Blinded by the light
 

Just wondering if I am the only one being blinded by mega Limon flashing
tail lights while riding on crowded bike paths. I'm all for high visibility when riding on roads, but the mega lights on multi use paths seems to be unnessery overkill to me

I know what you're talking about. Those lights are distracting and quite annoying to other cyclists. The mup is dangerous enough without them.

Don't ride on MUPs. ;)

Tailights are bad enough, the superbright headlights are even worse in steady mode and horrible in flash mode.

Yes, today's headlights and taillights are quite blinding and are probably overkill on a multi-use path. However, I know for a fact that they have saved my life at least once on the open road, when a texting teenager caught my Metro 150 blinking in the corner of her eye and steered back into her lane. There and then, I decided I can live with having to look away when another cyclist's lights bother my eyes a little.

One is supposed to point superbright taillights toward the ground. We need regulation of headlamps like they have in Europe: only sharp cutoff lamps allowed. The lamps which drive me nuts are extremely bright lamps with very low flash rates being used after dark. Our visual systems aren't built to handle those things. I can't even tell where the light is - on the road, near the road, 1 mile away?

One is not supposed to use flashers, either front or rear at night, steady lamps only. Flashers are for daytime. I'd do the right thing: yell at them!

Both steady and flashing lights can be annoying when they have a large lens or other factors of their design create a sheet of light when the lens hits you square on. There does need to be some regulatory action on this. But not looking directly into it does help. I still favor using lights in the daytime and I'm not adverse to the smaller flashing lights during the day. They don't bother me.

Even driving on the road in my car it's becoming a dazzling array of lights both front and rear on automobiles that apparently old regs need to be updated and looked at. Cars with more than two headlights shining at me, rear taillight arrays that look like the Vegas Strip. And don't get me started about those that turn their hazards on in the rain.

German Busch & Muller headlights put the optics engineers to work & came up with a shaped beam putting light on the street ,

not in the trees & the oncoming traffic's eyes..

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/ima...Lux_600_px.jpg

"Yes, and the avatar said 'Blow the bar but first remove the cookie jar. We're gonna teach those boys to laugh too soon.'" Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I've read that drunk drivers are attracted to flashing lights and will steer toward them.

I don't know if that's the one but a class I had told of a headlight on Mercedes Benz which would put the light where it was needed, sensing oncoming cars, levels of darkness, and even upcoming turns in the road. The cost was about $5000 per light. I think they were arrays of LEDs.

The LED emitter on those is on the top facing down towards the reflector , rather than at the bottom of a parabolic bowl ..

I don't have a history of owning a car costing $5K ...

But if you buy a Mercedes SLK , I think the headlights are included..

That's one of the reasons that we strongly discourage, and when possible outlaw flashing lights at night on bicycles. Steady lights only. Flashing lights in daytime are not a problem.

The only decent study I know of is here: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstr...ect_Final.pdf?
I've never heard of a well-lit cyclist being hit for this reason. I've had motorists thank me for being well lit.

Blinkies are the roadie’s best friend, more obnoxious the better (day use)...but, on a path?? So the Ebikes don’t hit you from behind? Seriously, if I have to temporarily hop onto a MUP, first thing I do is reach back and shut off the little red flaming eye-torch.

I've had several cars with adaptive headlights that would automatically dim in oncoming traffic, turn with the steering wheel, and do some other things. They have worked great.

Blinded by the light was the only #1 song Bruce Springsteen ever had and he wasn't even singing in the cover version.
I'M just thankful I'm not living where I have to ride on a MUP.

the Bruce version or manford man?

+1

I wouldn't ride without mine. Lights on other bikes do not bother me. I just don't look directly at them.

The song is the first track on Bruce's first album: "Greetings From Asbury Park." Manfred Mann's Earth Band's cover hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I was walking and this couple parked a mile away, facing me with those idiot lights. It was daytime! On a paved rail/trail. I was still going blind. They’ll remember me.

Drunk drivers manage to run into all sorts of things.

Nothing is going to be perfect.

Presumably, the likelihood of getting hit by a drunk driver is low. So, if flashing lights work to prevent more frequent collisions (of other types), maybe you just have to accept the risk of being "attractive" to a few.

Further more, if flashing lights attract drunk drivers (not well established, anyway), it might not attract all (or most) of them.

I've been blinded a couple of times with high-power strobe-like lights coming towards me at dusk or dark. Once it was on a narrow two-lane road and i had to slam on my brakes because I couldn't see a darn thing ahead of me and the road was twisty.

Cheers

I didn’t think the headlight on my Specialized Vado SL was too bright, but I was standing in front of my LBS with the light on and a recumbent rider came by, about 2 feet from the bike, and complained that the light was too bright. I apologized, but didn’t feel I had done anything wrong. He was riding on the sidewalk right in front of me after all.

I do know fellow riders are grateful they can see me whether coming or going.

Yeah, I used to commute year around in Seattle and people were pretty rude about those bright lights on the Elliot Bay Trail. I couldn't see a darn thing!