All around the country, a scourge is rearing its ugly, eyeball-searing head.
I’m talking about the insanely bright, flashing headlights that are now standard equipment for bike commuters. During rush hour in bike-heavy Seattle where I live it is impossible to ride more than a few minutes at a stretch without getting blasted with another retina-shocking dose of flashing light from another biker heading in the opposite direction. I’m sure it’s the same in your city.
I recommend running lights during the daytime too. Cars have daytime running lights because studies have proven that they help.
Yes, the retina-melting variety are perfect for the daytime! Just angle down (or use a dimmer kind) at night.
I agree with this. Whether I’m driving walking or riding a bike myself, having that strobing light flashing in your face is not cool. Just point your light down a little.
In Germany and the Netherlands there are actual requirements for the lens/reflector of bike lights, just like there are for cars … unfortunately that type of lens/reflector is rare in the portable sun lights … I’ve set mine up as carefully as I can, but its a limitation of the design for sure.
Also flashing lights are not allowed in those countries. I’m not sure if this is a good idea for rear lights. A tiny red non-flashing bike light is easily overlooked in a sea of much larger car lights.
Yes, if the front light is bright (as modern LED bike lights mostly are) it shouldn’t flash. Riding against the main bike traffic flow on major bike routes in Vancouver almost gives me a headache and I can hardly look where I’m going. A bright steady light provides enough visibility even on major suburban roads, where being noticed by drivers is a major safety concern.
Daytime running lights are excellent. They are absolutely necessary in winter and on rainy days, but daytime lights even make a difference on sunny summer days.
When I first got my bike I got a cheap front light from the bike shop. As the months went by I kept looking at bigger, brighter ones and then realized it wasn’t a good idea. Blinding drivers is the last thing you want to do.
If you’re going to ride on dark trails or pathways then by all means get a big, bright light and keep it on steady to show you the way. Otherwise stick with small, inexpensive and not-so-bright flashers and like Don says, point them down.
Mine is aimed at the road about 5m in front of me. Even so signs light up like Christmas trees so I’m quite sure plenty of light is reaching the eyes of other road users.
I have mixed feelings about using lights during the day. I know there have been occasions when my light alerted a driver who might otherwise have put me at risk, but along the Hornby bike lane I experienced the opposite effect. When my light was flashing it was virtually guaranteed that a pedestrian would walk across the bike path right in front of me. When it was off I almost never had to touch my brakes between red lights. This went on month after month so I wonder if there’s something about strobe lights that affect pedestrian behaviour on a subconscious level.
Totally agree with David. There seems to be a lot of riders who think “I want to be seen so brighter must be better”. I don’t think these riders realize how blinding their lights are to drivers. These lights increase your chances of getting hit (particularly on narrow side streets).
As the doctor reminds us:
For about 3 percent of people with epilepsy, exposure to flashing lights at certain intensities or to certain visual patterns can trigger seizures. This condition is known as photosensitive epilepsy.
Looking at the comments it seems like everyone agrees that there is an issue with the lights available here and how they are used. And people seem to agree on what (front) lights should do:
* Be bright.
* Have a beam pattern similar to a car low-beam
* have option for a daylight light
Of course these kind of lights exist, but hardly anyone has them. Just as an example, my regular bike has a generator driven light that has two distinct beam patterns, one a focused low-beam type and one a diffuse wide angle type. It will direct energy to the two types depending on light conditions. When it’s dark out, most of the energy goes into the focused beam, when it is brighter most of the energy goes into the diffuse “daytime” light. Really quite simple. And there are fancier ones available for people that want them, for example a button for a high-beam if you need it, socket for usb charging of your gadget, etc.
But hardly anyone stocks these kind of lights in Vancouver, you will have to go to Kissing Crows or maybe one or two other stores that import them from Europe. And since these solutions are typically generator driven lights it’s an expensive after-market conversion. New bikes that come pre-installed (much cheaper than doing it after market) are not available. At least the generator lights that I have seen installed on bikes on the showroom floor are very low quality, no focused low-beam pattern, poor optics, don’t stay on when stopped, no dual beam pattern options,….
I agree, bike shops in Metro Vancouver are a bit disappointing. It’s almost easier and cheaper to buy a bike in Europe or Asia and fly it back, than buying after market parts here for a light system conversion. On top of buying and installing fenders and a rack, which should also come pre-installed on a bike designed for city riding.
I agree. I’m also disappointed with what is available for lights here. I used to think that a good lighting set up has to be expensive but when you check websites in Europe there are inexpensive models of dynamo hubs and well designed lights.
The ones here seem to be just going for more and more brightness and gimmicky cases.
At night I have a light mounted on my bike with a steady beam which illuminates the pavement in front of me, and I also wear a flashing light on my helmet. When I see drivers that look like they’re going to present a conflict then I raise my head a bit and point the helmet light in their direction to get their attention.