Lights - wide spread/strong beam?

johngti

On the way home on Friday in the dark and pouring rain, cycling up a bit of a slope but nothing major, just enough to slow me down to ~11mph, I spotted a Peugeot reversing out of a drive on the opposite side of the road (fairly wide dual lane road with good visibility). No problem, I thought, might come over the line a little but not too much. I'll slow down a bit. Good thing that I did because the car kept coming. I stopped and was reversed into. I ended up leaning over the front of my bike banging on the rear window. Nice old lady and her two grandchildren got out to see what was going on and she was pretty shocked that she'd driven into me - said she hadn't seen me.

I currently run with two torches on the bars, one flashing and one steady, powerful enough to hurt your eyes if you look directly at them but more of a spot pattern to both. I'm wondering if I'd have had a better chance of being seen if I had a light with a good strong light with a wide spread. The commute is pretty well-lit anyway. Any recommendations?

(In case you were wondering, no damage to the bike as I turned the bars as she made contact, I managed to stay on so no injury but a little shocked! I was the very model of reasonableness and didn't shout or rant in spite of myself! Her grandson suggested she pay for the bike )

wishitwasallflat

Sadly if they are good powerful torches (Cree 501 or similar) I'm afraid the problem appears to lie with her eyesight rather than your lights! If they are powerful enough to hurt your eyes then she must have had her eyes shut - so not sure if more light would help -but - there is little doubt it wouldn't do any harm as long as it won't dazzle oncoming traffic.

PS - I ride with two cree torches and keep both on full.

dave in swansea

A helmet mounted light, then you can ensure it is pointing directly at any drivers or pedestrians. This is particularly useful on roundabouts to ensure your bar lights are not lost in the headlights behind you.

cougie

Helmet light sounds like the best bet - but its basically her fault for not looking properly. You could easily have been a car and sounds like she'd still not see you.

slowbike

The Ultrafire Cree torch I have has a tight spot within a wider beam - once you're out of the tight spot then the brightness is significantly reduced.
I also have a Cateye Nanoshot + this has a much wider beam with no discernible spots in it. It also has a Hyperconstant mode where it is on 1/2 power and flashes full power. If I'm somewhere busy and have lights on that's the function I use.

The torch is used just to light up the road way in front - the Cateye is placed to give light where I'm riding.
No idea if that would've helped the granny spot you though ...

unixnerd

What you want is a head torch. I run an AA Maglite with an LED upgrade on a NiteIze headband. It's not bright enough to dazzle but it's great for looking at things on the bike or fixing things. If you look at a driver on a roundabout or junction they will see you every time.

johngti

Thanks all. I think gran was looking for cars as it's a road where she wouldn't get a massive opportunity to reverse across the road. There's a good chance a motorbike would have been missed too. I guess I'll be looking for a head torch then!