In my opinion, one of the reasons that the issue of light intensity and aim for bicycle lights has become discussed more (both here and elsewhere) is bright lights for bicycles are relatively new. Pedestrians don't like bright lights on cars/trucks/buses/motorcycles either, but accept them because these vehicles are so prevalent and have been so for so long. And those vehicles usually move away fast enough to reduce the time that people are annoyed. But when someone appears on a bicycle with bright lights, they're typically somewhere that stands a good chance of annoying pedestrians (pretty much anywhere outside), going slow enough to prolong the exposure to the light when compared to motorized traffic, and doing something that people aren't used to. Given time, people may adapt to bicycles with brighter lights, but in the meantime, any extra lumens are just going to be one more thing that can annoy pedestrians. Right Cliff?