... and I believe they're actually right.
Yesterday was a weird day. On two separate occasions a car had to brake really hard to avoid hitting me. The first one even stalled her engine which I thought was especially nice. I could see them both coming well in advance, so no real danger there, but it unnerved me nevertheless. I was wearing my riding gear with reflective stripes. My bike has all the mandatory reflectors and then some (in my panniers). I have a flashing red led at the rear and a bright be-seen led at front, on steady. In short: I was doing everything I thought I needed to do, and yet neither of the cagers saw me.
What they saw were my lights, and that was a little earlier. During the time between that moment and the time they crossed my riding path they apparently had not figured out what to make of those lights or even registered them properly. They never actually saw my shape on my bike until it was nearly too late.
I started thinking if there would be any way to fix that. Currently I'm toying around with an idea of buying a bright yellow reflective vest, then putting one of my weaker be-seen leds in front, but aiming it backwards directly at the vest.
Pros: they should see
me now, even with little or no ambient lighting at all.
Cons: I know I could aim the beam so that it does not blind me, but I doubt I can keep all the resulting direct or reflected light out of my pheripheral field of vision at all times. I am concerned it would at least impair my night vision. Also, I believe strictly speaking it would be illegal to have a white light pointing backwards, although that would be the least of my worries.
Anyone tried this or other ways of actually lighting your body/bike instead of pointing lights in the thin air?
--J