Originally Posted by
noglider
Are you referring to unlit MUPs? If so, I find your points to make sense. My MUP is lit, and it seems to me I'm not doing much to affect people's visions. I keep my headlight aimed down and out of people's faces, and it's not all that bright.
We don't have any lighted MUPs around here. I don't think we have any within 900 miles of here (Chicago being 940 miles away
) Almost all of the MUPs around here are pitch black and even darker than most streets as they tend to be in the wooded sections of town along the rivers.
Originally Posted by
canklecat
I find it pretty easy to see at night with little light, especially on overcast nights when city lights are reflected off the cloud cover. I keep my headlight on low, aimed downward, and use my dimmest red taillight. Pretty much the same as the city bikes I see at night, which don't affect my dark adaptation. Occasionally I see others using lights that are unnecessarily bright for the MUP, but the main problem is aiming the lights directly forward into the eyes of oncoming cyclists and pedestrians.
There's only one long section under heavy tree cover, and I use brighter lights aimed ahead mostly because of the critters crossing the path -- lots of raccoons, possums, etc. I can quickly tip the light downward if I see other cyclists or pedestrians.
You are missing the point. You are operating under the delusion that
your eyes are night adapted. If you are using
any kind of white light, your eyes aren't night adapted. Basically, if you have light that are bright enough for you to see anything, you are night blind.
And therein lies the problem for pedestrians who aren't using lights on the MUP...which most don't. Their eyes
are night adapted and when you ride by with a light bright enough for you to see by, they lose that night adaptation. Once you've passed, they are plunged in the darkness and it takes a while for them to recover their night vision. It doesn't matter if you dip your lights or turn them down. The damage is done as soon as they see the white of your lights.
Try it yourself. At the long dark section, turn off your lights and see how dark it is and how well you can ride without lights and you are night blind.