Originally Posted by
smasha
No mention of speed so you just assume that the speed is wasn't a factor? You don't roll a car over "several times" or roll your car over and smash through a brick wall or if you are traveling at a moderate speed. And driving your car into the front of a truck because you want to avoid killing a squirrel is just dumb.
Originally Posted by
smasha
The troopers investigating the accident "speculate[d] the driver lost control of the car while attempting to miss [the squirrel]" based on a freshly killed carcass at the scene. However, if you tear your car in half and hang it about 4 feet up in a tree, avoiding the squirrel wasn't the problem.
Originally Posted by
smasha
nope. if you're driving on an interstate highway with light traffic and good visibility, 65mph could be a very reasonable speed... but if an animal runs out in front of you, and you swerve, it's fast enough to easily be fatal.
sure, motorists have to be "prepared for the unexpected" but that doesn't mean always driving slow enough to safely stop within 25 ft.
Just like the truck example, if you are so concerned about an animals death that you are willing to swerve to avoid it at 65 mph you are being beyond dumb.
Originally Posted by
smasha
then you've got some combination of:
a- exceptionally good eyes
b- a lot of driving experience
c- not much driving experience in these conditions
d- a very clean windshield
note that "b" and "c" are mutually exclusive.
with experience and a clean windshield (and being sober, well rested, etc) this situation can be "partially blinding" rather than "blinding" but it still leaves your visual abilities compromised. if someone is shining a bright light IN YOUR FACE while you're driving in the dark, you are at a disadvantage. there's no way around that. this point is not negotiable.
What are you considering to be 'blinded' by another automobile's light? A bit of glare can be uncomfortable but you aren't going to be
unable to see. If that is the case, you shouldn't be driving.
Motorists shine their lights in the face of oncoming traffic all the time. The world isn't flat and straight, it's full of turns and hills and curves. Having a light shine in your face from in front of you or behind you is a fact of driving a car. I was trained long ago not to stare into the lights of on-coming cars.
To get the discussion back to bicycle lights, we have a very hard time shining our lights in the face of motorists...if we are riding legally and safely. We are just too far way from the drivers with too weak a light to do so on a regular basis. If you are turning left, your light might be shining towards a motorist on the other side of the road but that would be the case with a car turning left as well.
Originally Posted by
smasha
what bulb do you consider typical? my last car had 9006 headlights - 1000 lumens
lights like the MJ-856 & MJ-872 are rated 1600 lumens, and they've been independently tested around 1200 lumens, OTF. that's real-world brighter than 9006s, and they retail for <$200. meanwhile, LEDs keep getting more efficient, brighter, and cheaper.
The 9006 halogen bulb is on the low side of bulbs available for cars.
The claimed rating of the Magicshine lights are well known to be inflated. MTBR's lux measurements (a better measure of light output) put the MJ872 at a lot lower than other bicycle lights with a similar output whose output claims are more trustworthy.