"Flashlight Etiquette" for Cyclists

zespectre

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I never thought this would be a topic I felt like addressing but in a way I suppose it is a compliment to the advances in technology.

I am GLAD to see cyclists (especially bicycle commuters) using active lighting on their rides, especially as it starts gets dark earlier. Reflectors are better than nothing but don't hold a candle to having blinking red light(s) on the rear, some sort of side markers (I love the wheel spoke lights) and white lights on the front. However, we do seem to have crossed a threshold of sorts wherein the handlebar and head mounted lights some cyclists are using are WELL into, or past, automobile headlight territory in terms of lumen output.

I have been dazzled by a few cyclists recently but there is one bike-guy in particular who has this 5 LED monster light on his bike (it's got to be Cree based) that is aimed pretty-much dead level with a seated driver. I don't want to blow this out of proportion but after our third encounter I feel like it might be time to have some discussion about "Flashlight Etiquette" for Cyclists.

The owner of one of the local bike shops chuckled at first, but has agreed that it could be a good topic at their monthly club meeting but I wanted to throw out my ideas (and get your input) before I try to put together my talking points.

My thoughts right now;
  • I want to address this as a safety issue, I don't want to be a jerk about it.
  • My main focus regarding etiquette is on the white, high powered, front facing lights.
  • I wanted to make the distinction between "lights to see with" (constant on) and "lights to be seen" (strobes/flashers)
  • I would like to work towards an agreement that the white, front facing, strobes/flashers should be fairly limited in power and be "flood style" not an aimed beam as it seems like the powerful, aimed beam, strobes are especially distracting to drivers (or at least they are to me).
  • I would like to ask cyclists to make sure their powerful front lights are properly aimed so as to avoid blinding drivers (or other cyclists).
  • I'm not sure how to address headlamps (worn on the head). I completely understand why a cyclist would use them, but they seem to be the WORST offenders for blinding others so I would welcome some ideas.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ze
 

DrafterDan

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I have a light that is multi-mode. When riding in traffic I need to keep it on the lower setting. I like to blast the darkness when there is no one around, like on our cities' canal lanes. I did this test, I put the bike against a wall, and walked half a block away to see how it would look to drivers. It was then that I decided to run low mode, or aim it down lower - or both.

I want drivers to see me, not get upset with me...
 

Mr Floppy

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The regulation in this part of the world is that you must have a steady white light that is visible at 200m. The rear has to be red, either steady or flashing and mush be visible at 100m. The problem seems to be that the regulations are not enforced very well.

Personally, I hate all flashing lights on bikes as I feel I cannot judge the distance to them very well and they can be distracting. Some parts of the world, you aren't allowed to have flashing lights, and you need the front light to have a cut-off like in cars.
 

markr6

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I would like to work towards an agreement that the white, front facing, strobes/flashers should be fairly limited in power and be "flood style" not an aimed beam as it seems like the powerful, aimed beam, strobes are especially distracting to drivers (or at least they are to me)

+1

I think the same applies to cars broken down on the side of the road. Yes, you want to be safe changing a tire but don't do it at the expense of EVERY other driver's vision. It's TOO distracting and can simply make the situation worse.

For cycling, a soft red blinking light in back and fixed white flood in front pointed fairly low works fine. If one wishes to go further, a reflective vest helps. Beyond that, I can only recommend a padded room.
 

Nyctophiliac

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I have been a regular city cyclist for about ten years now. I don't commute, but I do leisure and exercise rides everyday, both day and night.

The biggest problem with motor vehicles is that unless they see you, they ignore you. This means Hi-Viz jackets by day and reflectors and lights by night.

About forty percent of other cyclists seem to have lights at night, the rest are destined to have trouble at some point. For me the flashies are very useful front and back and I have both, I also have a headlight on my helmet.

I use a Fenix HP11, it has very powerful options and a good flashy mode as well.

So when I off road (Parks and canals) the high mode is very good, and in traffic I opt either for the flash - or mode two.

There is a good visibility all round to onlookers and if there is a vehicle about to come out on top of me I tend to direct the beam at the driver for a moment. This get's you noticed and shouldn't dazzle the driver or incapacitate in any way.

London Taxi drivers are a vocal lot, but at traffic light junctions (stop lights?) next to me I have had only praise about the headlight, I think they are glad that someone is taking there own safety seriously.

In brief, my chosen routine is, flashies front and rear of the bike, pointable more powerful light on the helmet.

Ride safely!
 

bshanahan14rulz

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Haven't come across any excessively bright AND misaimed lights on bikes yet. Usually I'm only blinded by cop lights. They're worse than the worst HID kit.

I do believe that when bike lights start reaching car headlight output levels, that there ought to be some regulations put forth as to how high they can be aimed, how much light can be used for bike visibility, etc.

I can put a line of 10 50W HIDs on the front of my car, and will be the safest car ever. Until I introduce it into an environment where my safety relies on other people's ability to see clearly too.
 

MichaelW

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For the US, we need a beam & cutoff-like the StVZO spec but better, not just a flashlight firing forward and slightly downward. Something reflex based so you don't get the point source glare from the LED, like Philips SafeRide, and the like.
Blinking/flashing lights are for stationary objects. They never belong on the front, and should only be used on the rear if you are fixing a flat, etc.
High quality retro-reflective tape is cheap online; identi-tape is my favorite.

To the matter of conspicuity, seeing as automotive universe is migrating to LEDs, and the higher CCT than standard HID, bicycles have nowhere to go but lower, maybe selective-yellow filtration of warm-white or PC amber for forward lighting.
 

BillSWPA

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Where I live, it is not uncommon to see a bicyclist riding the wrong way down the middle of a one way street, or the wrong side of a two way street, at night with no light, minimal or no reflectors, and dark clothing. I would be happy if they would obey the normal traffic laws as well as use lights.
 

gravelmonkey

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I think you're going about this in the right way, education is the best way to solve this. I'm not sure if people running obnoxious lights realise what they are doing or if they are under the impression that more light = more visibility (which I'd have to say is partially right, but not from ONE front light kicking out 1000's of lumens...) or if they're just doing it to wind others up.

Personally, I'm more irritated by ninja cyclists with no lights and dark clothing as I seem to come across them more often than people with excessively bright lights.

If I came across someone cycling towards me with anti-social amounts of lumens (and conditions were safe to do so), I'd just give them a short blip with my high beams as a "you're blinding me here mate" message, the same as I would any prat driving around with their full beams on. Sometimes these people aren't aware of what they are doing, sometimes they're just being, for want of a stronger word, annoying.

It's interesting you mention headlamps are the worst, do they look like off-road type helmet lights? I've proped my bike up and had a look at it head-on to see what effect I'm having on on-coming road users, but this obviously isn't very practical for my headlamp.

What I'm trying to say in a long winded fasion is that a little bit of common sense and some courtesy go a long way.

For info: When I'm riding here in the UK (road/city), I'll usually have the Zebralight SC600 or Fenix LD20 on medium on the bars and Zebralight H51c on med on the helmet. Back lights consist of a flashing, self adhesive, CR2032 powered 5mm LED thing on the helmet; one standard rear bike light on constant and another one flashing on the seat-post.
 

markr6

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Where I live, it is not uncommon to see a bicyclist riding the wrong way down the middle of a one way street, or the wrong side of a two way street, at night with no light, minimal or no reflectors, and dark clothing. I would be happy if they would obey the normal traffic laws as well as use lights.

Same here. And they're probably the reason for a stereotype and why I sometimes get flipped off or picked on even though I'm doing everything right.

On another note, I wonder about the possible implications of using two lights or a torch + headlamp combo. I remember when I bought my Yamaha R6 in 2004, they designed only one of the headlamps to run which I thought looked stupid. I could be totally wrong, but I think the reason was that the two lights on the motorcycle could look like a cars lights as if the car was much farther away. So another car could turn in front of the motorcycle 100' away thinking it was a car 900' away. Personally, I don't buy it, but I wonder if this same theory could apply to a bicycle with multiple lights?
 

Sgt Lumpy

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Lights that "aren't expectable" is what I try for.

I've ridden at night for half a century, including police bike patrol. I also ride a horse at night, the concepts are similar, to me.

Motorists, particularly in the city, see a gazillion points of light while they're driving down the street, texting, yacking on the cellphone, changing the DVD for their kids in the back seat and all that other distracting stuff. Out of their direct or peripheral vision they see porch lights, lawn and garden lights, street lights, business sign lights, other cars head/tail/side marker lights. Motorists EXPECT to see red lights in front of them going the same direction and they EXPECT to see white lights in front of them going the opposite direction. If they're in the far RIGHT lane, they don't expect to see any vehicles on their right. A tiny light (my bike) on their right doesn't register as something to look out for. It registers as "oh someone's mailbox reflector" or whatever. It doesn't register as something moving.

So...I try and make my lighting something that their subconscious and distracted motorist brain will see and say "Hey, this isn't a car or a porch light, pay just a little more attention to it".

With that in mind, I use lights that MOVE. Ever see a policeman several blocks ahead waving his flashlight from side to side? That grabs your attention a lot more than if that light were sitting still, regardless of color or brightness. So on my bike I have 1 constant white facing front to illuminate, one constant red rear to satisfy the ordinances, then I have a velcro strap on leg light with low output white front/red rear. It goes on my LEFT (traffic side) calf. As I pedal, it moves up and down...it's UNEXPECTABLE.

One big problem with any kind of bike light, especially like mine mounted low on my leg, is that it is likely to be out of the field of vision for lots of drivers. With a horse, it's not a factor. Lights on my calf are ABOVE or at least LEVEL WITH the windshield of nearly every vehicle. On my cop bike I had tiny red LED clusters on the rear of my helmet. Drivers could see those. They'd never blind anyone. I never wore one but I always thought a white headlight would be a great thing. It allows you to flash a light in the direction of pending danger.

Outlining the rider and bicycle with that neon glow stuff would look kind of goofy but might be the ideal kind of approach. It's probably a little too pimp for most serious riders. But we can move toward the same effect by using a couple of lights to "outline" our general shape. Helmet, calf and bike seat/rack tail would do a pretty good job of that from the rear. Rear is the most dangerous side for a bike.


Ride like NO motorist sees you. Never demand the right to share "their" asphalt. You'll lose. Bikes are NOT a danger to cars. We're not telling motorists to look out for THEIR safety. We're asking them to give up a little space for OUR safety.


Sgt Lumpy
 

mhanlen

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I guess I'll add my two cents too. Personally I agree with most in that, if you have a high intensity front light, please aim it downward a bit. Lights are key when riding alongside or in traffic- and I don't even mind blinking front lights then (I don't prefer them, but whatever). As for rear lights, I think that blinking makes them the most visible.

The issue I have with some of the cyclists lit up like Christmas trees, is on dedicated bicycle trails. Again, mixed in with vehicular traffic- just about anything goes (provided you're not lit up brighter than a car). Unless it's a very slow and steady blink (and then I still don't like them much), no blinkies are necessary on a trail ride. The worst are the near strobe lights that some cyclists use when driving on dedicated bicycle trails. Not only is it distracting, it's hurts your eyes, and causes momentary blindness when there isn't much ambient light around. A nice medium to low output front light, that's steady and aimed downward, is all that's necessary for trail riding. I think some people think that it makes them easier to see when riding on trails, but I think the opposite is true, because all I see after they pass is a bright blue light dead center in my vision.
 

rayman

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Im a cyclist on my own and have a high-output bikelight. I built one myself which has a very floody beam so it would really blind the oncoming traffic alot that's why I made it to have an UI with a very low mode so I can switch on that when I'm in the city. Downtown and in places where you have alot of traffic you normally don't need to illuminate your way but you need to be seen and there's the very low mode for. It doesn't blind oncoming traffic but they recognise me as a cyclist.

I really hate it when I see cyclists coming towards me at night with a blinding-bright light. They usually don't even know (or care) that they are blinding the other traffic thats why I really take care that I'm not one of them ;).

rayman
 

tam17

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Cyclists should first get informed what kind of lighting is legally required/allowed in their area for riding on public roads and cycling paths.

Police here doesn't seem to be bothered, but I'm seeing too many "stealth riders" where I live, riding on poorly lit public roads/streets from first dusk well into the night without ANY lighting or reflective surfaces. This is one deadly sport, because they don't get noticed by drivers until it's too late. During my active cycling years (from early 90's up until 1-2 years ago) I've never seen other cyclist sporting more than 250 lumens of frontal lighting, and virtually none having a hand-held (tactical, whatever) flashlight on a bicycle mount, but I've been blinded dozens of times by incorrectly aimed front lights and flashers. I'm using a 450lm tactical flashlight as a front light, but it's pointing where it's supposed to and - very important - it's shaded and doesn't blind drivers/riders coming from the opposite direction.

In a few words: run legal, be visible, more light is better but don't annoy or dazzle other road users.

Cheers
 

Skimo

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I have my front light able to swivel up down and slightly left to right, empty paths it goes dead center, on the road it gets aimed down and on strobe.

The last thing I care about is having a light as bright as a vehicle nor do I worry about anyone being blinded by being exposed to a few seconds of strobe.

I like headlamps, a couple zip ties and no worries about losing it or losing its aim.

I'm thinking of making a retro reflective pinwheel to mount behind my bike, guaranteed to spin and stand out and best is that the drivers will be doing the work of lighting it for me, maybe put a red blinker in the center of the pinwheel.

I got the pinwheel idea from reflective ones my daughters picked out at the dollar store.


Tapatalk
 

Etsu

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So many drivers have their headlights improperly aimed, I really don't worry about a few cyclists that use a bright floody light that may "blind" oncoming traffic. It's best to use a proper cycling light, but a flashlight isn't that bad compared to all the car lights.
 

Nyctophiliac

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So to sum up:

No one light solution is apparent. We (cyclists) need strong light on unlit roads and paths, but it must be aimed low or be shaded to reduce anti social glare for other road and path users, and lower light where we encounter other traffic. We also need lots of reflectors of various kinds front and back and even side mounted. We need non dazzl blinkers certainly on the rear and arguably on the front. Moving lights or reflectors are good (reflectors on pedals are my favourites).

Be seen, be safe, be non-annoying or obstructive.

And have fun.
 

subwoofer

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This thread has hit a particular sore spot with me as last night I had a very near miss:

I was out after dark on the pedal bike riding up to a local viewpoint. The route requires a short section <1mile on a single carriageway road. It is not street lit, so requires a reasonably bright light on the front of the bike.

Trying to take a balanced view, the main beam light I have is bright and has a wide spill. It would not look like a normal bike light, possibly appearing to be a motorbike. As I ride and wobble along, the beam will be moving about (just to try and give a complete picture). All the cars I pass have never flashed me or otherwise complained, and only once has one driver slowed slightly when passing which they may have done anyway. If the light were a problem, oncoming traffic would flash their lights and I would switch it down or off.

So here I am riding along the road and a big transit van (the longer and taller type) is coming towards me at a good speed, about 50m in front of me it suddenly and purposefully swerved at me and missed me by inches. It almost doesn't seem real and I can't work out what happened. The driver did not flash me, or slow down, or shout anything out of the window, all he did was narrowly miss hitting me head-on, at speed. WHAT the BLEEP!!!!


OK, so maybe I did annoy the driver, but trying to run me off the road and nearly hitting me head on is not the way to express there was a problem.

I'm considering making a shade to shape the beam like a car beam is designed so nothing shines above a certain height, or just using a much weaker light when on the road including unlit roads. I do try to consider other people (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians), but also expect that if I do something accidentally that they tell me rather than try to kill me!
 

tam17

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OK, so maybe I did annoy the driver, but trying to run me off the road and nearly hitting me head on is not the way to express there was a problem.

Subwoofer, looks like you were confronted with a typical exemplary of reckless, road rage-stricken, overreacting idiot, and that kind is abound these days.

Even if your lighting annoyed him, there are other less dangerous ways to convey the message. Why didn't he flick the high beam for a moment instead of acting violently?

Anyway, glad you're OK and here to share the story. Ride safely,

Tam
 
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