Originally Posted by
79pmooney
My two big fears are being taken out by a car pulling out of a driveway or righthand side street and a head-on with a left turning car. Hitting the car pulling out of the side street would be messy. Colliding with the left turning car - very likely fatal.
So, in recent years I added rear flashers (Planet Bike) to the waist strap of my reflective vest so they sit on the forward corner of my hip. Cars apparently see them as I now observe cars clearly waiting for me. This even happens on the days when I forget to put the headlight on my bike. (First time I forgot the headlight, I was slowing and yielding for left turning cars until I realized we were pulling the old Pennsylvania driving law of each motorist waiting until the other had passed. Obviously they saw me!)
I have also been told those lights on my hips are very visible from behind although that was never my intent. The part I like is that they are completely out of my vision, even when I am riding stealth without a headlight. (I never plan to ride "stealth". I do however sometimes forget to move the headlight from the charger or other bike when I am leaving in daylight hours. The vest lives with my riding clothes indoors and gets included as I pack my bag. I did ride without a headlight intentionally for decades after I hit an opening car door and realized motorists absolutely were not aware of the feeble pre-halogen headlights. I used a rear light and the French leg light; again a light I don't see while I am riding but is very noticeable to others.)
Ben
I had a somewhat close call last week. A car was pulling out of a gas station as I approached. He did a slow roll without stopping, and I had to swerve to the left as he finally stopped well into my lane. My headlight was probably on it's 550 lumen setting.
This is similar to how a car pulling out of a parking lot in daylight clipped my rear wheel some years ago. I think that my bike and the car were both traveling at similar speeds at 90 degrees. So I was staying in about the same position, looking out the car windows, as we both closed the gap.
A side light wouldn't have helped much. I was 30 to 50 feet away with a very bright headlight as he started to move. But an up-and-down ankle light might have made a difference.
I just need to be extra attentive of these cars pulling out, and slow down a little in advance.
Fibre Flair light
I have one of these. I attach it to the seat stay to be a second rear light, along with my blinker. I think it helps in the city, since it's an 8 inch long glowing tube that's omnidirectional. It's about as bright as a glow stick. The length of the light makes it easy to see how far away I am, instead of just being a point source. It's powered by 2 AAA batteries, and there's an LED at each end of the clear solid plastic tube that makes the whole tube glow. It's nice on night group rides, since it's not too bright for the following riders.
It's somewhat fragile. The end caps can come loose from the tube fairly easily, and it's not really waterproof. But mine is still working after a few winters of riding.