Getting flashed from oncoming cars

[Maz]

There is a bit about lights here...

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Cycling/DG_10026401

Thanks. If I read that correctly, a single flashing light is legal.
As for pedal reflectors, well...

 

[Hawk]

In towns, I find I am surrounded by light. I feel that to stand out, it's effective to have my light on "low" but angled quite high. So there is one small but very intense "dot"; drivers seem to spot this better than a spread of light on the road in front of me.

I don't think it's bright enough to blind a driver coming the other way. I agree it could be annoying but currently I reckon it's better for my safety. I also angle it slightly to the left generally, and move it to the right when I spot a hazard on my right (emerging vehicle for example).

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on that.

Perhaps a helmet light could be more effective as I could direct it in to the faces of drivers who are about to do something silly, this seemed to be effective last year when I had such a light..?

 

[fossyant]

You don't say what light it is Hawk ? There is bright and BRIGHT

 

[tadpole]

I have two cree 5 lamps, with adjustable lenses, one is on flash (30% brightness with full width spead, and the other is on narrow beam full power, but focused 28 feet in front of me. The flashing one I think of as my “see me light” and the one on full power pointed at the ground in front of me is my “me see light”

 

[green1]

The flashing one I think of as my “see me light”

You mean your I'm here but I making it very difficult for you to judge the distance between us and the speed I'm travelling at light?

 

[tadpole]

No the "See me I'm a pushbike, as only pushbikes come with flashing lights and I'm still coming at you light"

 

[green1]

No the "See me I'm a pushbike, as only pushbikes come with flashing lights and I'm still coming at you light"

Really? So what about police cars, ambulances and fire engines?

 

[tadpole]

Really? So what about police cars, ambulances and fire engines?

White flashing lights? I don't think so, Blue strobe lights maybe, anyway, you knew about what I was speaking.

 

[green1]

All emergency vehicles also have flashing headlights when they have their blues and 2's on. Or at least they do around here.

 

[tadpole]

All emergency vehicles also have flashing headlights when they have their bues and 2's on. Or at least they do around here.

You’ve killed your own point. If someone sees flashing lights strobe blues and two tone horns sounding they are never going to think “Oh it's a bike” , and conversely if someone sees a small flashing light no one will think it’s an emergency vehicle, no they're going to think “it’s a bike

 

[green1]

Unless its a police motor bike of course whom from experiance around here seem to use their lights and rarely use sirens unless they want the attention of someone sitting in a queue of traffic in a day dream (I see them quite a lot on the street outside my house stopping traffic and escorting ambulances throught the rush hour to the local hospital).

 

[hennbell]

When it come to bike lights I have always been more concerned about getting drivers to notice me rather than lighting my way. So I am guilty of high beams and flashing...pictures to follow!!

 

[Boris Bajic]

Several people have made the point very well (some more bluntly than others) that it is not a good ida to ride with a powerful front lamp directed at the eyes of oncoming road users.

It's a matter of courtesy. It's not just cyclists. Many car drivers forget they are on full-beam as other vehicles approach. Grrr....

It is odd that among cyclists, who have occasion sometimes to feel they are ignored as road users, there should be a minority who set up powerful lighting systems without seeming for a moment to have thought of the poor sod into whose eyes the light may be directed.

Many of these (like the OP, I suspect) may not be drivers. But they ought perhaps to try to see things from the driver's point of view, particularly as so many contributors to these forums moan about how drivers do not see things from the cyclist's point of view.

Damn... That was nearly a rant and then I just couldn't summon up sufficient ire.

Anyway.... Be courteous! All of you! Now!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

No the "See me I'm a pushbike, as only pushbikes come with flashing lights...

Which is why I no longer use a front flashing light: drivers quickly identify you as a cyclist and some of them adopt the SMIDGAF technique, or simply assume you're going a sedate 5mph and pull out when it isn't safe.

I prefer a strong fixed light (B&M IQ Cyo) that makes me look like a small motorcycle until I'm safely passing the would-be smidgaffer. Keep 'em guessing I say.


GC

 

[numbnuts]

I like to flash as a secondary light