Lights during daylight hours

[ufkacbln]

Following an incident this morning...


What is it about the new evangelism for daytime lighting on bikes?

 

[Flying Dodo]

It's the same logic that has seen (pardon the pun) motorbikes have their lights on for years, and now all new cars have lights on - to make you stand out. Of course if everyone does it, it does tend to negate the effect.

Having said that, a decent flashing rear light does make you stand out from behind if you're the only cyclist around and you're out in the open with not much traffic around.

 

[Katherine]

I think bright coloured clothes stand out just as much in bright daylight.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I think bright coloured clothes stand out just as much in bright daylight.

More so I'd say

 

[MontyVeda]

if it's raining of foggy I do but otherwise I don't.... but cycling 'round these parts aint like cycling in a proper city. If my commute took me through central manchester then i probably would.

 

[Turdus philomelos]

I like to give drivers an extra clue they share the road with me.

 

[mr messy]

Suppose could put your lights on
in daylight, see if can see them or just wasting energy and increasing boardroom wages...

 

[snorri]

Daytime lights on moving vehicles* are just an annoying distraction, they would be better placed in potholes where they might do some good.

* I make an exception for flashing rear lights on bicycles.

 

[Drago]

There's no evidence that daytime light usage - poor weather reduced visibility notwithstanding, when you'd have headlights on anyway - has a positive safety effect in anything other than a sub-arctic climate, such as the Northern Scandinavian countries.

Therefore, the laws that compel new cars and motorcycles to have them in the UK is not based upon any logic whatsoever.

 

[PaulSecteur]

I usually have a flashing rear light on.

Sometimes, even on bright days its easy to to loose sight of a cyclist in high contrast situations, such as being in the shadows of overhanging trees on a very bright background.

 

[Archie_tect]

If it's good enough for Volvo, it's good enough for me!

 

[CopperBrompton]

In urban riding, it probably makes little difference, but as I have a SON hub dynamo on the Brompton, there's no downside to leaving the lights on all the time (SON claims 4% drag with lights on vs 1% with lights off, but I can't detect the difference).

On rural roads, where I may have traffic approaching at 60mph plus, I want them to see me as far ahead as possible, so have Dinottes in strobe mode front and rear (amber to rear). They make a huge difference.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I'm a terrible daytime flasher. I don't think it's done me any harm, nor anybody else. It's the ''anybody else'' part which is important. In a battle for the most visible bikes simply can't win. In a battle for inattentive road users with all the lights they could ever wish for, well, that's a different matter. If I ever felt my luminescence had endangered another cyclist or pedestrian, I'd have a rethink. Ain't happened yet.

 

[Glow worm]

Flashing rear for me on country roads hereabouts, especially when riding towards a setting sun. Probably makes no difference but makes me feel better.

 

[Drago]

I go by the data. If the ambient lighting, or weather induced visibility is such I would activate my cars headlamps then I would activate my bicycles lights. If it ain't, I don't.