1500 lumens and STILL they SMIDSY !

[PpPete]

On the homeward leg of DIY 200 last night... dark country lane, no street lights, no other traffic, hammering down a hill at close to 30 mph, with Phillips dynamo light on full bore - probably the high side of 500 lumens, its as bright as Hope 1 on max but with a MUCH wider beam, complemented by XML-T6 torch which has been tested to chuck out more than 900 lumens. In the distance I see car manoeuvering, and as I get closer it backs into a driveway. Ah I thinks, clear road, no need to brake... and guess what, as I get right on top of it - out it pulls, right in to my path. Just had time to swing out and come up level with driver's door where I was able to shout a few choice profanities, before pulling ahead and giving the driver the visual treat of 2 Smart 1/2watts on flashing for the next half a mile.

Later at a junction the following conversation:
Moton, "I can explain"
Me, "Don't bother"
Moton, "It's not like your a car"

WTF ?

Now wondering if there are any AA powered chemical lasers which would magically make drivers more attentive.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No thing you can do will make them see you if they aren't looking.

 

[Scoosh]

You are the moonwalking bear !

Just very relieved you missed him .

That's one (another ?) part of your RRTY done ?

 

[fimm]

Sounds like a SMICBBTW (sorry mate, I can't be bothered to wait). Doing a counter-intuitive thought experiment here, so bear with me... you're saying you have a bright front light and a bright helmet light, yes? I wonder if you'd be less likely to be pulled out on in those particular circumstances if you didn't have a helmet light, because you'd then look like a motorbike, and they go fast (unlike bikes, which obviously never go over 10mph... )

 

[col]

At least they didnt have a go at you, didnt apologise either by the sound of it?

 

[PpPete]

Not quite... the dynamo light is mounted on the fork crown. The torch is on the handlebars on a lockblock - which is sufficiently flexible that I can "steer" the beam. This ability to point the beam was to come in handy later in the ride, not far from home, another idiot evidently thinking bikes only travel at 10 mph, and he could get onto the roundabout despite not having right of way....a quick swivel of the beam so it shone right in the eyes dissuaded him.

However in the case mentioned in OP the beam was straight down the road, putting the central hotspot between 50 and 100 mtrs ahead of me. An attentive individual would have seen it coming from maybe 500 mtrs away, possibly more .... it is one seriously bright light.

 

[SquareDaff]

I wonder if you'd be less likely to be pulled out on in those particular circumstances if you didn't have a helmet light, because you'd then look like a motorbike, and they go fast (unlike bikes, which obviously never go over 10mph... )

Might be something in this. I only have two handlebar mounted lights and cars 99.9999% of the time wait because they think I'm motorised. It takes them a couple of seconds to work out I'm not (due to the speed difference) by which time we're all ready for each other (me for him pulling out in front of me anyway and him realising I'm going faster than 10mph even though I'm not a motorbike!!)

 

[G-Zero]

Sounds like a SMICBBTW (sorry mate, I can't be bothered to wait). Doing a counter-intuitive thought experiment here, so bear with me... you're saying you have a bright front light and a bright helmet light, yes? I wonder if you'd be less likely to be pulled out on in those particular circumstances if you didn't have a helmet light, because you'd then look like a motorbike, and they go fast (unlike bikes, which obviously never go over 10mph... )

At last ....The logic behind this theory has eventually sunk in and I'm toying with leaving my front helmet flasher off for a while to monitor the effect it has at junctions.

I'm still leaving the rear helmet flasher going for now though as I can't see what they're up to behind me and for the time being, feel safer if they see me as a vulnerable cyclist.

 

[ufkacbln]

Best excuse I ever had was one of Aquacar's finest, who pulled out of a junction and I ended up a couple of inches from the driver's door looking straight into the whites of his eyes...

Me: Could you not see the lights (Enduro Maxx 750 Lumens)?

Aquacar's finest: I thought you were a motorbike!

Me: .. and you still pulled out?

Aquacar's finest:Yeah? Motorcycles have decent brakes and wouldn't have had any problem stopping. You've ony got a problem 'cos your brakes are crap!


It really never occurred that waiting at the junction until the oncoming vehicle passed was an option, never mind the correct thing to have done, nope it was up to other road users to brake and avoid hitting him!

 

[IanT]

Later at a junction the following conversation:
Moton, "I can explain"
Me, "Don't bother"
Moton, "It's not like your a car"

Personally, I think that last quote from this idiot is quite telling. For some reason, I think that the majority of motorists have hard programming in their head that tells them all bicycles travel at around walking pace.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Driveway hmmm, so you know where he lives?

 

[PpPete]

I think just using a convenient driveway so as not to have to execute a 7 point turn... but even if I did know where the driver lived I wouldn't bother. I had the opportunity for "further words" at the time and declined, I really didn't see anything to be gained by a prolonged discussion then - not later.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Meh I know You should have replied to him "Its not like you need your face" and punched him.... Grrrrr I'm angry today sorry!

 

[girovago]

fimm and others are right: it's not that he didn't see you, it's that he readily identified you as a cyclist and were therefore (in his mind) insignificant.

I stopped using flashing front lights a couple of years ago for this very reason, and I'll only use a flashing rear (MJ818) if the weather conditions are very poor or I'm riding into a low sun, otherwise that's on steady too. If you have multiple front lights keep them grouped closely together so that you are more likely to be mistaken for a motorbike.

I also stopped using a helmet light, mainly because it was self-defeating and didn't actually improve my safety: the last thing you want to do is blind a driver coming out of a side road while he's trying to see what's coming.

 

[Ethan]

Me: Could you not see the lights (Enduro Maxx 750 Lumens)?

Aquacar's finest: I thought you were a motorbike!

Me: .. and you still pulled out?

Aquacar's finest:Yeah? Motorcycles have decent brakes and wouldn't have had any problem stopping. You've ony got a problem 'cos your brakes are crap!

What a dick!