colombo357

Blue and red flashing lights are the only surefire way to make sure drunk drivers stay the hell away from you.

sggoodri

My night cycling article:

https://www.humantransport.org/bicycl...hts/lights.htm

college biker

Is there a reason why red lights are only used as taillights? Can you put a red flashing light on the front of your bike to make yourself more visible as well? It seems like cars see red lights better than they do white lights.

colleen c

Car will be confused not knowing if you are approaching or going away. Driver are used to seeing cars ahead of them with red tail light. If a car is at an intersection stopped for a stop sign and you are approaching that same intersection with a red light on your handle bar facing forward, that car can easily mistaken you as going away instead of heading toward them. If they assume that, they might pull in front of you and possibly hitting you.

bmt074

Does anyone have any experience with LED Pedals such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/Light-2dUp-Alu...7139308&sr=1-3

I've been thinking about getting them for my commuter bike for a while now. They look like they could add quite a bit of visibility, especially because the lights would be moving in a pedal motion.

sggoodri

Stock amber colored pedal reflectors are surprisingly bright and visible in normal use. I don't think the LEDs would be much advantage under the conditions where you need to be visible. I'd invest the money in a better headlamp or tail lamp.

sggoodri

The law requires a white front headlamp and a read rear reflector or red rear lamp at night. You may add to these, but not subtract. Many people add an amber reflector to the back since amber is brighter than red. However, adding a red lamp to the front would be confusing. Stick with white lights in front, they are widely available over a wide price range.

rumrunn6

strobes front and rear; reflective tape on the frame; pants and shirt or jacket; reflective sidewalls; wheel reflectors and reflective ankle bands

a reflective vest is admirable but not enough. in addition you'll need a headlight to actually see the road with. dangers at night include invisible potholes. even on routes you know very well, there's always a couple surprises where you'll say - wow! glad I stayed upright and didn't blow a tire!

mikeybikes

From sggodri's article posted above you:

Leiniesred

Reflective vest and stickers work really well and are not vey expensive. I mean the car behind you has 100watts of headlight aimed your direction and the vest is up high in driver's line of sight too.
Reflective vests/sashes are naturally dynamic because of the motion of your body while you pedal and that motion attracts the focus of human attention.
reflective stickers and vests are light weight and require no batteries either. I think pedal refelctors work OK because the spinning orange flashing makes driver's brains go, "what's THAT? Ohhh it is a bicycle. What kind of idiot rides a bike at this hour? Better not hit 'em."

Add in some "be seen" lights too. Good light to start with on the back is the planet bike superflash. Add some kind of blinking white LED to the front of your bike or up on your helmet where it is more likely to be noticed by drivers.

Now work on the "see things" lights. The faster you want to go safely, the more light you need. When I switched from a 4AA powered LED light to 15 watts of halogen light, I saw 3x more wildlife on my mostly unlit, off street route.

Riding at night is great. Peaceful, quiet, animals are out...No summer heat blazing down on you. Very few joggers/dogwalkers.
Watch out for "ninja bikers" riding towards you with NO lights and be VERY careful on the streets when the bars let out. Hate to hear about anyone getting hit.

Oh yeah, and looking back, I too have been surprised by things I've run over in the dark despite my mini-motorcycle headlight... "*clang-ga-lang* What the heck was THAT? I'm lucky I didn't crash or slice a tire on whatever chunk of metal THAT was!" It takes dedicated "situational awareness" to avoid getting hit by cars or hitting objects in the dark.

rumrunn6

I'm a new fan of night riding and love having the road to myself. even surprisingly dinner time on Friday or Saturday nights is quiet. I'm planning an overnight century ride now that is warm 24 hrs a day up here

idiotekniQues

i think that if you ride at night on roads you are morally obligated to make yourself visible to cars with active lighting. this includes a respectable taillight and a respectable front light. not dinky little things either.

if bicycles want respect from cars we ought to return the favor. a vehicle driving at night rightfully expects that other vehicles in the road make themselves visible. you could cause them anything from stress to great harm if they come on you fast without seeing you, either giving them a quick gasp of danger or perhaps even having them swerve to avoid you possibly causing themselves and other innocent victims harm.

this doesnt mean you have to go and get $200 headlight and a $200 taillight and cover yourself in reflective tape, but you should make a decent effort. a band that goes around your ankles with reflective tape, if you wear a helmet some tape on the back. something as respectable as a pb superflash on the rear and the 1watt blaze on front. if you are in a very urban area that can wash out your lights with the massive ambient light around, consider a second cheaper taillight clipped to your clothes as well. yes this will cost you about $100 total, but it is the price to be a vehicle on the road in the dark.

cytotoxictcell

I took 9:05PM train to a city and rode 15 miles in 73 Mins. I like night riding! its peaceful and there is almost no traffic on the route i took. I plan to try the 11:59pm train soon.I spent 35$ on front and back lights.

bjornb

Flashing lights are mandatory imo. I was once coming down a bit of a hill at about 11:30 at night on a semi busy street lit with street lights and surrounding buildings and the guy turning left at the upcoming cross section didn't see me. I hit the brakes so hard I pulled a muscle in my back! I was wearing a bright YELLOW cycling jacket with reflective strips but no flashing light. Without flashing lights you can become blurred into the surroundings especially if people don't expect cyclists. (I think I was hidden in the yellow of a nearby McDonalds). Flashing lights are so noticeable I even use them in they day time when commuting.

Lot's Knife

Blinking in the day, solid at night for me.

I like the L2D Premium Q5.

CommuterRun

At night I typically run two headlights, one on my helmet and one on the handlebars; and three taillights, one on the rear rack, one on the seatpost and one on the back of my helmet. I only run one bank of the seatpost light, a Cateye TL-LD1000, in flash mode. Everything else is steady on.

Flashing lights are an attention gainer, but they do nothing to let the motorist know that the thing the flashing light is attached to is moving.

When towing a trailer I add two more taillights, one on each rear corner of the trailer.

The thing I like about running redundant taillights is that if one fails or falls off, and I've had both happen at different times, you're not going to notice until to turn around and look for that.

Areas or times with more ambient light, the moon, artificial light sources, etc., require brighter lights to be safe. I have found that the darker it is, the less light is needed to see or be seen. But that is not to say don't get the best lights you can afford.

Flashing lights work well in the presence of a lot of ambient light. Even during the day if the weather is overcast.

I have found that with a flashing white light to the front on overcast days I get noticed by on-coming motorists earlier and seem to "look bigger" than on even bright, sunny days with no lights. It makes a difference on two-lane rural highways when one on-coming motorist may want to pass another as they are approaching you; and in urban areas for motorists entering and exiting the roadway. The same is true for a flashing red light to the rear and same direction motorists.

I wouldn't run red on the front, but amber flashing lights can augment white lights to the front as well as red lights to the rear.

In addition to that I also wear a reflective vest at night, and have DOT C2 reflective tape on the bike and rear of my panniers.

thehick

I didn't notice it mentioned, but wouldn't avoiding flats be more important riding after midnight? I would run big tires and correct pressure. Also, a headlight would be essential for fixing the flat if it happens. Of course, then the questions expands into "what should I do to ride safely after dark".

Somehwere I read that altho we as cyclists worry about being hit from the back, we're more likely to be hit from the front. i.e.: vehicles making turns into us "Where'd you come from!". Not sure about this stat but just to encourage ultra-alertness.

Norel

..

gerv 

One point I haven't seen addressed here is the power of the front light. If you are not using active lighting -- let's say you are using something like a PB Blaze 1/2 watt -- everything is fine until you pass through a part of your route where the light is poorer. In my town, this happen through some residential side streets (which happen to be a big part of my routes...).

The lower wattage lights aren't great for picking up road debris. So you risk hitting a big rock or pothole with your front wheel.

Depending on your route, you should think about upgrading to something that let's you see the road clearly even without street lighting.

Zero_Enigma

Darth Vader outfit is ok to ride in if it has reflective material and lighting on it. Technology has come far now that we have black reflective tape so the dark one can represent the dark side during the day and at night if any light shines on him he looks like reflecto-man front and back.