Cars have reflectors and also inside the lamps themselves. I’m not moaning about bike lights I’m moaning about high power flashing lights…as per the first post.
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Slow flashing lights are fine . Some people use strobe on Chinese torch type lights and they are terrible.
What should be fun is the highway code soon changing to say cyclists should now ride in the middle of the road!
It's the part after the "when" that's problematic.
I think one problem is that the USB-rechargeable flashers that are quite common now are brighter than what might have been used a few years ago. Some cyclists don't bother to angle them properly because they aren't using them to illuminate the road, and end up dazzling other road users.
Well Dudley I would think that was clear, I gave some examples of where you’ve displayed negative bias towards cyclists, you could even say they they push your buttons.
Don’t take my word for it, others have commented so I’ll leave my last word to them…
Slightly off topic (sorry) but I generally only ride in daylight (or dusk at worst) and I only ride on any road long enough to get to a bridle way.
However, I do wear a hi-viz top and also have and use these ‘Brooks Femto’s fitted to my bikes, which will generally be on flash while I’m riding, albeit even if it’s just a kind of ‘heads up’ (civil gesture?) for other cyclists and walkers/pedestrians.
https://www.brooksengland.com/en_uk/femto-light.html
https://www.brooksengland.com/en_uk/...ear-light.html
Brooks seem a pretty legit supplier so I’d hope these are ok but how would a novice like myself know if their lights are too bright?
EDIT
Answered my own question here, sorry!!
https://smartbicycleowners.com/can-b...be-too-bright/
I’ve tried most forms of lights on my road, hybrids and mountain bikes but settled on bright white front, no flashing and bright red rear, flashing. I didn’t like flashing rear lights as I felt they were potentially hazardous for road users behind me and that if they were acceptable, then motorcycles would have them. However, a number of shunts and near misses from the rear convinced me that flashing rear stands out from the rest of the visual clutter. Since making that decision, the near misses from the rear have reduced with the only incident of note being an angry twat in a Range Rover pulling up alongside me at a junction and shouting that I had blinded him and that I should be more considerate. It was ironic considering he was throwing out oodles of lumens from what appeared to be four different front light clusters, all of which were probably blinding people in normal cars in front of him. I’ll do whatever it takes to be seen on the road and if a few of the other road users are mildly inconvenienced but have still seen me and moved around me, then that’s all to the good.
my wife recently bought one of these for early morning walks across the fields, apparently people use them for cycling as well, I couldn't believe how bright it is, https://uk.bioliteenergy.com/product...32654853079136 it's easy to see how it dazzles car drivers
I used to commute across Glasgow in a pro viz jacket that glowed so much you could be seen from space. I still had near misses from the "sorry i didn't see you" crew.
http://bikerumor.com/wp-content/uplo...ing-womens.jpg
I run blinking lights on the front and back on everything other than a stunning day.
Someone about to open a door on your might notice a blinking light but almost certainly won't notice a high viz jacket.
It's just trying to reduce the chances of being knocked off.
car headlights are dipped, so pointing down at the road, that thing isn't, it's painful looking at it straight on, it is also head height whereas a car headlight has to be much lower
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/...chedule/4/made
Cars dip for other cars, rarely cyclists or walkers. If you don't have bright lights you can't see the road ahead of you.
The problem is the accelerating arms race in increasing bright lights from all road users.
The law has minimum wattage requirements for lights, but we're not using filament bulbs any more, the world has moved on. Watts are an irrelevance. There needs to be maximum output rules related to light intensity.
We tried using flashing red lights fitted to the back of helmets of operatives who were on the ground where heavy plant was working, during dusk and night operations.
We found that although they alerted the drivers to their presence, it was hard to precisely ascertain just how close they were.
The addition of a lower energy steady light solved that, and allowed our dump truck (78t loaded) drivers to easily identify and avoid the squashy things.