Those spoke lights are interesting I meant to get some to try out, but someone at work removed them from the QBP cart, grrr...

It's not easy to find active lighting for side visibility. I recently picked up a pair of these eGear Guardians and zip-tied them to my fork up by the crown, in case anyone's interested in such things. They're not fantastically powerful, but at close range they might be helpful.



I've also considered getting a small 1AAA keychain light (Fenix L0D Q4 or something along those lines), hanging it from the interior of my neon-lime shell jacket, and switching it on when I'm heading into particularly tricky traffic areas. Imagine a cyclist with a 10Hz 75-lumen strobelight illuminating the interior of a neon-lime jacket, now THAT would be hard to ignore!

Tangentially, people with helmet lights often aim them at cars to try to be seen. I sometimes do that, but I often do the opposite: momentarily aim my helmet light down at myself. Instead of a small point-source of light, the motorist suddenly sees a human being on a bike, illuminated at very high intensity, OMG HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR ME Of course, you don't want to do this if the momentary lack of forward vision is going to endanger you... I generally do so when I have time to anticipate the need, not in emergencies.