Light Colour

[jonny jeez]

Should Cycle lights all be a "set" colour?

Or at least have an element that contained a signature colour.

I'm not concerned with conformity here but as I ride about in the new darkness I am struck by just how much light confusion there is. Trying to decipher a cycle from a car is getting more and more tricky (with new brighter lights). So I wondered if it would be beneficial to incorporate a single "globally" identifiable colour into bike lights so that the moment you see this colour you know its a bike.

I don’t want people to see "a bike" and ignore it but at the same time I often wonder if people see me and think I'm a car and therefore don’t expect me to be where a bike will be on the road.

Would it help if all bikes had a recognisable colour reference.

And before we all start charging in with “so long as a driver see’s us it doesn’t matter what he/she thinks we are”…I get that.

What I am asking is would it be beneficial to be instantly recognised as a cycle…or would it be more dangerous for us?

 

[Mugshot]

I know where you're coming from, and it can be so difficult to judge the speed of a vehicle at night, a little bike light can look like a motorcycle light thats further down the road. That's why I like to have a few different areas flashing (so to speak) I think it helps deferentiate me somewhat.
I think set colours for bikes would take far too long to become known by the general populous to be of any benefit.

 

[mangid]

Should Cycle lights all be a "set" colour?

Or at least have an element that contained a signature colour.

I'm not concerned with conformity here but as I ride about in the new darkness I am struck by just how much light confusion there is. Trying to decipher a cycle from a car is getting more and more tricky (with new brighter lights). So I wondered if it would be beneficial to incorporate a single "globally" identifiable colour into bike lights so that the moment you see this colour you know its a bike.

I don’t want people to see "a bike" and ignore it but at the same time I often wonder if people see me and think I'm a car and therefore don’t expect me to be where a bike will be on the road.

Would it help if all bikes had a recognisable colour reference.

And before we all start charging in with “so long as a driver see’s us it doesn’t matter what he/she thinks we are”…I get that.

What I am asking is would it be beneficial to be instantly recognised as a cycle…or would it be more dangerous for us?

I actually think it's an advantage that they think you're a car/motorbike, cars seldom pull out on me the same way they do during sunlight. A bright light is associated with a motorbike, and the mental model of speed is changed. It also works when cycling in narrow head on situations, drivers think you're wider and faster than you are, and don't play chicken with you.

--
Dan

 

[gaz]

My personal opinion is I don't want to look like a bicycle in the dark but I do want to stand out.
Why? I travel faster than the perceived speed of a bicycle and I don't want to be labeled as a slow moving object on the side of the road. If I can look like a moped (which is going to produce a similar speed to me in some situations) then good.

 

[GrasB]

My personal opinion is I don't want to look like a bicycle in the dark but I do want to stand out.

+1 A pair of B&M LUMOTEC IQ Cyo Ts mounted next to each other (they're actually battery powered not dynamo powered for the moment) gives great road illumination & gets motorists to actually judge my speed, I genuinely look like a modern motorbike with a low colour temp light - which considering on my Giro is often over 25mph is a VERY good thing. The rear is a little more challenging, for now I go with a pair of Dinotte 300R on a low illumination setting with a single R2 in flash mode.

 

[BlackPanther]

I use a 900 lumens helmet mounted li-ion powered 'Cree' torch. I also have a 650 lumens Cree torch on the front of the bike, rear Blackburn Mars 4.0, and a cheapy helmet mounted rear led light. Also a Proviz Electroluminescent vest which is blue and hence I feel stands out significantly more amongst the sea of red and white lights on the road.

I'd personally avoid mounting front lights side by side because it can make you look like a car that's farer away (that's why legislation dictates that motorbikes can only have one light on.)

Mind, I've seen drivers pull out in front emergency vehicles with their 'blues and twos' on, so no matter what you use, still assume you're 'cloaked' at all times.

 

[gaz]

I'd personally avoid mounting front lights side by side because it can make you look like a car that's farer away.

Really? How much further away? It would have to pretty far to have 2 lights which are usually several feet apart to appear less than 10cm apart.

 

[Zoiders]

A switch to orange flashers as used to denote a hazard as used on recovery vehicles and road works instead of red would make sense, the industry would not like it though.

For now we are stuck with red.

 

[jonny jeez]

My personal opinion is I don't want to look like a bicycle in the dark but I do want to stand out.
Why? I travel faster than the perceived speed of a bicycle and I don't want to be labeled as a slow moving object on the side of the road. If I can look like a moped (which is going to produce a similar speed to me in some situations) then good.

Yep that's the dilemma I was considering, is it helpful to be recognised as a bike...or not.

I'm divided, Half of me says it would help if drivers were aware that a more vulnerable (if only in terms of exit speeds) user is on the road...and half of me suspects it would encourage more bullying drivers to disregard cyclist still further.

I ask as I was confused last night (for the second time in my life) and took seconds to work out that the two flashing lights heading towards me were two bikes on the pavement (very close to me and in an unexpected position...like at eye level and in my side window) it really threw me as I thought something massive was bearing down on me. But then, It did make me stop in my tracks...hence the dilemma

 

[Zoiders]

If it's a blinky or constant red light drivers don't take the danger seriously as it's unlikely for them to come off worse in a collision with a bicycle or moped.

Few drivers however want to drive in to what could be the back of a skip or a huge hole in the ground.

 

[BlackPanther]

Really? How much further away? It would have to pretty far to have 2 lights which are usually several feet apart to appear less than 10cm apart.

Here in the pics the lights appear the same distance apart. You have a bike at say 20 yards away, which looks the same as the car which is maybe 100 yards away.The danger is that if someone's waiting to pull out of a side road and they see lights approaching that appear to be 100 yards away they'll pull out.

 

[fossyant]

No you don't that's an excuse for poor driving. (re the lights)

 

[BlackPanther]

No you don't that's an excuse for poor driving. (re the lights)

I agree, but there are enough (well, lots more than enough) poor drivers out there to make it dangerous for motorbikes to have 2 lights side by side on at the same time. That's why my Honda CBF only has one dipped light. The only motorbikes to have 2 dipped beams are where they're 'stacked' one on top of the other......although maybe a poor driver could confuse that for a car on it's side sliding down the road 100 yards away and pull out anyway.

 

[fossyant]

All I can say, is the motorbikers have it even worse than us cyclists. At least we have a 10kg bike on average following us through the air.

And we can have a blinky. I run two front lights and a blinky. I run two rears and a bilnky or two..

Poor drivers will try the 'oh didn't know what it was', but any experienced driver can tell a car light from a motorbike/and even a cycle.

TBH I worry like hell for scooter riders... folk have a big high powered motorbike, comes with super brakes... what the hell chance does a scooter rider have - I think they are more vulnerable than a cyclist.

 

[jonny jeez]

I certainly associate fast flashing red lights with cyclists, and as motorist I like that distinction.

I agree I also associate flashing lights with cyclists (red or white), how much of that association is down to being a cyclist with flashing lights, I don't know.

BP has a good point though (one which Honda with the CBF, Triumph with the Tiger and Kawasaki with their piggy back Versys lights are all addressing...so it must have some basis of fact) and this was at least the immediate confusion for me as the two lights looked ...for a nano second...like a tall truck was about to T-bone me.

If they were flashing I think I'd have recognised them a lot faster.

Reading the replies to this thread, I think it does help us to be recognised for the single fact that drivers who "glance" before pulling out wont mistake me for a car or motorcycle that is further away.