Bertcycling

Guys

Is it law and regulation that my rear light MUST be placed, for example on the post below my seat? - Or could i have a rear red rear light placed anywhere on my bike, person/ clothing / helmet? - as long as its red and facing in the rear direction?

Is there anywhere particular i can find out the actual regulation for the UK, USA and other countries in Europe?

Many thanks

bulldog1935

That is going to vary by states and cities.
I run a solid mounted tail light (and headlight) on the bike in different ways - clipped to bag or rack - and a helmet blinkie. I turn on front and rear helmet blinkie for intersections or along with a hand signal when I'm going to cross lanes to make a left turn. I live in my helmet mirror and would be naked without it.

unterhausen

the way I read the laws, it has to be mounted on the bicycle. this would include mounting it to a bag or rack that is mounted to the bicycle.

Hooking it up to something that moves is a bad idea in my experience. I have never seen this done where it actually points back where you want it. And that would probably be a problem with the law as well, they almost all require lights to be visible for 500 feet

TimothyH

Laws in the USA will vary by state and locality. There is no single US law.

I've never heard of US state or local laws which restrict rear lights only to the bike or prohibit rear facing lights from being attached to the rider. I can imagine such laws in Germany however.

Laws aside, many people ride with lights on the back of their helmet or jersey and these are perfectly visible. The bike itself moves as one pedals and so there is little practical difference. Modern LED lights are visible to the point where motorist complain that they are too bright. I don't see visiblity of the lights as a problem.

gauvins

You may want to read this Wikipedia entry

I was personally surprised to discover that reflectors (white front, red rear, yellow pedals, white spokes) and mandatory in several jurisdictions, in addition to active lights. The reason being that active lights may stop working, or that you didn't plan to ride at night.

Jean3n16

( unless i read it wrong) in ohio, its a red light. Doesnt state where on the back.

TimothyH

I know you can't have blue or blue flashing in some places. That's reserved for law enforcement.

ItsJustMe

I think it's safest to have one on the bike, but I would never ride with just one rear light. The one I mount on my helmet is very wide angle (180 degrees plus) and pretty bright - I'm using the Blitzu Cyborg 168T. At < $20 it's an amazing value. I think it's probably THE light to get if you only have one light and don't want to spend > $50. This coming from someone who has about 20 rear lights up to a DesignShine one. I think it's probably as effective as anything less than a DesignShine or a Dinotte.

I think most of the laws say that "the bike must be fitted with" a rear light - this could easily be interpreted to mean that it must be mounted on the bike, not on the person. Just to be safe I'd put one on there, just like even though I never use it, I have a bell on my handlebars, for when I ride through a town that has a mandatory bell law.

Rollfast

Any really swell deluxe antique bike probably has one on the rear rack or fender.

47p2

UK legality here... Click

PaulRivers

As a few other posters have said, I would not wear my primary rear light on any clothing because it's way to easy for it to end up facing the wrong direction and not visible (regardless of what the law says). I prefer to mount mine to the back of my rack if possible, seatpost would be fine if your bike doesn't have a rear rack.

Actual laws vary so much you'd have to check the specific laws for where you live.

njkayaker

???

Yes, bicycles move but that isn't actually much of a problem with lights that are set up properly. Nothing is perfect but what you are describing is often worse.

The issue is that mounting lights on places like seat bags often causes the lights to persistently be pointed downwards making them mostly worthless. Jersey mounted lights often have the same problem (though, those can be pointed uselessly upward).

And lots of people have no idea that their lights are set up badly.

Most people use lights that no motorist would complain about (that's mostly a made-up concern).

If the light is mounted on the bike, it's easy to check that it's set up reasonably and reliably. Lights in other places might be useful as a secondary but they are often less effective than a light mounted on the bike.

Milton Keynes

You need to look up your state laws (assuming you're in the United States) and any local ordinances regarding bicycle lighting. For example, many states require a forward facing white and rear facing red light on bicycles at night, while my state only requires a forward facing white and rear red reflector. It does say that "Every bicycle when in use at nighttime shall be equipped with a lamp on the front ... and with a red reflector on the rear," so it kind of sounds like they're requiring the light to be mounted on the bike itself. However, I don't think any cop would be too nitpicky if you had a bright light on your helmet.

fietsbob

I have a safety vest with a patch of velcro sewn on it, and a patch of sticky back velcro on the back of a red Blinky..

I attach to the vest.. Try That?

Also have Bought German Made Bike Lights, Blinking Bike lights is Verboten there so they don't blink.

There probably are but I'm not going to do your research for You. try searching the internet?




./.

noglider 

Another factor is enforcement. If you are not likely to be cited by law enforcement, do what makes sense, regardless of the law. If the law requires a light to be attached to the bike but the thing that works best for you is a jacket festooned with several ribbons, each with several LEDs, then use that if you can get away with it.

Bike laws have hardly been enforced in this part of the country until recently. I've even heard of citations for not having a bell. That never would have happened before.

wphamilton

I've never seen any law or statute in a US jurisdiction with a specific location for the rear light, only that it is visible from a certain distance. It is possible still, but I'd say unlikely.

FBinNY 

The laws vary by state, but in most they refer to light as mandatory bicycle equipment. In other words they speak to the bicycle itself. I don't believe most are fussy about placement, and simply refer to visibility at a minimum distance.

That said, I doubt that anyone will ever get cited for having a light on their body rather than the bike.

I've violated NY's law for decades by using an amber strobe in lieu of red. I started doing this because flashing amber is the lighting for stationary hazards and slow moving heavy vehicles. IMO this better fits a bicycle in moving traffic, and I'd prefer underestimate my speed and slow down to avoid hitting me, than overestimated my speed and found himself driving up my rear end.

In 40+ years I was stopped ONCE, by a cop who questioned me about the amber vs. red. I explained my thinking, and he responded, that it was OK, he was mainly curious and added that it wouldn't make sense to worry about my light's color when 9 out of ten bicyclists had no light at all.

Currently I use a blue police strobe, left over from when I sold them, and that draws a bit more police attention, and no citations, only reminders not to fool myself because police are routinely killed in traffic despite their blue strobes.

So, to the OP, research the local laws so you know, then do what will best protect you.

BTW - some states still haven't adjusted the laws to reality and specify steady red, meaning that the highly visible strobes and flashers most cyclists use, don't conform anyway.

ItsJustMe

That sounds to me like the blinkie would hang down so much that it would be pointing at the ground. Unless your safety vest is a lot more rigid than mine are.

rekmeyata

All that it says in Indiana is this:

9‐21‐11‐9
Lamps
and
reflectors
Sec.
9
A
bicycle
operated
on
a
highway
from
one‐half
(1/2)
hour
after
sunset
until
one‐half
(1/2)
hour
before
sunrise

must
be
equipped
with
the
following:
(1) A
lamp
on
the
front
exhibiting
a
white
light
visible
from
a
distance
of
at
least
five
hundred
(500)
 feet
to
the

front.
(2) A
lamp
on
the
rear
exhibiting
a
red
light
visible
from
a
distance
of
five
hundred
(500)
feet
to
the
 rear
or
a
red

reflector
visible
from
a
distance
of
five
hundred
(500)
feet
to
the
rear.

Nothing about where the lights must be positionally other than white on front and red on rear.

Bertcycling

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciated

Do you think, it would be ok, in general, to fix my rear red light to the handle bars, or even 2 rear red lights, one on each end of my handle bar (and so they are still facing to the rear)? - or is it basically mandatory that it needs to be at the rear of my bike, below saddle for example?

Thanks agsin

rekmeyata

I wouldn't do that because the light would be striking your eyes as you ride which would be a huge disturbance to your eye's ability to see at night and the flashing would drive you crazy, plus take up valuable space on the bars for your hands, forward facing lights, and computer, plus parts of your body will hinder the light from being seen from the rear.

It's not mandatory, that I know of, that the rear lights be on the rear, but it is the best place to put them.

cyccommute 

The laws vary but not by much. They all follow the US Uniform Vehicle Code fairly closely.

Some states haven't caught up with the light requirement yet and only require the rear reflector. I haven't seen anything about where they need to be mounted, however. Just that they need to be visible for a specific distance.

FBinNY 

You're overthinking this.

Forget the law because nobody is going to enforce it to the letter, except if you have no light at all.

Mount the lights wherever you want to, but consider good visibility to the rear and sides more important than anything else.

rekmeyata

I posted what my state said earlier, a red reflector OR a red light is required on the rear.

The part that i think is weird in our code is they require a bell or some other device that can be heard for 100 feet but not a whistle or a siren...bells are so stupid, they can't be heard a 100 feet in traffic, and it takes one hand off a brake that could help you to stop sooner which would be better than dinging a bell. I have yet to run into any road bike type of person with a bell, I see them on some kids bikes and I see them on Electra's but that's it that I've found, bells don't even come on a road bike from the LBS and they don't push the sale of them either.

Milton Keynes

I've got a bell on my hybrid, and I mainly use it for a road bike. I never thought I'd need a bell until I started riding early in the morning and kept coming up behind some of the morning walkers who couldn't hear me approaching until I was close. A bell seems to get the point across better than yelling "on your left!" and my voice isn't that loud anyway. I think the bell can be heard better than my voice. It's also come in handy on rail trails.