Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Every year or two years, it seems like there's one new guy during the winter dark that complains about headlights to everyone coming toward him...."Please get a light" since they were riding ninja...My light is aimed down 15-20 feet ahead AND pointed off to the right so there's nothing more I can do for the guy. But I'm tempted to sing out Please shut up.
If you light is properly adjusted, as you indicate it is, then the guy indeed has nothing to complain about. Likewise, you are right to let them know that they are just as annoying as the blinding light people for riding without lights.
That said, the blinding lights thing is real. It happens with motor vehicles as well, where people seem to think the only goal is to see and be seen as much as possible. They don't consider that people coming in the opposite direction need to see as well. Trucks and SUV's only exacerbate the problem with regularly adjusted lights that are mounted higher than the eyeline of some car drivers, but gas is cheap and they are big sellers, so the car makers don't seem to give a damn. I guess the same applies to helmet mounted headlights, although I've never encountered that issue personally.
Originally Posted by arsprod
There's one guy (who goes missing this time of year) who hates my front flasher and as we approach each other turns his on and when we pass says "you're flasher is on." Well yeah ya dope... why else would I have it!
Mid ride I got a text from a buddy reporting that his son-in-law was pushed off his bike coming into downtown and the bike was stolen. The police came out but I know they'll never catch the *******. It's hard enough to commute this time of year, now we have to watch out for thieves. This adds to the fear mongers about MUP safety who want trails closed when it's dark. Argh...
I don't see any issue with using a flasher, but is it pointed straight ahead and flashing like an EDM strobe light? That can be pretty annoying for other riders.
More importantly, I would hope that the cops would take that stuff seriously. If it was in a dense area, there should be plenty of security cameras around. Besides theft, which is bad enough, you could also argue that knocking someone off of a bike is an attempt to injure them, so they shouldn't just be blowing it off.