Though I can't be certain, you seem to have misinterpreted my tongue-in-cheek comment as somehow being meant as literal advice to the OP. The point is that regardless of how many lumens their light produces, if they were to accidentally collide with some dingus walking their dog in a bike lane (on a road, not a MUP), in the dark, because they couldn't see said pedestrian, then it's not the OP who would be at fault. I was merely trying to point that out so they wouldn't feel guilty about not having "bright enough" lights. At least they had lights!

I do agree that reality can be a pain in the butt, and that, for safety's sake, we all have to be aware of the possibility of other people making stupid mistakes. It stinks, but c'est la vie. A good set of lights is certainly a must-have when riding at night, as are visible/reflective clothing or accessories. 3000 lumens seems pretty excessive, however, unless you're doing some nighttime mountain biking. I've found that a 500-700 lumen headlight works well enough for me (of course, YMMV). Then again, I once encountered a jogger running against traffic in the bike lane who refused to move the two feet over to the sidewalk even as I rode straight at them at speed, in the daytime, ringing my bell, waving and shouting, with headlight flashing, and cars immediately to my left, and they had the nerve to tell me to "watch out!" Sometimes, there's just nothing to be done about people being dumb...