Are Bicycle Lights Becoming Too Bright?

[totallyfixed]

I started a similar thread about this over 2 months ago and in general got the reaction I expected "what's the problem" and "you must be angling your light too high".
There is a problem and it's getting worse and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the law doesn't step in to stop unregulated lighting on bikes. It has come to the point where cycling on small rural lanes at night I am blinded more by other cyclists than cars. It's probably very Freudian and involves the male primeval desire for power so the more lumens the better.
I'm a bit more sceptical about rear lights being too powerful at present, certainly on rural roads where all a following car needs to do in most cases is click on full beam.
I think cycle light manufacturers try to kill two birds with one stone by producing a light that in their view can be used off and on road, I'm waiting to someone to produce a front light that works on the same principal as the Exposure Strada but for a lot less than £100 with a main beam and a dip with a long run time between charges. I think it may take a while but if it does happen I will be first in the queue.

 

[HLaB]

I'm waiting to someone to produce a front light that works on the same principal as the Exposure Strada but for a lot less than £100 with a main beam and a dip with a long run time between charges.

My Old Cateye EL510 (the fore runner to this) has a main beam and dip and it costs less than £100

 

[gaz]

Mostly down to beam angle. You can blind someone with a crappy cateye if the angle is too high. I make sure the beam angle of all my lights is low enough not to blind but is still visible.

 

[Hacienda71]

I agree with what everyone has said about angling the beam down and the lack of specific road lights, but I also think it is better to have a mega bright light that causes some annoyance to the driver but gets you noticed rather than a dull one where people can be smidsy's. If practical we a cyclists should have lights as bright as the brightest car lights. We need to be seen!

 

[ufkacbln]

We need to sort the terminology here. Dip and power are different.

Dipping the beam on a car headlight (or other) alters the pattern to allow close in vision at the expense of seeing further afield

Lowering the power is NOT the same as dipping because the beam pattern is unchanged.

 

[Will1985]

I cannot really comment on the new super bright bike lights as I haven't seen any in action as I'm the only cyclist on my rural commute (I have a Catye DoubleShot Pro which I think is about 480 lumens), but I have been flashed by cars before even though the beam is on low, pointing down, and off to the verge.

Nobody seems to have really mentioned car lights - I recognise situations such as riding into the verge because an oncoming light is too bright, but the source is always a Range Rover or a modern German car. I certainly find it more difficult to drive at night faced with the modern super bright car lights than I did a few years ago. It would of course help if drivers dipped their beams, although even that isn't much better

I agree bike lights should face some regulation, but VOSA needs to clamp down on dangerously bright car lights coming off the production line.

 

[gaz]

I cannot really comment on the new super bright bike lights as I haven't seen any in action as I'm the only cyclist on my rural commute (I have a Catye DoubleShot Pro which I think is about 480 lumens), but I have been flashed by cars before even though the beam is on low, pointing down, and off to the verge.

Nobody seems to have really mentioned car lights - I recognise situations such as riding into the verge because an oncoming light is too bright, but the source is always a Range Rover or a modern German car. I certainly find it more difficult to drive at night faced with the modern super bright car lights than I did a few years ago. It would of course help if drivers dipped their beams, although even that isn't much better

I agree bike lights should face some regulation, but VOSA needs to clamp down on dangerously bright car lights coming off the production line.

The modern HID light is becoming a bit of a lightmare

 

[Danny]

On dark cycle paths I have sometimes been blinded by riders coming the other way with ultra bright lights.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I have 2 Cateye HL-EL610 and always dip them in traffic, and besides, they won't do me much good pointing in other people's eyes, they work better pointed on to the road in front so I can see where I'm going.

Funny that.

 

[Matthew_T]

What about that vid on YouTube where a motorist was complainign about the rear light being too bright? The cyclist arguement was that it is as bright as brake lights.
I think the brighter the better. It is better to have really bright lights than really dim.

 

[ufkacbln]

My favourite interaction was with one of Portsmouth's finest Taxi drivers.

At the time I was running a standard Cateye (my legal light) and a 760 Lumen Exposure MaxxD backup light

Taxi pulls out of a junction in front of me and I end up stopped about a foot from his door.

Politely I asked if he had a problem seeing my lights?

His reply was that he thought I was a motorcycle!

It is (according to his wisdom) safe to pull out on motorbikes as they have good brakes. The near miss was entirely my fault because I was on a bike with inferior brakes!

With attitudes like that, no level of brightness is going to work

 

[ufkacbln]

I also have a guy who regularly complains about my lights (just one, I have only had compliments otherwise) when he passes in the morning. I simply take great delight in pointing out that you need bright lights to see the unlit dark clothed idiots who are traveling at ridiculous speeds on this unlit section of track.

 

[gaz]

What about that vid on YouTube where a motorist was complainign about the rear light being too bright? The cyclist arguement was that it is as bright as brake lights.
I think the brighter the better. It is better to have really bright lights than really dim.

As long as your lights don't hinder other peoples vision, then it is fine.

 

[Flying Dodo]

As long as your lights don't hinder other peoples vision, then it is fine.

Very true. However, the nature of most bike lights means a lot of light spills out everywhere. I've often thought circular lights such as the Hope 1 could be improved if there was a little silvered peak clipped to the top, so that it then reflected excess light immediately down (so brightening the view directly in front), and also gave a distinct cut-off on the top edge, which would then avoid blinding oncoming vehicles/cyclists.

 

[Matthew_T]

Thats what my cateye does. When I have it on full beam, on the club run, down singal track country roads, I can angle it so it lights up the whole size of the lane ahead of me. When I am behind someone, I usually point it down a bit so I can see the road directly ahead of me.
It has a little rectangular strip at the bottom which decreases the amount of light wasted.