JanMM

No, not riding backwards. Volunteered with my stoker at the rest stop for the N.I.T.E. Ride (N.I.T.E. Ride - Home - Central Indiana Bicycling Association) in downtown Indy last nite. Driving home through the deserted city streets at 2:30am (we are NEVER out this late) came across what I had read about on BF but never seen in the real world - a fellow riding his bike with a flashing white light on the rear and no front light.
Does not compute. Why would anyone think that this is a good idea? While driving behind him, I could imagine someone being confused about whether he was coming towards me or away from me. I knew what I was looking it and it still was a bit disorienting.
I could accept his action of blowing through the red light that we stopped for at an intersection of three streets because those streets were empty. But the little white backwards flashing light blew my mind.

BlazingPedals

Perfect for riding salmon, though!

2manybikes

Darwin award winner.

doctor j

Vacancy of the cranium.

OldsCOOL

In the Village of the Dufai, he is king.

leob1

I see this once in a while, and from the look of the bikes you'd think they know better. Maybe they think that white is seen better?

fietsbob

To be helpful, with recommendations, here is One..

Have them buy some red Clear(not opaque) lens repair tape, (for cars with cracked taillights) to put over the rear facing red light,

and have them buy a 2nd front light , to see where they are going..

OldsCOOL

In our state vehicle code that is in violation. You cant have a "white" light to the rear.

JanMM

The white/rear crowd generally considers what they are doing to be a superior safety practice (for reasons unclear to me). So to heck with the law.
The fellow I saw knows running red lights is illegal too.

auldgeunquers

I don' know what to say this Fred he won' do!
Don' know what to say this Fred he won' do.
Flash white rear, Fred, he flash white too.
Don' know what to say this Fred, he won' do

- For the Harry Belafonte fans ...

2manybikes

Good point. It's likely that law is the same in most of the USA. Most of them are on the intewebz.

DTSCDS

There is someone who rides a popular MUP here in Dallas that has a red light facing the front.
Equally confusing.

WarrenR

Having come across a few ninja riders I'd have to say any light is a improvement.

JanMM

That's looking on the bright side......

tsl

There's a guy on my commute who does the same thing--flashing white on the back(pack). He's from China, so I figured it was a communist thing.

As for a backwards bike light, wouldn't that be something that throws a cone of darkness?

JanMM

A portable black hole powered by lithium ion batteries.

prathmann

I'll admit to doing that once. A kayak trip took much longer than anticipated and as a result I was cycling home after dark without my usual bike lights. But I did have the emergency white flasher that I keep on my life jacket (PFD) so I placed it on the back of my bike. Figured that a possibly confusing light was still preferable to no light at all.

I now have at least one tail light (preferably two) and head light on the bike even when not anticipating riding after dark.

rekmeyata

While the light is in violation you won't find many if any cops that will write a ticket for it. Maybe the rider only had one light and felt it was best to put it on the rear?

WarrenR

And so the not so bright become enlightened.

OldsCOOL

That would confirm his dufoidness even moreso in my estimation. Or else he has nightvision and can avoid any and all obstacles hiding in the dark to us normal folk.

rekmeyata

Well...look, I've been riding for over 40 years and for a while never even used a light at night and could see just fine, and when lights did come out that weren't dim do nothing generator lights, they were still so dim (2C battery powered standard bulb light made for a bike but was nothing more than a flashlight) they were good for nothing other than to spend money on a light and batteries, but they at least offered some very dim ability for a motorist to hopefully see us. Later I got a Cygolite Metro that used 8 D batteries with a total output of 13 watts which I amped up to 16, this light I thought was the bees knees back in the day and could see the road fine, I still have this light but when I compared it to a 350 lumen Cygolite Expilion it simply is no match and even more so with my brighter lights I have. As I've gotten older my night time vision isn't as bright as it was when I was younger, so what was fine with a 16 watt light that I rarely had to put on high is no longer the case. Not everyone has really good night vision, but that was true back in my caveman days too, and they still rode without lights. Tail lights was the same problem, we started out with no tail lights at all just a reflector and went up from there as time went by.

Today lights are cheap and far brighter, there is no excuse to go without lights.