Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
And I say it's foolish to pretend that police lights aren't meant to be obnoxious, eye catching, and so annoying they make you want to pull over because they're so distracting. I've been pulled over, that's what the point is - it's not quite blinding, it's just so distracting you can't pay attention to anything else.
They don't let you use police-level lights on your regular car.
Your last sentence is exactly my point - one puts this obnoxious, annoying, can't-look-at-anything-else light on your bike - and you *still* aren't 100% safe.
I think most of the time, cars either see you or they don't. Being as annoying as emergency vehicle lights on your bike doesn't seem to me to greatly increase your safety, but it does greatly increase your annoyance level.
Paul while I disagree with you to some extent I don't think you are entirely wrong. Police lights ARE freggingly bright. That said they need to be freggingly bright. I don't think I need to explain why. The intent is not to be "obnoxious" but to draw attention, day or night. While there are some very bright rear bike lights I don't think I've ever seen any that come close to the output of the more modern police roof light bars.
Your statement about being 100% safe I find very odd coming from a cyclist. As for myself, being a person who drives at night for a living I've seen many a cyclist at night riding in various conditions ( urban vs. rural ). While I've seen a bright rear light on a bike a time or two I've never seen anything that would of produced from me an "OMG what an annoyingly bright light!" response. Matter of fact, usually the response I've given to the typical rear lights on a bike I see is something like, "What a weak-ass light that is"! or, "Hey buddy, you want to put some new batteries in that thing and then aim it right". So odd is it to see a good bright rear light on a bike that when I do see one I almost want to wind the window down and give the guy a "thumbs up" and then pat him/her on the back and say, "Job well done".
As for being 100% safe... Nobody is 100% safe. Doesn't matter if you're a cyclist or a motorist. The police used to use a single bubble light on top of their cars ( back in the 60's ) Apparently that was deemed "inadequate" by the powers that be, hence the newer brighter light bars. Apparently the newer, brighter lights are working for the police. If brighter lights are better for them I see no reason not to believe brighter lights ( up to a point ) are not better for cyclists.
While riding my bike at night I want to as safe as possible. To make that possible I use an assortment of lights ( front and rear ) as well as reflectors/reflective material to help make myself visible to others. Not much more I can do along those lines to increase my safety. At this point with two rear lights and two front lights along with some cheap wheel lights, I've pretty much maxed out the "Being visible" issue. Anything else I do with lights is likely only going to produce diminished returns. That doesn't mean though that I might not want a "better quality" lamp to replace ones that I already have. The issue now for me is not, MORE LIGHT but, BETTER LAMPS....smaller footprint....lighter weight....longer run time with an acceptable output...etc.
All that said, the DiNotte quad rear looks to be acceptably bright with the added ability of having more side illumination. Bright, small, long running lamp of high quality. Yep, one of those could easily replace one of my current lamps without a doubt ( if I had the money ).