mcours2006

Thick fog this morning. Like I mean really thick. The picture here was from a section that wasn't so bad, and I'd just happen to wipe the camera lens. The rest of the video footage was completely useless as the lens was covered with dew.

I had two headlights--one on steady and one on blinking. I had my main tail light on solid and a smaller one on blinking. Plus a helmet mounted tail light on blinking.

What sort of lighting strategy works best for fog?


Foggy ride.jpg

kellichou

In Denver, I don't have to deal with fog very often. I find that my lower-powered LED headlight works well for fog. In addition to the headlight, I always wear my reflective construction vest on top of my gear, along with multiple slow-pulse red blinkies on my panniers, one on the back of my helmet with a white light in front. All this, and most of my commute is on a MUP, not streets.

chas58

I aim the front light down. Strobing probably works the best though. Side lighting may be even more important in foggy conditions though....

pdlamb

Sounds like you've got the lighting covered (1 blinking, 1 steady front; 2 blinking, 1 steady rear). Bright clothes and reflectors, of course. The only other thing you can do is look for a parallel road with less traffic (suburban houses, for example).

Korina

Forget about being visible, how do I see the road? I had a particularly wet, foggy commute a few weeks ago; there were patches where I could barely see the road. It was extremely dark on the highway, no street lights, so I had to provide all the light, and of course my headlight only bounced back at me. The fog was so wet I had to take my glasses off, making visibility even worse, especially when I hit the gauntlet (i.e. the line of eucalyptus that drop seed casings, leaves, twigs, branches and the occasional limb right on the shoulder). In fact, I'm not entirely sure how I made it to work alive!

Do you think a headlight on my fork would help?

SloButWide 

More photons :-)

Lights have two purposes, to see, and be seen. To do the first, bright lights, aimed to illuminate where you need it, without too much scatter. For the speeds and paths I commute, that's anywhere from 4-10 feet in front of me. To do the second, scatter is ok, but not great. It'll make you more visible, but you may not be as visible from far away.

My setup is like yours - strobing headlight parallel to the ground, steady headlight pointed at the ground so that the main spot is ~6ft in front of the wheel, and the spill runs 2-3ft ahead and behind the spot. Back is a slow strobing taillight.

PS - In before "yellow is definitely better". Subjectively, people prefer yellow, and it should cause less glare, but objectively there is no strong evidence.

rumrunn6

don't think there's a lighting solution for fog. some of the worst highway pileups are caused by fog. I've seen so many drivers fly by me in fog & it doesn't matter what car they have, they can not see adequately. they are hoping there is no obstacle in front of them & that the road continues unobstructed. imagine if everyone was wearing blinders, would you want to be out in the mix? bumper cars are safe but I would just get off the road & wait it out of possible

mcours2006

Well, hopefully drivers have enough sense to slow down when there is thick fog...but that requires common sense, so that excludes at least 10% of the driving population.

rumrunn6

ok then don't youtube search for pileup due to fog

Bizman

I believe I have saw study's saying that people actually drive faster in fog.



EDIT: Here is a link to driving in fog, take your pick!
https://www.google.com/search?q=Peop...&client=safari

lmike6453

Do you have a pair of MTB lights to use with flood optics?

alias5000

Considered valve cap lights for visibility from the sides (or just to look fancy)?
Stronger blinkies is what I would go for. These white planet bike rear lights at MEC have an amazing blinking pattern and light reflectors.
In the rear, I ran a smaller always on light with larger built-in reflector, plus that blinky in the early hours of the fog you are mentioning.

ThermionicScott 

Great, now I've moved on to pileup videos due to snow/ice.

rumrunn6

my favorite pastime when the office slows down this time of year. when you get bored, check out Russian trucks crossing rivers!

RidingMatthew

sounds like you have plenty of lights except for some side light or reflective stuff. I think for cars the lower "fog" lights are to get under the fog. So maybe mount the light lower on the bike.


I have ridden in fog a couple times. if you can change your route to stay out of the lower elevations where the fog settles?


best of luck and be careful .

Aubergine 

Exactly right, although mounting the fog lights lower does not « get under » the fog. Rather, it is so the fog does not reflect the light back to the rider or driver. So, consider mounting a steady light or two at the level of the axle. That should help with your visïon.

rumrunn6

driving to work today on highway 495 speeds vary from zero to 80 mph. saw 2 things today:

at one point the left lane stops but my middle lane keeps moving. I see smoke ahead in that left lane. turns out it's a car that locked up it's brakes & stopped a mere inches from hitting the car in front of it. a little while later I see the same car still tailgating the same car that was in front of it. some ppl just never learn. what will it takes for that person not to tailgate in highway traffic? an actual collision?

later on, I'm in the right lane cuz my exit is coming up. i approach a merge where two lanes merge into four. I'm going real slow allowing room where necessary for ppl to merge in. the car in front of me darts out into the middle lane to go faster. then a big suburban flies in where that other car left, but he flew in really fast w/o any warning, then stopped & I barely had time to stop before hitting him in his left rear bumper. kinda funny how his left rear bumper was already pushed in from a previous collision. some ppl just never learn. obviously not even after an actual collision

mcours2006

I will have to try this next time, perhaps on the right side fork.

Darth Lefty 

Locally...

ThermionicScott 

Mark my words -- future generations will marvel that we ever allowed people to operate cars.

CliffordK

Sleep in?

Around here, the fog usually burns off by mid morning. Sometimes back in the evening, but usually light.

I-Like-To-Bike

Looks like the OP video was taken from the right edge of the road
I learned in A&S that taking the lane always makes bicyclists more visible and invulnerable. Forget the fog and take that lane!

mcours2006

downwinded

IMHO fog and low angle of the sun, are perhaps the most dangerous conditions to be on the road. The fog can get really thick here. Much more dense than in the OP's pic. When you can hardly see the headlights or tail lights on cars, they cannot see bike lights at all. The reflective material seems to be the first thing that you notice when approaching a bike. The more area with reflective patches, strips or whatever, the better. I'm on fairly low traffic residential streets, so I can be on high alert and get to the right quickly if I hear a car behind me. If I had to be on really busy streets during some of the fog we have here, I would not ride. Be safe all.

angerdan

Physical/technical aspects of lighting during fog

Frontlight:

• beam angle of the light should be below 30° (to reduce self blinding while provide line of sight)
• should be as far away from the drivers optical axis as possible (to reduce blinding by illuminated water drops in the air)
• Color temperature should be as low as possible, at least neutral white below 4.000K to improve vision by removing short, blue to violet wavelengths from the projected light. These wavelengths are difficult for the human visual system to process properly, and they cause perceived dazzle and glare effects in rain, fog and snow. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow

Rearlight:

• beam angle of the light should be above 120° (to bee seen from any rear incoming angle)
• luminous flux should be above 40lm (be bright enought to be seen early enough)
• illuminated area of the light should be as large as possible (to allow distance calculation for following road users)
• illuminated area of the light should have a aspect ratio unequal as possible (to allow distance calculation for following road users)