zarbog

And yesterday as I was nearing the 3/4 way point of a 9% grade on a side street, a young lady backed out directly in front of me from her driveway. Then she suddenly stopped when she saw me so now I could not ride around the front of her and I was certainly not going to ride around the rear of her car either. No big deal, was no danger involved, I just had to wait to restart my climb. Of course the front light on my handlebar was turned off.

It was turned off because I was on the last leg of a 38km ride and had just gotten off the rail trail just one block away. I used to leave my lights on all the time, but I think I have been BF brainwashed into not using them. Going to go back to my old habit and just leave them on.

Leisesturm

Sooo, let me get this straight, driver backs out into you (uh oh) but suddenly stops (yay) and all this while your handlebar light is MIA, and this is proof positive that you need to cut the estimated life of your battery pack in half by running your headlight day and night. Gotcha. You do you, by all means. I only get my back up if you suggest that I should want to do likewise.

Leisesturm

Why the sarcasm? You happen to be correct. Another ten years it is. Starting ... ... ... ... now!

sumgy

Absolutely agree.
Basically dangerous too.

Paul Barnard

I am a proponent of enhancing visual conspicuity within reason. It may help catch the attention of a partially engaged driver.

Rollfast

I'll turn the blinkie on in the rear but I run antique Deltas using 2 D cells up front and that's not going to make any difference at all until dusk. I stock up on heavy duty batteries at the dollar store and you no longer get three, it's two now, similar deals for C and AA/AAA, 33% less than a year ago. On a fixed budget that doesn't make sense and since the rear light is LEDs it does last a very long time.

I have a small fleet of antique bikes so this is a large problem. Alkalines are nice but not affordable.

Loose Chain

That you think the lights annoying is the mountain evidence you asked for. If you are annoyed with my lights, then you see me.

And the US is not Germany, in Germany and most of Europe a significant portion of the populations rides and commutes on bicycles and motorists are much more accustomed to sharing the road and they have better cycling infrastructure. A cyclist on the road there is expected, in the US a cyclist on the road is not expected. The lights may be annoying but if so then they have served their purpose.

And if a blinking light on a bicycle is enough to annoy someone, then someone needs to chill out a little more. There are plenty of things that matter to be annoyed about but bicycle blinkies are not one of them.

gecho

There are 3x AA to D cell adapters so you can run nimh rechargeables in D cell devices. Just be sure to get the parallel version that increases the mah, not the voltage. Though it can be a chore to recharge all those batteries. My parents have a 3 D cell LED lantern so I have 9AAs to charge in a 4 slot charger. The other day I saw an adapter that converts 4 D cells to a square lantern battery, so you could do adapters inside an adapter, but having to recharge 12 AAs whew. Most rechargeable D cells you might find are just a single AA inside an adapter, not at all useful (2100 mah vs 8800 mah alkalines) and difficult to find a chargers that can handle them.

TakingMyTime

I guess we could discuss the merits of running lights until we're blue in the face. I'm not sure if my front and rear lights are going to make a difference, but I hope they do. Regardless (and I've said it before), if for any reason I'm in a serious accident where push comes to shove and I find myself in court, I want to be able to show that I was riding in a safe and prudent manner, was wearing a helmet and had both front and rear lights on. But that's just me.

kingston 

We have different definitions of evidence. There has never been a measured safety benefit for daytime bicycle lights either steady or blinking. That point is irrefutable. While I still find it difficult to believe that some people aren't annoyed by blinking bike lights, it's just my opinion that they are annoying. As you correctly observe, plenty of Americans obviously have no problem annoying other people for little or no safety benefit.

spelger

Really? That bothered you? Aside from actually making a video I thought his stance further bolstered his passion for safety. He just seemed really into it.

Kudos for the OP!

spelger

I have always wondered if there would be more motor cycle accidents now that more and more cars have daytime running lights. weren't cycles mandated with daytime running lights for safety? (i don't know, i drive a car.) Seems that now they would be just begin to blend in again like before the mandate.

-scott

Rje58

You are right, everyone has different definitions of 'evidence'. Anecdotal evidence is not proof. But I run lights day and night on my bicycles, and I have convinced several of my cycling friends to do the same. Every single one of them has come back to me later and told me words to this effect "Wow! Thanks! Most drivers do seem to give me a wider berth when I'm running lights!"

That is anecdotal, and proves nothing. But it is good enough for me, because it is my personal experience.

veganbikes

I recommend getting a good dynamo set up so you can run lights all the time and they are charged by the front wheel moving. You can get plenty of bright stuff out there. I recommend the B+M IQ-X or Supernova E3 pro 2 or Triple 2 (if you are not on German Roads as it is very bright and apparently not road legal there) at the front and for the rear the B+M Toplight Line Plus Brake or Supernova E3 Taillight. I have also heard great things about the Sinewave Cycles Beacon and might end up with one for my new gravel slayer build. I will say if you use a Supernova Taillight you do need to use a Supernova front light as the stand light is located at the front. You can also get charging for phone/electronics as well through The Plug V or the Sinewave Reactor as well as other devices including their Beacon front light.

If you are running lights at any time please for the love of Eddy DO NOT HAVE A FLASHING FRONT LIGHT! Seriously folks get a bright solid light and use that. If you need to flash on the back go for it (red only though) but solid lights are easier to see and less likely to cause issues. For me and many other cyclists I chat with tend to have issues with flashing front lights as it makes them less visible when you have to turn away or close your eyes as they pass. The only other vehicles that flash are emergency vehicles that are traveling at high speeds and will generally be far past everyone rather quickly and those are still quite hard to keep riding when they are passing and still be able to see well.

MikeyMK

Motorcyclists say they've had to up their game.

See, when motorbikes were the only vehicles with lights on in the day, they were more visible. Now that cars also have lights on in the day, motorcycles don't stick out so much. So they've resorted to yellow or purple filters.

If you cycle on the roads and think you don't need lights in the daytime, you're fodder for the Darwin awards.

spelger

Haven't seen purple but i think i have seen yellow. i'll need to pay more attention, especially this weekend.it is motor cycle weekend here in Reno.

MikeyMK

I'm pretty sure purple are illegal, but they seem to be getting away with it. Yellow are legal, it used to be requirement in France.

I should add i'm in the UK, i realise a lot of users here are in America.

robnol

a ridiculous product....wear some high vis clothing and u will be seen . 100 lumens is a whole lot of nothing

Rollfast

NiMH have one huge drawback...they go to mush in cold weather. My bikes are all chained outside. Lost a really cool bullet light years ago in the winter to learn that. On the other hand I had 3 Sunbeam or Panasonic dollar store AAA's last six months once in a Bell 3 LED taillight, including during Snowmageddon in early 2017.

So no, there isn't any real savings there. What I've got is fine. And the NiMHs are for my digital camera.

terrymorse 

There was one 2009 study in Australia that surveyed drivers' ratings of cyclist visibility in daytime, on a scale of 1 (not visible) to 5 (very visible). The ratings were:

Fluorescent vest: 4.06
Reflective vest: 3.54
White clothing: 3.22
Flashing lights on wrists/ankles: 2.92
Reflective strips on arms/legs: 2.87
Black clothing: 2.26
Bicycle lights (steady): 2.17

So steady bicycle lights were perceived by drivers as essentially useless in daytime (even worse than black clothing), with flashing lights better.

Personally, I'm wearing light clothing and using flashing front and rear lights during daylight. If it annoys the occasional person, so be it. My safety trumps their comfort.

EDIT: Another 2013 controlled experiment in Denmark found that daytime running lights produced a 19% decrease rate in accidents, indicating that "permanent bicycle running light significantly improves traffic safety for cyclists."

MikeyMK

Common sense tells you a flashing light is gonna make you more visible.

Speculation tells you what effect that improved visibility will have.

I'll speculate that if you're already gonna dedicate several minutes getting all geared up for a ride on a road, unplugging two USB plugs and clipping them on your bike is of minor additional hardship.

Miele Man

When I buy a battery powered light for long distance night-time riding I buy one with an External Battery Pack and a long cable. Then, if it gets really cold I can simply put the battery under my jacket where the battery stays nice and warm.

Cheers

Miele Man

The BIG problem with any flashing light in daytime or nighttime use is that drivers can't discern how far away you are from them. That's why i use a steady-on taillight as well as a flashing one at night. In the daytime I don't need or see the need for a DRL. Unless it's heavily overcast or raining.

Also, there's a HUGE difference between a fast-flashing light and a strobe or extremely rapid flashing light. the strobe-like lights are extremely annoying to those approaching.

Cheers

Miele Man

The strobe function on those lights is illegal in a lot of areas. Can you imagine the effect on others if there were a lot of bicyclists using those? There'd be a lot of very angry people.

As far as safety goes in your video, GET THE HECK OUT OF THE DOOR ZONE! Riding in that door zone hides you from other users of the road and an opening door striking you will knock you into the traffic lane.

Cheers

mstateglfr 

5000 is an absurd amount. There is simply no justifiable reason to have a light that strong on your helmet moving vertically and laterally as you look around.

Crank it down 5x perhaps.
Or anger people who are subjected to such a bright light directly in their vision.
Your call, obviously.