CommuterRun

I was riding to the river on the Townie, towing the canoe the other morning. Well after sunrise, partly cloudy, canopy road. I had my dark glasses on for when the sun was out, I imagine a lot of folks out, including drivers, probably did the same. While I was on the canopy road a cloud blocked the sun. I could see the school bus ahead of me, but that big, bright yellow bus sure didn't standout very well at all. Easily, the most visible thing about it was the strobe light on the roof and it's big taillights.

Under these circumstances it's easy to see how a cyclist may not have been seen well enough to be noticed without active lights, even if wearing bright colors or reflective gear, until an approaching driver was very close.

slvoid

Plus the yellow school bus probably blended in pretty well with the sky. This is a situation when lime green/red stripped would probably be the most visible thing out there since lime green attracts attention and most drivers associate red with STOP.

Dawn and dusk are the two most important times to overload yourself with active lighting.

Bekologist

DOT traffic safety vests. Blaze orange upland game vest. dayglo ANSI t shirts.

Passive visibility is helpful at twilight.

As I rode home last night, I watched all the other bicyclists i passed. I have a very strong suspision that active lighting, passive reflective systems and high viz is MORE IMPORTANT after dark than lane position for driver recognition sake.

Noticing a bicyclist is certainly acheived first when that rider is running a front white blinkie, and certainly a large array LED taillight. I'm torn between blink or no-blink, so i have two taillights, and do both.

It is possible to discern a bicyclist at night with an effective front blinkie at distances approaching a kilometer or even close to a mile. Bright headlamps seem to be actually less effective at making a bicyclist 'stand out' to approaching traffic.

yes

I had an observation about being visible last night. I was driving home and saw a cyclist riding the wrong way on a 4 lane road wearing all black and not a single reflector that I could make out. He was on the opposite side of the road, and I still saw him. However, I don't know how many miles he could ride like that without getting hit.

DigitalQuirk

I saw a cyclist riding his bike after dark when I was driving home from work. He had a bright flashing red light on the back of his bike. He was riding on the sidewalk (made sense in this case; nobody ever uses the sidewalk on Stevenson Rd. south past the tracks for walking). What was interesting is everybody (myself included) thought it was a cop and slowed down. It wasn't until we got closer that we saw it was a cyclist, and then resumed "Normal" speed (approximately 15k over the limit).

Definitely go with flashing. Very bright flashing. Drivers may not be looking out for cyclists, but they're DEFINITELY on the look-out for cops and potential speed traps.

ken cummings

Every color except blue. Some flasher sequences are limited to police/emergency vehicles.

slvoid

What about having a red and white flashers out back? I wonder if thats legal...

randya

As far as I'm concerned, blue is for bikes. I've got a blue reflector (among others) or blue reflector tape on almost all of my bikes. White - Yellow/Amber - Red - Blue from most to least reflective.

But I keep the reflectors and lights limited to my bike and bag, and generally wear street clothes to ride, often black. Bike clothes are for bike dorks.

CB HI

There was a legal case in the southeast a few years ago, in which a federal appeals court overturned the conviction of a man who had used a flashing blue light on the side of the road after his car broke down. The court said that the use of the light for safety was permissible regardless of local law. The court noted that, had the man used the light to pull someone over, then the conviction would have stood.

If anyone knows the case # for this one, please pass it on.

noisebeam

ANSI Lime/Yellow is quite a bit brighter/noticable compared to the typical dull school bus yellow.

That is not to say that that the suggestion to use daylight/dusk/dawn lights/flashers is a bad one. I too recommend bright lights/flasher for non-night.

Al

mechBgon

I've been using halogen and HID headlights, and NiteRider taillights, for several years, day or night. I think it helps a bit, not just to be seen but also to actually register in the other peoples' minds (even if for the wrong reason, like "whoa, must be one of those mentally-handicapped guys collecting aluminum cans... look at that crazy vest he's wearing!").

Trek_Rider_05

Here is what ive got, and it works GREAT so far:

Rear:

I now have two seat post blinkies, one planet bike 5 led one that stays on solid, and one serfas 5 led that I keep on blink. Near the bottom of each side of the rear fork, I have 1 planet bike 3 led blinky that I leave each on solid for constant side visibility. Id like to find some yellow or amber ones to take thier place, but red will do for now I guess.

Front:

handlebars I have 1 plant bike dual spot (single led and two level halogen) in the center. I just leave that one on the single led flahsing. Next to each gear shifter I have an 06 Cateye compact opticube, ( 3 highpower leds each with a 90 candlepower output). They also feature a 360 ring that lights up brigtly for side visibility. These things are almost as bright as car headlights and really flood the trail with light so you can CLEARLY see the trail..a nd any reflective obects 100 feet or more away from you.

On each side of the front break I simply clip on two of the cheap safety light blinkies and leave them on solid for constant side visability. those too I would rather use amber/ yellow, but red will do.

So far, cars not only seem to know that I am there, but have almost always ended up treating me more as a motor cycle, than a bike, especially when coming towards me. Those Cateye led headlights give off a very focused bluish / white light, and two of them working in tandem are extremely bright for inexpensive bike lights. SO much so it looks more like a motorized vehicle coming towards you than a bicycle, and that to me is a wonderful thing as far as being on the road with cars is concerned. Cars have often seemed to really slow down until they have passed too. Not to mention they really light up anything reflective from a long distance, and have more than once alerted me to another cyclist riding with NO lights on the trails by lighting up thier reflectors.

I really just dont understand people who ride at night, espeically on unlit trails, with ZERO lights, not even a cheap red blinky.

So far this setup has been way more than effective, and im keeing it for now.

randya

^^what's your battery bill each month?

Trek_Rider_05

I dont commute since I live right next to a subway station. However, usually once or twice a week a ride and subsequent socialising has kept me out well past sundown. The batteries I have have lasted me for a few months now. I have a fairly large stockpile of AA and AAA batteries as well, so I wont need to buy any for a good while. I think I may rethink my setup if I used it EVERY DAY and wore out batteries more often than once every month or so.

chephy

A few rechargeable batteries and a nice 15-minute charger eliminate the battery bill problems.

LittleBigMan

Ya, I run my strobe and headlights even during the daytime.

Once I was sitting on the train thinking about nothing in particular, when I noticed I was starting directly at an emergency vehicle outside. Its strobe was flashing. My attention had been drawn to the strobe without my thinking about it.

huhenio

X2 on the lime green vest or orange safety vests.

SamHouston

Looking like a cop can be good & bad it's true. When I worked nights as a bicycle messenger in downtown Houston I wore a white helmet & clear eye protection, my company jacket (navy blue) my radio on my waist with hand mike on my shoulder, black shorts & black clipless shoes with white cycling socks, black cycling gloves. At first glance I'm sure some would be 90% sure I was law enforcement. I was friendly but officious, obviously busy with no time to engage in chit chat with people out at a late hour. I think it definately helped, it wasn't a good place after dark at that time and is still iffy even with the recent revitalization thing.

Drawbacks are obvious though! What if someone needed help and thought I was it? Well I did happen across an accident or two and a confrontation or two, radios are your friend, even though I wasn't a police officer I was able to summon them quickly.

Trek_Rider_05

^^ Alittle OT, but im just curious, what kind of clear eye protection did you use? Im looking for some for night riding. Thanks!