kgriffioen

When I ride at night usually in late fall, winter, early spring, I have a steady light on the handle bars, a red blinky on the seat post, a flashing white light on the top of the helmet and a second blinky on the back of the helmet. I have been told numerous times that I am very visible.

puckett129

During my last incarnation as a bike commuter I was commuting 14 miles round trip from Astoria in Queens to W. 23rd St in NYC. I did not use lights both because I was young and foolish and because the technology available (LED's/batteries) now that is cheap and plentiful was not as good 10-15 years ago. Now I commute 22 miles in upstate NY and ride rural state and county roads and some trails and village roads too. I use two blinkys facing rear and one or two forward facing lights. I use one flashing front and one steady when dusk/dark.

The data that Giro presents above is sobering for someone like me using mostly shoulder-anemic 45 mph+ rural roads. I am most certainly going to invest in a mirror and some more reflective stuff after seeing that data. I guess I'm looking for a balance between spaceship-like visibility and casual ridability when I'm not commuting or on those roads. Maybe this a good place to apply the (n+1) model and dedicate the commuter to commuting, keep the roadie for group rides, and fix up one of my soon to arrive classic roadies as my non-commuter mixed use. I will also be investing in some day-glo jerseys and accessories to use all of the time when riding.

no motor?

You make yourself more visible and more obvious with the blinking light, and that helps get the attention of the people who can't hear you because of their ipod and aren't looking at anything besides their phone. Try it and you'll notice the difference.

hank0604

I use a combo solid/blinking for my taillights, but up front I only use a blinking headlight. The streets I ride on are lit well enough that I don't need a headlight to avoid potholes and such. Also, as courtesy to drivers, when stopped at a light behind a car, I put my hand over the blinking headlight so it's not flashing in someone's rearview mirror.

Funny little story, a couple weeks ago I pulled someone over. I was riding along behind a pickup truck, it must've been too dark for him to see much other than my flashing light, and he pulled over. As I passed him, I heard him say from his open window, "oh Jesus, I thought you were a cop"

Giro

Thank you. For the roads you are riding on, you might also be interested in the following NHTSA FARS data.

The 2009 data show the following for the posted speed limit where fatal bicyclist-motorvehicle crashes ocured (I graphed this before the 2010 FARS with the PBCAT data was available):

For those unfamiliar with cumulative quantile plots such as above, the y-axis is the cumulative percent of dead bicyclists at or below the posted speed limit on the x-axis. Each point on the graph represents one dead cyclist. With hundreds of dead cyclists/year, each dot is quite small and they then merge to form a "line", but if the original graph is viewed at enough magnification you can see the individual data points.

Reading the quantile plot shows, for example, that only about 20% of fatal crashes are on roads with speed limit of 30 mph or less. Not surprisingly, higher speeds are associated with most of the fatalities or seriously injured. For a posted 45 mph speed limit, the plot shows about 50% of fatal crashes were at 40 mph or less while almost 70% of fatal crashes are on roads posted 45 mph or less. Thus ~70% - 50% = about 20% of fatal crashes were on roads posted 45 mph. My guess is less than 20% of bicycling "exposure" is on roads exactly that fast and thus if other factors are about the same, a lower speed road would be preferable if it were available.

What about riding on the shoulder vs. taking the lane? Unfortunately, the online FARS crosstab query does not allow that crosstabulation (as far as I can determine). To get crosstabs at various posted speed limits, you have to download the FARS data tables, link them in a relational database, and run a query. I have not yet had time to do that since the PBCT data was added in 2010. However, a quick online crosstabulation of Crash Type vs Bicyclist Location (location is where the bicyclist was just before the crash) is possible. For the four types of Motorist Overtaking in 2010 this shows mostly the bicyclists were "taking the lane" before they got taken out, but you can clearly get killed on the shoulder or bike lane LINK1. The crosstab with all crash types is here LINK2.

Overall, lower speed limit roads tend to be preferable and given that motorist overtaking crashes are the most common type of fatal crashes, I suspect on higher speed limit roads an even higher percent of the fatalities are motorist overtaking crashes. Which is what you would expect, and thus good sight lines, good rearward conspicuity, and awareness to the rear are likely important if you have to bicycle those types of roads.

puckett129

Yeah, day-glo outerwear and flashing lights will most definitely be ordered this week! Of course if someone is texting no light or jersey will make them see us.

627 preventable deaths is too many.

Tearlach61

In winter, I have two lights: one flashing, one steady. About three or four years ago, this driver was "what is that big bright light coming my way, it's blinding! I think I'll just go any way."

In truth, I don't know what he was thinking. But since then I have two lights front, one to see with, one to be seen with.

Paul_b

Having had a car perform a U turn in front of me when on a motorcycle, (yes I hit the car) I don't care how bright a front light is someone won't notice it/misjudge distance so I have a constant light and a cheapie second blinkie both front and rear, 2 winters and so far its worked.