Originally Posted by
cyccommute
You are looking at the information the wrong way. The StVZO standard allows for a certain amount of light leakage above the beam cutoff. It's not going to have much to do with reaction time since the main beam is still has the same intensity. Bicycles are held to a tighter standard to avoid "blinding" on-coming traffic which they really can't do given their lane position and lower intensity lighting. Cars can, and do, "blind" other road users. The standard should be tighter for them than for bicycles.
Actually, in most cases the bikes are separated into cycle/pedestrian lanes even in rural areas. I don't interact with cars in Germany that often, therefore, I have much more trouble with cyclists and peds, in that order, rather than drivers. Even in Frankfurt or Munich.
I'm worried about being blinded by other cyclists on dual-direction separated path. I'm also worried about blinding a cyclist or a pedestrian as well. Either way a blinded cyclist or pedestrian is a major cause for concern as they can enter into my side of the dual-directional lane.
This is also a major deal in Denmark once one leaves the CPH metro area. I would assume that the Netherlands is the same but I haven't cycled there very often.