Great. Another drama addict. Welcome to the BF.

Did I say if anyone gets blinded or hit, to hell with them? Did I? Or did I say that I will turn the light away from others in close proximity? (Or did it matter, what with your indignation obviously fired up quite independently of any posting here?)

Look, yes, these lights are bright. If they shine right into a person's eyes, then they can reduce vision in the immediate area. I know, as I tested my HID light extensively when I bought it.

There is simply an unfortunate fact about night driving or riding. There is no way to provide adequate forward illumination for a driver without reducing the vision of oncoming traffic somewhat. That's true for sedans, for VW bugs, for motor scooters, for bicycles, and for evil SUV's.

Unlike SUV's, though, HID lights serve an important purpose for most people who own them: they allow riders to _see_ where they're going. Not just guess, not just remember-- but see, at daylight speeds, in the dead of night. That's what's normally called "road safety".

The light is bright enough that sometimes one must take precautions to make sure the light isn't aimed too high. But that's just to say that the light requires some care and consideration in its use. What doesn't?

I've used my light on heavily trafficked two-lane roads at night, and there has been no problem. No high beams from oncoming traffic. No horns. They definitely see me-- but that's the point.

In darker areas, with no lights or other traffic, cars will often slow down as they approach. They can't see me behind the light. They wonder if I'm driving a piece of farm equipment or something.

But they can't see behind a car's headlights either-- it's only the placement of those lights that tells them what they're looking at. So there's nothing specially "blinding" about an HID bike light. And again, it's dimmer than car headlights anyway.

When bright halogen lights appeared on cars, other drivers complained that they were blinded, that the newer lights were much more dangerous than the older ones, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure if we had the BF then we'd have heard similar things from bike riders. Now we're hearing it about HID lights. But the worry is overblown in this case too.

So, yes, despite the prospect of bothering some people in close proximity to me, I'll keep using the light. Of course, I almost never see other cyclists or pedestrians at night. In any case, trading off risks is just part of life, and not just for "SUV people". It's the same thing you do when you ride with halogen lights. Think how you'd preserve the night vision of oncoming pedestrians if you rode in the dark, after all. But that's all right, I guess-- it's only the actions of other people that are selfish.