Gonna run a front strobe for daytime... Please tell me its just the holidays!!
 

This week I had three cases were someone was backing out of a driveway, crossing an intersection, or whatever, and almost plowed me. This is rural Pennsylvania! And I am wearing blaze orange coats! Is it just the holidays?! Are people that distracted? My bigger NiteRider has a strobe function and I think I'm gonna run that during the daytime... or maybe red/blue police LEDS.... but it prolly won't help anyway....

P.S. I am finding myself memorizing plate numbers of cars that buzz too close, crowd me, etc. Is this normal?? I guess I am just frusterated and need a break.

I wish I had a solution.

Keep vigilant.

You can't control others but you can do your best to stay safe.

Yeah - the holiday season is one of the most stressful times of the year. Its so bad that personally I won't go near a major shopping center on any weekend during the few weeks before Christmas.

Assume EVERYBODY is preoccupied and drive very defensively - or give yourself a break and just stay home.

Keep alert! People are crazy out there this time of year!

I have two horns on two different bikes. One is an air horn which is loud! and the other is a Hornet which is on my road bike. Loud, annoying, and unique.

A lot of use the strobe during the daytime. It's amazing how well it works if your light is bright enough for others to see.

I was wearing high viz vest and running a 500 lumen strobe and had a person run a stop sign and cut right in front of me. Don't think it is the holidays, just distracted humans. I would recommend using the strobe though, it does help in general.

One thing that seems to help me is that from the Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade to Christmas, I wear a Santa hat zip tied to my helmet. The drivers may be distracted, but they notice the hat.

^^^^ gotta try that!

So it just isn't me. I've been commuting to work for a few years now, pretty hardcore the last 10 months when we dropped to a one-car family. But the past few weeks have yielded more near accidents than I can ever remember. I cannot recall it being this bad.

Definitely run the Niterider on strobe during the day. I always run one of my double lights up front on binky during the day. IMO, and from experience, drivers look entering a lane from a driveway or other ways, will look, even if they see you, 9 out of 10, they will still pull out in front of you. The blinking/strobe bright light will make them "think again" about taking your right away,and IMO, 10 out of 10, will not take your rightaway..

++1 - Sometimes people will pull in front of you no matter what, but if you have your NR blinking it will happen a lot less often. :thumb:

The way I see it is that the issue is not YOU being visible it is the driver not paying attention or even bothering to look. You've taken the steps of hi vis clothing and I would doubt that any additional safety items would help as the drivers are just not paying attention. I see this on almost every ride and many, many days in my car as well. Some people don't even look past the hood of their car and drive like they alone own the roads. I've givin tips to new drivers and always tell them that they have been taught wrongly - you do NOT "watch where you are going" you should "watch where you are INTENDING to go", many accidents can be avoided using this strategy.

I for one find srobe very irritating. I've heard that blinking lights can cause epileptic fits in some people, I am forced to look away when coming up to one which seems MORE dangerous to me then not having it.

Strobe light may not help you.

I always plan on stopping when seeing any vehicle leaving a driveway.

I completely disagree with this. There is a great difference in how drivers respond when you have a daytime flasher on your bars, perhaps Rootman you just need to try it for a few weeks for yourself. :) Flashing bicycle lights causing epileptic episodes is a myth - Serious, the difference in the way drivers act is marked. Certainly, there are some drivers that will still pull out because their brain is on some other planet, but definitely try the daytime lights. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Daytime front strobe: white light or amber?

Riding farther to the left, like in the center of the lane, will greatly increase your visibility to cars pulling out of driveways and at intersections. Whenever possible and practical, I suggest you try to get away from near the curb.

See this animation:
http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/.../lane-control/

I run my strobe during the day and I have had cars stop and look before pulling out of a side street or driveway. So I say turn the strobe on.

White LED :thumb:

I agree - this is a good tactic. But only when road conditions/traffic deem it safe.

Remember the old motorcyclist's advice: ride like everyone is trying to kill you.

JYL is absolutely correct. I'm thinking of going to both head and bar mounted LEDs. Then I can use the helmet on strobe and the bar mount for forward vision.

I noticed and immediate difference when I started using a strobe on my helmet day and night. Nothing will help with the drivers that don't look or are totally distracted, but the vast majority of times I think the strobe helps.

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna try running the headlamp on strobe for a week and see what happens.

A strobe may help, and certainly can't hurt, but in many cases the cause isn't thay you're not obvious enough but one of sightlines. Years ago, many tractor trailers used to have "if you can't see me, I can't see you" painted on the back. This was a reminder to following drivers of the problem of blind spots. (I haven't seen it lately, and wonder why).

The if I can't see you, you can't see me is something we all should take to heart. When I see a car moving in a driveway I approaching, I prepare to stop unless I make clear eye contact with the driver. I do the same approaching intersections where crossing traffic has a stop or yield sign.

IMO, it isn't about who has the right of way, but about staying alive, and doing so often means acting on the assumption that drivers can't see me, or more commonly misjudge my speed.

This is especially true with SUVs backing out of driveways or parking spots -- many of them have *terrible* rear visibility, a problem that affects pedestrians as well as cyclists, and even smaller cars.

See for example http://www.kidsandcars.org/back-overs.html

Consumer Reports had a good report on this, too, measuring the blind zone behind many common makes/models -- especially awful for shorter drivers, e.g. a 5' 1" driver in a 2003 Suzuki Aerio will be unable to see a 28" tall traffic cone (or a bicycle headlight 28" off the ground) within 49 feet of the back of the car. http://www.kidsandcars.org/userfiles...asurements.pdf