Riding at night safely
 

With limited light in the winter, how many folks ride in the dark? How safe is it? I have a good safety vest, good headlight and very bright tail light, even reflective ankle bands. The concern is, how safe is it really? My wife is really concerned and I get it, but I thought I might seek the prospective of those that have done a lot of night riding. How much more dangerous is it to ride at night?

With enough reflecting gear and lights, you contrast against a dark background far more than anything during the day. For me, the big challenges are me seeing road hazards in time to adjust safely (in concert with traffic). I alternate between a flashing light and steady. The flashing light is far more noticed by cars but tough for me to see road hazards. Downtown , it gets used, on the parkway out of town and beyond, it is the steady light.

I use a Serfas HB light, at least one flashing taillight, wear a reflecting cycling vest, put flashing tailights on each forward hip corner (for left turning vars and cars coming out of sidestreets; they see them) and my workhorse commuters are decorated with 6-10' of 1" reflecting tape. I also wear very bright solid color jerseys and jackets.

I have commuted year 'round in Boston, Ann Arbor, Seattle and Portland for distances up to 15 miles each way 2-5 days a week. That's a lot of rides in the dark.

Ben

This won't work for everyone, but my job allows me to take off early (3 or 3:30-ish) and finish up my work from home, so that's what I often do.

My concern isn't being seen. I take back roads. I'm lit up and I've seen cars pull over for me and I've seen cars wait for me in intersections. The problem are drivers texting. Lights won't help; riding in the daylight won't help either.

Ben, Have you ever tried ridding with two lights, one that is always flashing or pulsing and the other that is on all the time?

At present I have a basic "they see me" light that I keep on my handlebars, it works at night, but it isn't all THAT bright. I am hoping to get the Busch & Müller IXON IQ Premium L.E.D. Headlight for Christmas and I will mount it on the fork crown. My thought was when I was on the bike trail and away from traffic, I would only use the IXON IQ Premium. When I got into traffic I would switch the "they see me" light on. It seems the best of both worlds. Your thoughts?

Found that adding a light bar was a good idea.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...eLights013.jpg

Who needs a light bar?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=421589

In addition to all of the lights, reflective tape, etc. I think a mirror is just as important. Being able to monitor the traffic as it comes up behind you. Making sure everyone does what they're supposed to. Increasing your knowledge by reading Bicycling Street Smarts - Table of Contents.
One advantage I have riding at night in the morning is the traffic isn't bad at all. Hardly any at all. So the wife takes comfort in that. But I still call home every morning when I get to work to let them know I'm OK. I give them three or four ringy-dingys on the phone. And if I forget one day, she's calling me right away to make sure I'm not laying in a ditch somewhere.

Well, that is a very nice looking setup you have! After seeing your setup, it is clear to me that not everyone does need a light bar. But there are some advantages...

• Light bars allow things like handbar bag.
• They raise the angle of the light as to provide better lighting. Lights mounted too low, like at the hub, cast really bad shaddows. The higher the better.
• It allows you to put more stuff in general on your bar. I already have a lot.

I was thinking of mounting the IXON IQ Premium light on the fork crown, but after seeing the light bar idea, I really like the idea of keeping the light up high. I think I will compare to the two and see how I light the shadoes created by each position and go from there.

I agree. IMO a good mirror is the most important safety equipment I have.

Good Idea.


Rode some all night centuries last summer to beat the hot sun.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...dlights006.jpg

I now only ride a trike. Had an Idea for a light bar...It turned out better than expected.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...2003GTO037.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...sting007-1.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Testing015.jpg

This looks like a cool product to enhance visibility

Glass 'Pixels' Printed On Bike Jacket Make It Shine At Night

I ride with a steady headlight, a blinky white light pointed slightly to the right (gets the attention of people pulling out into traffic from the right into your path) a red blinky taillight on the rear of my rack, and one more red blinky in my seat tube (visible from both the right and left - makes me more visible from both sides). Wear a reflective vest also, with panniers that have reflective piping, reflectors on pedals, wheels, and rear rack. Check the rear view mirror frequently. FWIW, I feel safer in traffic after dark. It is much easier to blend into the surroundings in daylight, in my opinion.

I've learned the lesson that even on days when I know I'll leave work in mid afternoon I should still bring some lights with me: the other day an unexpected long conversation with someone resulted me leaving an hour later, about 4:30pm, and it already began getting dark. By the time I got home, it was dark. When I was only few minutes from getting home I suddenly remembered I had spoke lights on my wheels that I never used, so I turned them on :D.

I have two spoke lights per wheel but have decided to go with 4 per wheel. Spoke lights aren't very expensive and I just think it would be more fun to have a "full" set of 4 lights per wheel. :)

This statement is backwards. Lots of lights with some reflecting gear is the way you should look at it. Reflective surfaces are a good supplement to lights but they should never be depended on as your primary means of alerting car drivers to your presence.

I don't use flashing lights mostly for this reason. With multiple bright forward facing lights, cars have no problem seeing me and I have no problem seeing the road. A helmet light can serve the same function as a flashing light without the flashing as well. Since the helmet light is mobile, it catch attention like a flashing light but illuminates the road way. As an added bonus, it can be used to point to road hazards and illuminate corners.

Statistically, riding at night does increase the possibility of accidents significantly. According to the NHTSA, 48% of bicycle fatalities occur between 4 p.m. and midnight of injury and fatality accidents do occur at night which, considering that the number of bicycle riders at night is significantly decreased over daytime bicyclists, means that night riding is more hazardous. 24% of those fatalities involve drunk bicycle riders as well. Most of the fatalities and injuries occur during the summer months but winter riding has seen an increase in fatalities and injuries.

But...according to the NHTSA

I would call a 44% headlight usage extremely low (and entirely stupid for the 56% who don't use lights). A 34% taillight usage is also low (and stupid). You are a bit ahead of the curve because you use a headlight and a taillight but I would suggest going further. Bright, effective headlights are dirt cheap as are taillights and there is no reason to run only one of each. if you are riding in an urban environment, more lighting is more important than areas with less ambient light. Your headlights may be competing with thousands of light sources per mile and you don't want to be a shrinking violet. You want to get attention and see where you are going.

You also want to have a back up in case something happens to a light. I run 3 lamps...two on the bars and one on my head...of equal intensity which all use the same type of battery and connection. If one fails, I'm not left in the dark.

Also pick your route well. Less traffic is almost always better.

Bottom line: Be aware of where and how you ride, have lots of lights and don't ride drunk. Riding at night is more dangerous but can be safely done if you are smart about it.

Yep, that happens to me as well. Doesn't help that we work with people two time zones to the west who are just finishing their lunches and hitting their stride for the day when I want to get out. :D So I keep the full set of lights on my bike almost all the time.

I really like your light bar but disagree with one of your points. Many people specifically mount bike lights lower to cast those shadows. Sometimes it's hard to see small bumps and other things in the road when the lights are mounted very high (and subsequently don't cast any shadows.) Many dynamo lights are mounted on a bracket coming off of the front brake mount. But I guess it's all a matter of preference.

you'll get lots of answers to your question but if I can reflect, it's just plain fun, and when the days get longer you'll actually miss the darkness. at least I did

This is a very interesting prospective. Might I ask which approach you, personally, use?

I use a helmet light, a bar light and a blinking bar light. The helmet light allows you to see around a corner before the turn. Also wheels lights too, I think side visibility is often overlooked.
3 rear blinkys as well.

Night riding is as "safe" as you make it. I ride year-round in a wide variety of conditions. Night riding is not a big deal, I ride slower and I will avoid busier roads that I would ride in the daytime. You have a lot of advice about lights, reflective gear, etc. Here's a couple pointers based on my experience:

If you're biking on roads with traffic, have a light bright enough to standout with the cars' headlights/taillights.

Make sure your batteries are charged (relates to the above point) - I hate to say how many times I see a rider at night with lights but the batteries are clearly drained.

Many people advise using a strobing light, do me a favor, try looking at that light strobing before you use it on the road. They can be blinding, and that doesn't help. My NiteRider 700 has a strobe function I have never used, 'cause that thing is blinding! In fact, I won't use 700 setting when I'm on the road with cars, it's like highbeams.

To the point above, be attentive to where the light is pointed - it should be on the road ahead of you (30 to 50 ft); not in everybody's eyes.

Like others have stated, a helmet light in addition to handlebar mounted light is very helpful. Helmet light allows you to direct a beam of light to see the conditions in a turn and at specific drivers to get their attention. I prefer a low-powered helmet light with my NiteRider on the bars.

Spoke lights really help with visibility to cross traffic. I like this - SL-LD120 | CATEYE

And/or reflectors - Amazon.com : Lightweights Power Reflectors for Wheels (86-Piece) : Bike Lighting Parts And Accessories : Sports & Outdoors - I have these on most of the bikes in my house, but none quite as 'bright' as the examples.

Take some night rides on quiet roads or trails and get a feel for your comfort level before working up to busier roads.

Hope this helps.

Absolutely! My battery powered light is mounted on my handlebars because I simply cannot mount it on my brake mount. If I had a permanent dynamo + light I'd definitely try to mount it on the brake mount. With that said, I've never tried mounting it low, I'm just relaying things I've read online (peter white's site says a little about light position.)

If you go to this site and search for "Too Low." you'll find the small paragraph where he talks about how some of his lights are optimized for mounting on the front fork crown, right above the front tire. I think a little of both is good, some small shadows but not exaggerated.

headlight beams from Peter White Cycles

This is a GREAT point. How do you determine when to replace batteries? Do you count rides, or time, or something else?

Thank you for the info. It turns out I was getting my info from the same place, except I have not read it in over a year! I totally missed this part of what Peter White said on his web site:

"The good German lights I sell are all optimized for mounting at the top of the front tire, bolted to the fork crown. Their distribution of light assumes the light is about 3 feet off the ground."

And as I stated before, I am looking at using one of those "good German lights", the Busch & Müller Ixon IQ Premium.

Thanks again, I appreciate the refresher!