I had a close call about 10pm at night.

I was riding south about 10mph (a slow to get some fresh air in the neighborhood ride) in a very low traffic residential area (20mph speed limits)

I had a white blinky in front, my wife had a steady beam and was riding about 5ft behind be perhaps 1-2ft to my right.

We approach an intersection with only cross traffic having a stop sign. A car approached on the right with their left turn signal on and stopped a full stop. Just as we were about to cross in front of it the car started to move. We slammed on brakes and turned hard right (to try and go behind vehicle) to avoid hitting it - the car also stopped right in our tracks. Driver had window down and said "I'm sorry - I thought you were turning" "What?" I said - she responsed "well your right turn light was on" and drove off.

Anyway clearly she was confused, but clearly quite stupid as well. We had already well cleared the point from where we would make a right turn and even so its pretty common knowledge not to assume a car is going to turn if they have signal on and pull right in front of it, let alone a bike that doesn't even have signals. Duh.

Al

Yea
I ride at night also . The cars are the predators and bikers are the prey . Bwhahahaha
jarhead#42

Perhaps it would be better to have either a steady beam in front or a pair of blinkies or beams, spread as far apart as practical.

Well, that was kind of the learning. I still don't know how the driver thought that my light was a turn signal though. I thought lots of folks rode with blinkies in front (this is a very very well lit intersection - she should have seen both of us)

Also this was meant to be a low risk neighborhood ride hence using the blinky instead of my bright beam (which is on my commute bike) - in the 20min ride she was the only car we saw, but we did see far more kids and families on bikes and walking. And the reason there was not a collision is because we were going so slow - she pulled in front of us when were were no more than 10ft away and eye contact had been made (I don't rely on eye contact, just noting)

Al

The driver isn't fit to carry a license. If it's anything like what's usually available, your front blinky light was blinking much faster than what constitutes a blinking turn signal. Moreover, turn signals are, by law, orange in the front and orange or red in the rear. That this driver interpreted a white light as a turn signal and not as a headlight is an indicator of insufficient fitness to drive.

Drivers aren't expecting blinking front lights - give em a break.

OK - I can see the point that drivers don't expect blinky lights. I also see the point that that it was a fast blink (it is) and white.

But what is the consensus about their safety, what is the data on them?

I thought that blinkies were better because they attracted more attention. Whats the deal?

Actually I was giving the driver a tiny bit of credit by saying my wife wiht non blinky was 1-2ft to my left. If anything she was only 6" to my left and her light may have been blocked by my body. Also it was a very well lit area - I could tell the color of the drivers shirt, lipstick, hair, etc. when I was 20ft away.

Al

Regardless of how many cyclists use them, blinking front lights are generally not legal lighting for night riding in any of the 50 states. A steady white beam visible at 500 feet is the usual statutory standard for a front bicycle light. On the other hand, the Arizona code quoted below is sufficiently ambiguous that a blinking white light might actually comply with the code, if visible from 500 feet.

ARS 28-817 Bicycle equipment

A. A bicycle that is used at nighttime shall have a lamp on the front that emits a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet to the front and a red reflector on the rear of a type that is approved by the department and that is visible from all distances from fifty feet to three hundred feet to the rear when the reflector is directly in front of lawful upper beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle. A bicycle may have a lamp that emits a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear in addition to the red reflector.

https://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/00817.htm
https://www.ci.oro-valley.az.us/dpw/B...cle%20Laws.htm
https://www.azgohs.state.az.us/bike_safety.html

It seems the driver wasn't paying complete attention. That is why you need to be properly equipped to GRAB their attention and hold it long enough for them to figure out you aren't another motor vehicle. I suggest you invest in a proper headlight/taillight combo for yourself AND your wife, always wear white/light colored clothing, and expect the unexpected.

What do you recommend? We both have large rear lights - Trek brand - disco I think. My wifes front light is a brand called "NightRider" - it uses a separate battery. My front blinking light (which I can see was inadequate) is called a Planet Bike Dual Spot - I had it in blinky mode which probably made it worse. All had freshly charged batteries

I ask as I hope to commute as winter arrives and want the right lighting system.

Al

In my opinion, its best to let traffic clear first regardless of whos got the right of way. You are a semi visible object relying on a small blinking light to avoid a confrontation with a large metallic object.

And get a solid front beam.

My personal preference is a dynamo system such as the Busch and Muller Dymotec 6. The B&M Dymotech Oval Plus headlight has a bright halogen bulb with a good focused beam plus a decently bright white LED standlight for when you're stopped. In combo with a B&M Dymotec DToplite Plus taillight this setup gives good front and rear visibility and also lights the road in front of you so you can see where you're going. These may be a little hard to find in your LBS; if so, Peter White Cycles is a good source over the internet. The complete B&M setup - dynamo, front and rear lights and dynamo bracket, prices out at just about $100. Bonus - always permanently installed on your bike, and you never need to worry about batteries again!
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/dymotec.asp

I have an old VW beetle that has white turn signal lenses that blink very quickly. They blink faster than a blinkie light. Moreover, in the dark, with a steady bright light pointed at you, I can see where it would be easy to mistake an oncoming bike for a motorcycle with a turn signal or even a car with one headlight out signalling a turn. In fact, the relatively low intensity of a bike headlight could be misinterpreted to be another vehicle at a greater distance if the intersection does not have street lights.

I think the best strategy is not to use a white blinker up front. Better to use a steady lamp and save the blinkers for the rear. Remember, like it or not, automobile drivers are not expecting to see cyclists, especially at night, and it is best to present to them with something they are more likely to recognize.

Nightrider products are very good. It sounds like you're already halfway there. I don't have much experience with Planet Bike products- been a Cateye fan my entire riding life. I use their taillights exclusively. My night bike is set up with a Cateye LD600 taillight on my seatpost. This light has 3 blinking modes: chase, random, and sync( I like the random mode best). On my rear reflector bracket(yes, I still use one of those) I use an LD500 set as a running light, plus it has a passive reflector in case the batteries fail. On the handlebars I use a Cygolite Night Rover NiCad Extra: 6.5w low beam, 10w high beam, 16.5w combined. On the stem I use a Cateye LD170F on steady mode, turned 25 degrees to the right to get the attention of vehicles in intersections/ driveways.

All of this plus pedal reflectors and reflective stickers on my helmet makes me feel quite comfortable during my excursions into the night. Total cost for my comfort: about 95 dollars.

Yes, she should, but my experience tells me that drivers are notoriously stupid, particularly at night when they perhaps feel as though it's harder for people to see the number plates and write the details down. Either way, I use a steady front light too.

One of my dad's first VW buses (a '59, IIRC) had white front turn signals; it blinked just a bit faster than a typical turn signal. Perhaps yours blinks at the rate it does because it has the wrong flasher module (maybe it's a 6V car, as many old VW's were, with a 12V flasher button, or vice-versa). In any event, in most states, a vehicle of that age is not street legal for registration with "regular" plates, and can only be driven with a "collector" plate. So yes, theoretically it's possible that an approaching white blinking light might be a car's turn signal, but I'd bet a nickel that there are more bicycles routinely ridden at night within a ten-minute walk of where I'm sitting than there are remaining motor vehicles with white turn signals in the entire country.


Albeit legal, I would consider it dangerous to pull in front of a car with only one headlight, even with a turn signal on. Anyone irresponsible enough to drive with just one headlight can't be trusted wrt. signals. But that's getting too much into the other driver's head, and isn't really germane.


Other threads here have posts describing how drivers routinely "see" bicycles with steady headlights, but go on as if they're not there. The poster goes on to describe how much more attention (and compliance with yielding ROW) s/he gets after adding a white blinkie. It's best to present automobile drivers with something that will get their attention.

Probably the best thing is a steady light accompanied by a blinking light directly above or below the steady. That way, it can't possibly be misinterpreted as a turn signal, since it's not left or right relative to the steady light. I've got both on my commuter bike, and thinking it through, I think I'll do some re-mounting to this effect.

For that matter, in the incident described in the original post, how could the car driver have assumed that the signal was for a right turn? If the bicyclist had only the blinking light, then it couldn't have been interpreted as being left or right relative to another light. Even if it were considered a turn signal, the car driver's interpretation of it being a right signal was pure fabrication; if it were a left signal, s/he should have stayed put.

IIRC, that Dual Spot allows you to run the steady halogen light and the blinky LED at the same time, right? And since they're behind the same lens, the blinky (in conjunction with the steady) couldn't be misinterpreted as a turn signal (okay, it could, but anyone capable of such a misinterpretation is, by definition, dangerous for much bigger reasons).

Still, I'd use this only when you have to, or perhaps only in the summer, when your night riding hours are shorter (and you're more likely to be "expected"). If you're going to be doing any significant amount of night riding, get a big, bright light like your wife's NightRider. Go for at least 6 watts, preferably 10 or more. Get either one with a proprietary NiMH battery, or one that takes standard batteries, and get NiMH cells for it. In either case, make sure you have a "smart" charger, as NiMH batteries can be ruined by overcharging. Don't mess with NiCd (don't hold a charge "on the shelf"; charge memory problems) or SLA/SLB (sealed lead/acid; very heavy for their capacity, and lead isn't very "nice" environmentally). Do a search on this site for the word "bright" and you'll find lots of posts about lighting systems, from mild to wild.

Sure, we can analyze this a thousand different ways; so here's another - probably the driver saw both cyclists perfectly clearly, she just assumed (subconsciously perhaps) that the bicyclists were going to yield to her infinitely more dangerous WMD, despite the fact that the cyclists had the right-of-way.

I think this gets to the heart of the matter. The driver seemed to be searching for an excuse and made this one. I then fabricated in my mind a reason why the driver thought I was turning. I then presented this scenario (blinky light, non blinky lite on my wifes bike) to this forum to (probably inappropriately) give the driver some reason for thinking I was turning. Based on the expressions on the drivers face (we had eye contact long before she turned - I kept head pointed straight ahead, gave no body/face clues I might turn) she seemed very confused before she even started the turn in front of us. The reason we didn't collide is because I was prepared for this long before it happened and also we were going very slow (10mph) and steady (meaning we didn't slow down as we got near her which might have been interpreted as a plan to turn).

Anyway I think this is overly discussed - I appreciate the concern to get better lights - Finally, not that its an excuse, but this was one of those situations where we ride the 1/4mi in my neighborhood to get to the local park, there are practically no cars and the speed limit is 20mph. In fact I'll admit I've done it (the 1/4 mile ride on my street) without lights, but when I 've done that I ride as if I can't be seen (meaning if I see a car I pull onto sidewalk and stop) If I was heading out into real traffic I would have a much better lighting system.

Al