Can a bikes rear lights be too bright?

[jazzkat]

I'm probably going to get flamed with this one but......

I know there are many amongst our ranks that see their lighting as some sort of arms race, where the ability to melt the paint off the car in front with their multi-mega-lighting-rig is felt to be a benefit, but what about the rear light?

I've been toying with the thought of adding an extra, brighter, rear light to my bike (as a back up) but also because the dyno powered light doesn't seem as bright as the cat eye I've got on another bike.
But, something I saw at the weekend worried me a bit about going down the lumen arms race.

I was in a taxi, in Oxford, when the driver caught up to a rider who had the brightest rear light I'd ever seen on a bike. It had the same brightness you'd expect from a cars fog light. It was completely unnecessary and was really distracting for me, in the rear seat of a taxi. I was glad I wasn't driving. A light that bright is very distracting and you almost end up fixating on it rather than trying to avoid it and you can't see much else because of the brightness. Not a great idea. I reckoned if it was flashing it would have been better but because it was a fixed light it was terrible.

I know it drives me bonkers when I'm stuck behind a car that has left it's fog lights on because it's so dazzling, I'm really surprised people think it's a good idea to dazzle the driver behind them.

 

[stephec]

At least there was no chance of a SMIDSY.

 

[G3CWI]

Can a bikes rear lights be too bright?

Yes.

 

[ianrauk]

Not too bright.. but aimed at eye level, it's bloody annoying for everyone.

 

[Drago]

It's Groundhog Day!

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Yes it can, Doubly so if flashing/strobe mode

 

[green1]

It's not just rear lights. I have 2 lights on my handle bars at this time of year, one for town and a 2nd one for country roads as its stupidly bright and only used when there's no other traffic.

Oh and none of them flash.

 

[ColinJ]

Yes!

Someone on one of my forum rides had a rear light which was so bright that I had to stare down at the road rather than look ahead. Every time I looked up I was dazzled and saw red spots before my eyes for about 30 seconds afterwards!

 

[winjim]

Yes. Stupidly bright bike lights are stupid.

 

[jazzkat]

It's Groundhog Day!

Apologies if this has been done before, I now have my hands on my head and my fingers on my lips.

Yes it can, Doubly so if flashing/strobe mode

I would have thought the flashing might have been less painful, I don't know.

At least there was no chance of a SMIDSY.

but definitely a case of 'sorry mate I saw you but was so blinded by your stupidly bright lights I was blinded and drove into the back of you'.
SMISYBWSBBYSBLIWBADITBOY - doesn't quite trip off the tongue though.

The title was really a rhetorical question, the light I witnessed was as bright as anything you'd see on a car acting as a fog light. Way too bright for a bike. I just don't understand why anyone would think a light so bright it blinds the person behind them is a good idea.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Yes they can be too bright. I have a 60 lumens rear light which i have on strawb effect to prolong the running time between charge ups. I've been passed a few times recently by a cyclist with a rear light like a fog light. All i can see is the light,it's as the op suggests something that makes you look at the light and nothing else.He/he has no reflective bits either. Maybe he/she relies too much on the ultra bright light where maybe some reflective bits and a lesser powered light would be better for those behind?

 

[Keith Oates]

I've also followed a rider when I was last in the UK and the rear was so bright it hurt my eyes and I had to look down at the road until I passed him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slowmotion]

I had a Blackburn Mars 4.0 inadvertantly pointed upwards on a night ride this year. I had put it on in a hurry. A rider asked me to adjust it, and rightly so. It's not a very bright light but if it's "in your face", it's horrible. A year earlier, I followed somebody with the most powerful flashing light I have ever had the misfortune to see. It was so bright that, after dazzling me, the "retina burn" remained until the next flash zapped me again. I might as well have been riding with a hood on for all I could see.

 

[summerdays]

Yes they can be too bright if badly adjusted. Yes the driver will know you are there but he can't actually look in your direction to see exactly where and he will be desperate to get past you.

As a cyclist I've been behind those types and you avoid looking at them so will look at the ground or try to get past.

Also noted the last time I was behind one of those evil eyes that it was incredibly bright even at 400 and 800 meters but that it was only in that narrow beam and even a slight bend reduced it to almost nothing. And I'd value a wide field of beam over a laser as I want to be seen from the side etc.

 

[Globalti]

Can LEDs do a wide beam?