Scared and disapointed in myself
 

Disapointed because I did not know what the very bright blinking light was
at a height of about 6 foot and about 200 feet in front of my truck coming towards me was

scared because if I didnt recognize it for what it was how would a non bicyclist recognize it

the commuter had a good headlight mounted on his helmet on blink, a reflective vest. and a rear blinky on his rear fender
so he was doing it right to an extent

This happened this morning at about 5:30 a.m. in the industrial park I work in while I was driving in to work

He was in no danger as he was on his right side of the road and I was on mine but it got me to thinking

what do non riders think when they see us

I just had to put this out here as it really bugged me
and to see what others think about this also

Hopefully they think: "There is something there, I think I shall avoid hitting it."

^+1

A high very bright light might cause one to think "That thing is big, I'm going to stay far away." When driving a couple of times I saw lights that were so bright I could not see what was behind them. So, I gave them lots of room.

Not important, you knew something was, indeed, there...and that is the important thing!

..does it really matter? You both see the same powerful light. That tells you, and anyone else who cycles or doesn't, to avoid the light...

Sounds to me like this rider was doing the right thing!


Who cares? They may not recognize it is as a cyclist at first because of its extreme brightness...but they DO know not to hit it. And surely once they see the cyclist pass them, powerful light and all, they say to themselves "ah ha! a cyclist with a very bright light"


I ride using a Niterider 1800 lumen headlight on my helmet, a Cygolite Turbo 740 on the bars, and I'm thinking about switching out the Turbo and putting on NR 3600 lumen on the bars. I love bright lights and I know for a fact they have saved my life.

I have yet in 6000 miles of commuting had a motorist at night not notice me. They always seem to take notice and give me room. I have a 180 lumen cygolite and a planet bike turbo flash tail light. I could be more visible Im sure. I also have reflective sidewalls on my schwalbes. The best attitude is to always assume every vehicle is out to hit you and watch for them.

Biker has a light...driver notices the light...biker avoids getting killed...driver avoids killing anyone

Yup. I say you can't be too bright!

On residential streets my setup is so bright that it actually makes 80% of oncoming drivers pull over and wait until I pass. My goal is 100%. Maybe that will happen when I throw the 3600 lm on the bars!

Sometimes it's better if they don't reconize what we are so they won't be so willingly trying to run us over.

Driver thoughts:
"What the hell is that? I'm going to slowdown to get a better look."

My thoughts:
"Mission accomplish."

accomplish(ed)

I have ED ;)

my thoughts as well.

the brighter the lights is when the cyclist notices a very curious thing: it pins drivers down, keeps them from moving.

While I agree with everyones posts
I guess it was not knowing what I was seeing that bothered me
I didnt have a reference as to what it was or how far away I was from this u.f.o.
and at the time I didnt even know that it was moving at first
It was just a bright blinking light about 6 feet off the ground on the side of the road
there was nothing reflecting off of the bike or person for reference to tell me BICYCLIST

I feel I should have known instantly what I was looking at
being that I commute also on a regular basis

I've had people come up to me at lights and tell me they had no idea what they were looking at too. But their driving behavior DID change once they saw me even though they were not sure what I was. Like I said, on residential streets I kick the strobe light on (helmet, 1800 lumens) and keep the bar on steady because I want to be king of the road. Bikes and pedestrians take precedence on residential streets IMO, cars can pull over and wait until I pass.

If you don't bike with that kind of setup, or know someone who does, how would you know? And yep, it's a startling sight, which is why I roll that way as well. Cygolite 400 on the helmet on flash, bar mounted headlight on steady, one rear light on a rolling blink, one extremely bright tail light on steady. I get the 'WTH' are you look at night all the time!! :twitchy:

All I can say it's better to be a blinding light that a driver doesn't recognize than a ninja rider dressed in black with no light or one so dim that's hardly visible -- which the typical set up for many bike commuters and urban riders that I see.

To be fair, I have the same reaction when I'm on the bike and someone is heading the other way with blinky lights on. It's a situation where you've been trained by society to look for car/automotive headlights, and you've been doing that your whole life, so when you see something that's not the same, you don't really know how to react.

Drivers tend to steer towards lights. Sure seems that way for drunk and tired drivers who hit lighted night-time cyclists on otherwise empty roads.

Having ridden a motorcycle forever, I came to the conclusion that a single headlight does not give an oncoming driver enough reference to judge how far an object is from them as there is not enough context. Would be nice to have shifter/two handlebar mounted lights, or some sort of halo lighting system that light up the ground around the bicycle. Remember those neon lights under cars in the 90's?

Those reflective Schwalbe tires are great idea. I had a Halo helmet band that snugly fit around my mc helmet and would light up like crazy when hit with light. I may try to get one to work on my bike helmet.

http://www.thebellstore.com/images/A...elmet_halo.jpg

Yep, when I'm driving I look to avoid hitting things even if I'm not yet sure just what they are.

The light tells you something is there and even if you pass it before figuring out just what it is the fact you know it's there means you'll take steps to avoid hitting it. The time to be concerned is when you don't see things at all.

What if you DO know what it is? ;)

Huh? Not where I drive. ... Your statement reminds me of the Woody Allen movie where the crazy guy driving the car says to Woody: "Do you ever get the urge to drive into on-coming cars?" or something like that.

Mothra!

Beware, internet content below :-)

http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/motheffect.html

I have a 350 lumen Nightrider on the bars and in blink mode pointing down at the road in front of me, some drivers are distracted by it blinking and get mad and honk then others just stare as in (What the H...?) I think the brightness levels over 600-700 lumens is bright enough for road riding. Any brighter is better left for the off road crew.

[OPINION=ON]

Like the OP, I am sometimes confused by an oncoming blinking light if that's all I can see. As a result, I use both a solid and blinking light on both the front and rear. I have the front lights on the handlebars and the rear lights on the rack, ie, both about waist height, not that different from the height of car lights.

I saw a cyclist with a single solid bright light on their helmet and again was confused a bit because the light was so high and it was moving about (as the cyclist's head turned). I can certainly understand the need for a helmet light in unlit unmarked areas so that as you look around, you can see around you but on the road with traffic and street lights, bike-mounted lights should be sufficient.

I have a fair bit of reflective tape etc on my bike and me and my gear so that, in addition to the lights, I can be seen and, better than lights, my profile is discernible.

To a certain extent, I would rather use reflective tape than lights because I'd rather be seen as a reflective human on a reflective bike than floating lights in the blackness of the night.

[OPINION=OFF]

Not exactly related, but I had a moment a few days ago. I was riding just after dark and I saw a red blinking light approaching at what seemed like a ludicrous intercept speed, given my own moderate pace, and sitting on the wrong side of the road. It turned out to be a cyclist coming the other way with a red blinking light on his FRONT!

Yes, I saw him, so I guess mission accomplished, and he had a red blinkie on the back, too, but it definitely felt 'wrong' to have the red blinks on both ends. In particular, I would think this would be a very bad thing at intersections, where folks might think he was moving away from them when in fact he was moving towards them. Not all 'being seen' is good enough, or helpful, I think.

Somewhat related...

I had a bit of a strange incident a few days ago. A guy had two lights, somewhat bright, maybe 2 or 300 lumen, mounted far apart on his wide, flat bars. I glanced up, and was certain...I mean, dead certain that it was a car, quite far away. The position of the lights, the height, and the brightness was all consistent.

When I saw that he was in fact a cyclist I was stunned. How many people have thought the same and pulled out in front of him, secure in the knowledge that they had tons of room between them and this oncoming 'car'?

I think that a single, bright, steady headlight centrally mounted is the best choice for a cyclist. The driver can see you, judge your distance and identify you immediately.

I use both a solid light and a blinking light on the front handle bars as well as reflective straps on my ankles and a reflective vest. What you see are bright lights and two dancing lights near ground level. That tends to get me a lot of attention:lol:. Cars at cross roads definitely wait if I'm close.

Perception can play tricks on people. The mind has tricks it plays to give us the feeling of depth in what we see, and those tricks can sometimes lead one wrong. I have to take issue with the folks who say that he had to know SOMETHING was there, because in addition to that, you have to know how far away that something is, and how fast the distance is closing. If you are fooled into thinking you aren't as close to an object as you are, and aren't closing in on that object as fast as you actually are, then the simple act of "knowing something is there" isn't going to prevent an accident.

Lights will make you safer, but they won't make you SAFE. It's best to remember that when dealing with other motorists. From personal experience, I know that bicycle blinkies mess with my perception of relative closure, if they're blinking too abruptly. It's like watching dancers under a strobe light. :)

Agreed. Whether the light is steady, blinking, single, or double, it won't let you judge distance with any degree of accuracy unless you either know how bright it is or how far apart the lights are mounted. Putting dual headlights a couple feet apart on handlebars is likely to give the false impression that you are much farther from an observer who is used to seeing vehicle headlights spaced about 5' apart on cars and trucks.

The purpose of the headlight or taillight is to get the attention of drivers so they know there's something up ahead of which they should be aware. The need for an accurate estimate of the distance comes later when they are much closer and can see the size of the cyclist from things like pedal reflectors, jacket/vest outlines, etc. - or the driver can just steer well clear of the light even if they're unsure of the distance.

Very important Point ^^^^

For commuters like myself that run two front lights on the handlebars with separation between them. There is something to be said for having one headlight (In my case, the less powerful one) ON BLINKIE MODE, to lessen/eliminate a mistake in distance estimates by oncoming traffic.

Maybe the batteries died on the front lights, so he moved one of the reds to the front.
I've also shared my lights between 2 bikes when biking with someone else (who had none of their own). Sometimes it meant non-standard light configurations. (i.e. white blinky on the back)