For your particular situation you may not have any trouble. I live not far from White Rock and find that there are enough street lights to allow me to see pretty well. Having a front light makes it easy for me to be seen, not so much for me to see. I know that there are very expensive lights out there that will light the way for you. It seems like a read or heard somewhere that the randonneur (sp?) crowd tends to mount their lights on the forks. It seems like that is supposed to give you a better view than a handlebar mount.

I must say I have not been around White Rock in the dark but I know there are lots of folks that do. I think there is a MTB gang that does it pretty regularly. (I was trying to get back to my car one evening and a bunch of them stopped in front of me to wait on the stragglers. Took up all the trail plus some of the sides as well. Came WAY too close to being an ugly situation. I remember it vividly.)

Since I have recently started commuting from the Jupiter/NW HWY area to near Baylor I am thinking about the whole front light situation. I am wondering if for a given amount of money, would an actual flashlight be brighter than a dedicated bike light. Seems that everything bike related gets an extra little kiss, so I'm thinking I could buy a brighter flashlight and MacGyver/kludge it to the bike and come out ahead.