Daytime Lights: Best Thing I Ever Did
 

For anyone on the fence about whether to add daytime lights to your commuter, I just want to say that mine have added a much, much better sense of security to my rides, both to and from work. People clearly see me now and treat me like a moving vehicle, rather than just another annoying tree-hugger who's not in a car.

Don't even worry so much about WHICH headlight and tail light you buy; just do it.

:thumb:

Smart move. I've decided this year that I'd rather have it there whenever I want it, even on my road bike, than save a little weight.

Definitely helps on days when you are in and out of shadows. It's a good investment.

As a driver, there have been times when I have been "surprised" by a bike either in the shadows and/or wearing dark clothing. These days, most cars on the road have DRL (Daytime Running Lights). Motorists expect lights. So I got one.

Still doesn't help much when the driver is staring at their phone (had someone run me out of the crosswalk this AM), but does make things a little easier - especially around intersections)

Part of my morning commute is on a quiet "country" road, heading directly into a blinding sun. When I drive this road at the hour I commute, I cannot see ANYTHING on the side of the road, let alone pedestrians or cyclists. So when I am one of those objects on the side of this road, I want to do everything I can to attract the attention of drivers. My ultra-bright yellow t-shirt just isn't enough these days, but a flashing red light always wakes people up.

Earlier this week I was sitting on the side of the road next to my house talking to a neighbor. I was on the bike. All the lights were running.

Another neighbor turned onto the street and yelled "Geesh...think your lights are bright enough? I saw you from way down the street!"

All I could do was thank her for verifying how effective they were for me.

(She wasn't being nasty. She s very nice. She was just surprised as how far away she would see the lights)

If the weight of a tiny modern LED bike light is slowing anyone down, they should be using an old MagLight with 4 D cell batteries for light AND for better cardio.

Wait...I want to change my response.....

It's ironic that the bike becomes heavier the more light you add.

Mind blown.

:D

Been doing this(runing w/ lites on all the time) for about 10 years now.
I'll add another tip; have at least 2 front and 2 rear lights. :)

Don't forget about the 1/2 watt extra drag when I'm cruising at 30 mph, and interfering with one of my 26 hand positions. It may seem difficult to accept these compromises but I still say that it's worth it.

I'm a big fan as well.

There is such a thing as TOO bright a blinkie at night. Prob less so during the day.

I just got some Bontrager Ion/Flare 200 lights that I like a lot because they change brightness automatically based on the light conditions. Also very small and light.

Two flashing in the front during broad daylight is great, especially if they're flashing at different rates. Gets drivers' attention.

Night time I'd run one blinking, one solid up front. Bunch of solids and one blinking on the back.

I had a guy pull up next to me in his truck on my ride today (on a lightly traveled country road) to tell me without my rear light (a Blackburn Dayblazer 65) he probably wouldn't have seen me. I guess being 6'4" on a bright yellow bike wearing a fairly colorful jersey isn't good enough haha.

He was quite nice, wished me a good ride before he pulled away.

I've been doing this for about 10 years too, back when I was using a 165 lumen light and thinking it was bright. I still remember the guy who saw me before I saw him and waited for me to go by before opening his door.

So how many lights is too many? I have one 850-lumen headlight set to steady/pulse and one 150-lumen taillight set to a delayed blink. I feel like they are perfect. At what point do you think multiple lights blinking at various speeds becomes more of a (potentially dangerous) distraction than an eye-catcher?

I turned my commuter's generator-hub powered lights on 10 years ago, and have thought little about it since. I have other lights, front and rear, but the two lights are always on, rain or shine, day or night.

On my (daylight) commute home tonight, while I was approaching a stop sign, a car coming from my left turned right at high speed, crossing all four wheels into my lane. He saw me, and widened his wide swing and passed on my RIGHT! I don't know if my daytime running headlight helped him see me or not, but it surely didn't hurt.

Daytime Lights: Best Thing I Ever Did So @Papa Tom, is your current thread actually a reply to this similar current thread,“Daytime Running Lights - Get Them! Video”? There was a lot of the theorizing, analyzing, and disputes on that one.

FWIW, I posted:

My night riding is in rural areas and I run the front light on solid after dark as drivers find the blinking to be annoying. I run blinking lights at the rear, but they're relatively low power. The super bright rear light that I run during the day is too much at night. But would be fine for urban riding.

Maybe she was politely suggesting they might actually be too bright. That's my opinion of many models, bright enough to be counter productive in many instances. Analogous to riding into the sun. Not necessarily a total white out but enough to be painfully distracting, and just asinine on MUPs.

˄˄˄˄ (see post #19 above) So, IMO FWIW, for cycling safety. Pragmatism>>Emipiricism.

˄˄˄˄

…and

Jim, I have no idea what you are trying to say with embedded quote after embedded quote, but the one thing that jumped out at me as wrong is “While nice, it is not essential that oncoming traffic see you, it is more important that trailing traffic see you.” Oncoming turning and crossing traffic has very little time to react to a cyclist, so it is equally important to be visible from the front and the rear.

+1