Another perspective on bicycle lights.
 

In my opinion, one of the reasons that the issue of light intensity and aim for bicycle lights has become discussed more (both here and elsewhere) is bright lights for bicycles are relatively new. Pedestrians don't like bright lights on cars/trucks/buses/motorcycles either, but accept them because these vehicles are so prevalent and have been so for so long. And those vehicles usually move away fast enough to reduce the time that people are annoyed. But when someone appears on a bicycle with bright lights, they're typically somewhere that stands a good chance of annoying pedestrians (pretty much anywhere outside), going slow enough to prolong the exposure to the light when compared to motorized traffic, and doing something that people aren't used to. Given time, people may adapt to bicycles with brighter lights, but in the meantime, any extra lumens are just going to be one more thing that can annoy pedestrians. Right Cliff?

I feel like this is an issue that hasn't been beaten to death in this forum and will in all likelihood be discussed rationally by courteous, thoughtful posters who will not be overly affected by emotion. There will be no personal insults and no one will threaten hypothetical acts of violence.

Good thread. :thumb:

We (pedestrians and me) both manage to occasionally irritate each other without any targeted effort on either part.

If their walking/trotting 5 abreast, chatting and not paying attention, or taking Rex out on the MUP without a leash causes me more than a fleeting annoyance (assuming no physical contact occurs) that's really my problem, isn't it?

By the same token, if they continue to hold hostility for me and my 700l LED after I've passed them and despite my efforts to make it as unobtrusive as possible consistent with my own well-being, that's their own problem.

I'm not irrational and angry yet. Should I go watch the news and come back?

I'll reply nicely here :)

For the sake of safety reasons, I think it's better for them to misjudge my distance and waited out for me while I'm riding. I rather have a standing frustrated pedestrian than a quiet pedestrian laying on the ground in pain from a collision because they did not see my dim lights or knew that I was a bicyclist and try to cross in front of me.*

Regardless, we get to be the scrape goat for the time being until they get use to night cyclist with bright light.*

It's a double edge sword. Damn if I do and damn if I don't.*

Good. Perhaps the zombies will be more likely to notice a cyclist and realize it's a vehicle, not a pedestrian on wheels. If a pedestrian complains about my lights while I'm riding on the street well.... I will give them a finger. Sorry, first, get back on the f***** sidewalk while waiting for the light, second, don't walk in front of me because I'm not a car, I can still hurt you if I hit you. Now, if I'm going over a bridge or greenway on shared roadway, I switch to my blinkie but while I'm riding on the street pedestrian opinion on my lights are irrelevant.

A.

We can all end with milk and cookies before we sing Kumbyah,can't we?

I know its been beaten to death, but here's my view anyway.

Bright, poorly aimed lights on bicycles are dangerous for this reason:

Not everybody has them.

If everyone had bright lights, it wouldn't be an issue. Most bicycles around here have lights. Hardly any of the pedestrians (and their dogs) do. When I've got your set-to-kill halogen beam scorching my retinas for 10-20 seconds, not only can I not see anything on the trail but you and your headlight, but once you've passed I have near zero visibility for a moment. That's all it takes for me to plow into some unsuspecting dog walker.

Yes, yes, slow down then. I do, but it's still a hazard. Even pedestrians that are responsible and aware can get injured in the process, not to mention me and my ride.

Doesn't all this discussion presume that non-bikers are worthy of equal rights on the MUP? What's up with that?

If we let them lose sight of their proper spot in the circle of life, then all that acclimatization-to-lumens theory will take forever.

Fry them all. Let God sort it out :)

I try, but my Magicshine doesn't have any settings more destructive than 'stun'.

This exactly.

We need to specify MUP vs. street riding. MUP you can safely ride with a dimmer light, which I agree would be considerate of other path users. But in the street, I'm running it on HIGH the whole time, no matter who complains.

The problem for me is that in order to get noticed by motorists with my 1 1/2 inch diameter lights, they pretty much have to be of the disintegrating ray variety. Motorists, with their larger headlights, can afford to have much less powerful lights, and still be seen.

Two things I have to wonder about:

1. Why do they think/feel they have to LOOK AT THE LIGHT that's approaching? Look a little to the side of it if you want to 'keep an eye' on the approaching whatever-it-is. Are they two-legged deer?

2. Why do people get so zoned out of their immediate surroundings, and when it did it become so acceptable? Example (other than cycling): while at work today, three of us were waiting for the coffeemaker to finish. One lady turned her back, the first guy in line tried to get her attention to let her know she could just stick her cup into the dripping stream and get her cup faster... but she was suddenly unreachable, as the TV had captured her. No response to his repeated calls to her.

Holly cow, my MagicShine came today, wow!!! I've mounted a standard blinky along with it for when I'm crossing Williamsburg Bridge using the shared pathway.

A.

I had a farmer on my commute (mostly rural commute) who was out at his mailbox as I went by, call to me today, I pulled over to chat, and he had nothing but praise my MagicShine. He complained about "most cyclists must have a death wish, riding around with no lights and black clothes - it's impossible to see them sometimes." He said he saw me a half mile off - this was in the daylight, though it was getting towards evening (4PM) and was overcast. "Damn, that thing is bright." Then I said "this is on its lowest mode. Here's bright (click click click)." "Yeah, that will do the job" (as he turned his head away).
"

I had a store clerk compliment my MagicShine a few weeks ago. He also noticed me from a great distance after daybreak. Another cyclist asked me what kind of light it was as I passed him. Said he thought I might have been a train or something coming up behind him (this was along some train tracks).

I have to say though that this discussion has prompted me to set it on low and point it downward on trails where there might be peds or other cyclists.

One of the things that prompted me to get a better light this winter was an incident last year where I moved toward the left to pass an unlit cyclist in front of me not realizing there were two cyclists coming the other way. The first one also had no light, the second one had a small blinkie. Initially, I couldn't see the blinkie behind the first rider and I imagine that guy couldn't see my light behind the dude in front of me. I saw them with enough time to react but it was a wake up call.

Sounds like the time a guy in a pickup passed me going up the Baltimore grade, stopped at the top, waited for me, and waved me down so he could rave about how awesome my visibility was, and how he wished all cyclists would be so easy to see. I was sort of embarrassed :D

Regarding pedestrians: if they're walking by nothing but ambient "sky light," I could understand them being disoriented on a dark MUP, because if they have no light source of their own, their night vision is basically dominated by any bike headlight. And until recently, there was no solution. But now they can go to the store and buy something called a "flashlight" that puts out, like, a beam of light and stuff, so they can see where they're going even when there's a bike coming. Amazing what they come up with nowdays :P

As for me, I seldom-to-never ride on the MUP. Having to ride a narrow, unmarked, raised piece of asphalt, on a near-collision course with random people doing random stuff while listening to an iPod, is just not my scene. Call me chicken ;)

as with opinion(s)
so do
Laws

if any, they vary