livedarklions

Being able to single out a particular bike on a bike path a half mile away is absolutely irrelevant to safety on a bike path. It may or may not make sense on a road as the closing speeds are faster and the bikes are more scarce, but on a path, I'll probably have passed at least 10 other bikes before I close with the one with the light. Knowing another bike is coming while I do that is absolutely useless information. And given that every time you half the distance, you quadruple the brightness, by the time you get to within a few feet of me, that light I could see at a half mile is temporarily blinding. There's just no way that the guy with the bright flashing light is doing anything other than creating a hazard on a path.

woodcraft

I find that a loud "Your light sucks!" can be communicated while passing.

ddeand 

themp

https://www.greenway.org.au/about/what-greenway

themp

Well I did not expect such a response in the terms of others are bothered also. So, I may give it a try and ask a passing cyclist with a bright strobing LED to turn it off when seen on the MUP.

themp

lol

bogydave

noglider 

I often cruise at 14 mph. If an oncoming cyclist is moving at about the same speed, our closing velocity is pretty fast. Whatever I say, the other person is likely to hear one or two words of mine and no more. I'm not going to stop just to complain about someone's lights.

indyfabz

I cannot wrap my head around why the people with the lights think they are enhancing their safety. This summer there were two men moving slowly on wide open MUP in broad daylight. They both had bright front lights. As I was approaching them I just kept thinking "Why?" I had a strong urge to stop and clue them in, but I let it go.

I sometimes wonder if the gadget and gizmo-heavy world many people live in drives the behavior of some. "I have this cool dynamo-powered lighting system and I am going to run it 24/7."

noglider 

Then there are the people who run taillights in the front. What are they thinking? Some of them run headlights in the back, and others run taillights in the back.

livedarklions

I've timed "turn off the flasher" for just such a situation, but my voice carries very well so I can spit it out in the last 25 feet or so. I've actually looked back and seen people changing the settings or turning it off (can't really tell which from behind).

Leebo

What? MA is killing riders all the time. Get out of your time warp. And look beyond your own borders. Big city anyone?

noglider 

I was hit head-on by a car. I don't remember it, and I don't remember the ambulance ride. I was riding to work, and the next minute I remember is a doctor standing over me, waking me up. He had witnessed it and said I flew 50 feet.

A front light prevents not only head-on collisions but also hooks across your front. When a driver is more or less in front of me and I don't think he sees me, I wiggle my handlebars, which seems to help. I learned that from the SMIDSY motorcycle video, and it works well.

livedarklions

That makes a lot of sense--thanks! Our attention is definitely drawn more to motion and change than a steady stationary light. I think the slower blink rate works better than a fast strobe on the street, BTW, because you have the attention-getting change without the "too quick for your pupils" effect. Even on a bike path, I don't have trouble keeping track of the location of a bike with a slow-blink headlight, and it doesn't affect my ability to see other people around them as much, either.

Glad you're still with us! I've had a lot of close calls with drivers I could have sworn were looking right at me, and have had to scream to get their attention. That's definitely last resort. Tunnel vision is a real thing and it's good to be reminded of it.

noglider 

There are reasons that car drivers don't see motorcyclists and cyclists, and they can be explained by science. The obvious one is that they are generally not trained or conditioned to see us. The other one is that when we turn our heads or eyes, we think we are seeing everything in the sweep of our vision, but we are not. The "movie" is made of a few still pictures, and it's easy to miss one in the middle. I wish I had the video that demonstrates it. I think it's in an airplane pilot training video.

I see one guy on my bike path who has a long rod across the front of his bike with lots of lights on it side by side. I think he has at least six lights in total. That's smart, but it's a lot of trouble.

livedarklions

This works if you don't read the description first:
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rmueller

Apparently you all don't ride trikes...your inches off the ground and have the profile of a kid riding a go-cart.

Yes, I usually ride on the 'Greenway' trails. And, yes, most of the DF's and trikes are sporting flashing lights, (white in front, red in back) during the day. I kinda like it, from where I sit.

My ride is all black, and more or less blends into the asphalt pavement at a distance. I feel its a courtesy to light up, so people can actually tell what is coming their way.

I'm adding a totally obnoxious bright led lit flag pole, not so much for the trails, but for the streets...I want every driver to at least have a fighting chance of seeing me while they are texting, doing their make-up or arguing with their kids about whats for dinner.

Sorry, to the folks with sensitive eyes, I think the compromise is worth it...I do know what you are talking about (after 7 eye surgeries, bright stuff doesn't make me too happy either).

ron

Nachoman

I'm really not that bothered by other cyclist's bright flashing headlights.
I consider them a very temporary, extremely minor annoyance.

livedarklions

Sorry, but I've seen too many situations where they're very clearly a safety hazard. Minor annoyances I generally don't fuss about.

coffeesnob

x2

700

My usual ride consists of alternating road and greenway/mup paths. I have the flashing white light on the front and red on the back. The front is angled to light about two+ yards in front of me. The lights not only keep me safe from drivers, they also catch the attention of trail walkers and casual riders who are meandering back and forth across the pavement. And I'm averaging around 14mph - so I'm not being a obnoxious speed demon.
This is a technological improvement over safety lighting from days gone by. It's what I want on my kids' bikes too.

If any jerks yell(smh) at me, I might yell back. I might not.

bogydave

superpletch

x3

try not staring into the light, kind of like driving at night. just another post for people to complain about anything. and before you attack me for being reasonable I will turn my front light off when on a "greenway"

Rootman

Sorry, I use mine every ride. I have to take streets for the first and last 2 miles of my rides on the MUP. And at least on the Razorback Greenway in NW Arkansas there are plenty of street crossings, sharrows and driveways to warrant it. I try and keep it pointed low, and on the lowest setting.

I've also nearly been run in to by other cyclists in many of the tunnels the greenway has. Some tunnels have no lights on during the day. Goofs wearing dark sunglasses riding at speed enter the tunnel and can't see anything. Prior to using my headlight I actually bumped shoulders with a guy, my right grip was already almost touching the wall. I have no idea if it helps but I get tired of almost getting hit.

livedarklions

The OP was complaining specifically about high intensity blinkers, which I took to mean strobes. By your own account, you turn down the intensity, so I don't think you're doing what was complained about.

I really have no complaints about moderate intensity lights with slow blink rates. The strobes I'm complaining about are really airplane-level brightness being used for a purpose they're completely inappropriate for, and it is not, as some of the people here seem to be saying, just a matter of discomfort.