Originally Posted by
Not the Slowest
As a Commuter with 46 miles round trip and more if I do laps in Central Park in NYC here are my thoughts.
1) Expect the unexpected
2) See Rule #1 Above
The issue is not your light but the fact that WE need to be able to avoid things that come in our way.
Other Cyclists, tree branches, squirrels, raccoons (in my park), deer, potholes and obviously Pedestrians.
I have a few Dinotte lights and they do not cost under $50 and did have some Romisen and Fenix that all worked great but either failed or broke off in a crash.
I love the Dinnottes because of the strong steady lights and multi flashing options. When I think I need to get someones attention, I hit the button for a 3x faster flash and it works.
Obviously flashing lights do help, steady lights help, BUT YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO REACT. Bottomline is that you have to SLOW down.
Adding a bell works and I like to shout if need be.
Trust me in that I am no angel on the bike, but I work very very hard to not hit someone and at the same time get myself home in one piece.
Bottomline is more pedestrians are not looking and have no idea how fast we are going or can go.
OK, first off, thanks to you both for the helpful answers to the post. Ziemas, I love your home town.
Robert, now, part of this was my fault for not fully describing the situation, but seriously, was it hard to stick the landing after your massive jump to the conclusion that I was speeding or riding recklessly? This was a simple question about which lights provide the most daytime visibility, and you took it to a lecture (with all-caps screaming, I might add) on responsible riding.
For the record, I was going *well* under the speed limit, meaning that I was prepared to react as defined by the traffic laws. The problem is, when someone rapidly and unpredictably changes direction about three feet in front of you when you're doing about 18 mph, there's not enough time to react. 18mph is 26.4 feet per second, meaning that you cover three feet in just over 1/10 sec. That's half the average human reaction time, for those of you who are counting. Even if my reaction time were half the average, I still would only have had time to just process the information before impact. And I certainly did not try to hit the guy, as your post would imply. What mentalist tries to seriously injure a pedestrian (and themselves) while also sacrificing their ride?
So, again, thanks to *both* of you for the helpful info. Robert, I agree that cyclists need to be responsible--I'm just looking for that extra line of defense provided by hi-vis flashing lights.