encountered all look toward me and blind me instead of looking at the road. I don't think they realize what they are doing.
Use a helmet light, fine, but don't ever aim it at other people.

With that said, I won't get a headlight for my helmet. Lately, Because of it getting darker earlier, I found that I would have to keep my sunglasses on in the dark, just because of the moron(motorist)s that don't turn off their highbeams for approaching vehicles. It would be so bad that, I couldn't see the bike path.

If someone is in the process of turning in front of me at night (how I broke my collarbone), you better believe I am going to shine it into the *path of their vehicle* to prevent it from happening again ...illegal or not. I misspoke if I said I was shining the light in their eyes. What I really do is point my head in the general direction of their car. It would be kind of ridiculous to go around pointing a light in people's faces, no?

What I think would actually work better for them to recognize you, is to shine the light down at your arms and chest, if you have a light color of jacket. Instead of seeing a small point-source of light, they'd see a powerfully-illuminated jacket coming at them, something with size and human form. Unfortunately, doing this with a helmet light requires looking down. Another way to accomplish it is to dangle a very small light from your zipper pull, like a 10-gram 1AAA keychain light from ShiningBeam. Having a dangling light orbiting around will be hard to ignore.

More:

I ride with a 250 lumen NiteRider light on my helmet. It has a fairly tight beam and when I'm riding normally, it's pointed slightly down and straight ahead so that I'm not blinding cars with my headlight.

I will, however, aim directly at a driver when: approaching an intersection where I have the right of way and a car is stopped and waiting to turn. Can't tell you the number of times I've seen a car rolling through a stop sign, potentially into my path of travel, or even starting from a start to the same effect, only to stop when I look directly at them and aim the light at the driver.

Same thing for high-beams -- I have a 300 lumen light attached to the bike and drivers would continuously fail to dim their high-beams using just that light. However, with the headlight, I look up a bit and aim the light at the driver and whaddayaknow, they dim their lights.

The fact that they "see" me in these two situations indicates to me that the helmet mounted light is extremely effective and an excellent night-time safety device. If it blinds drivers, it is surely no worse than inconsiderate drivers who don't dim their high beams, and if a blinded driver decides to pause until they get their sight back when they could have plowed into me from a side road, I'm also OK with that as well.

Because LED lights tend to be focused (unless you have one with a wide beam), it's also very easy to aim the light away from considerate drivers and other cyclists.

What I think would actually work better for them to recognize you, is to shine the light down at your arms and chest, if you have a light color of jacket. Instead of seeing a small point-source of light, they'd see a powerfully-illuminated jacket coming at them, something with size and human form. Unfortunately, doing this with a helmet light requires looking down. Another way to accomplish it is to dangle a very small light from your zipper pull, like a 10-gram 1AAA keychain light from ShiningBeam. Having a dangling light orbiting around will be hard to ignore.

Gotta disagree a little. The whole point of my light system is to be 1)bright enough to be seen and 2) to make the motorist think that I'm not a guy on a bike. I want them to look at the lights coming towards them and ask themselves "What the hell is that?" Motorists don't want to be squished anymore then we want to be squished. If they think the lights coming at them belong to something bigger than a man on a bicycle, they think twice about pulling out in front of it. The helmet light is there only for the very few percent who think they can beat the train;)