Don't be a d!ck. Point your lights down.

itboffin

BMX rider just now seems to have the light or lack off thing sorted, no lights and ride on the pavement.

Dressed in black natch

secretsam

itboffin wrote:

BMX rider just now seems to have the light or lack off thing sorted, no lights and ride on the pavement.

Dressed in black natch

Natural selection, this way please.

smoggysteve

Tangled Metal wrote:

What's your view of head torches/helmet lights with a gazillion lumens? Had one today riding north on the A6 through Bolton le Sands. You can't dip them, where he.looks he dazzles.

Sorry if you really need bright attach to your bike with dipped angle or the decent lenses you can get. Then any head mounted light is a duller, to be seen light only. You are not in the mountains at night but in a dull morning on the road. You don't need the bright, directional light like that on your head.

Anyone got an idea what light it could have been? As bright as a good car headlight, large round light and stuck on the front of the helmet but I couldn't see how it was attached (band or strap?). Reckon a Chinese cheapo ultra bright one,

Last night I passed 3 mountain bikers crossing over the road on Cannock chase in an unlit area. All 3 had uber bright head torches and were shaking their lights all over blinding both me and the other traffic in both directions. These lights are fine for bombing down a track in the woods but they showed zero respect for road traffic. They no doubt pi$$ off the drivers and its us roadies who get the backlash.

squired

What's going on with the new green lights that the cycle hire bikes in London now seem to be sporting? They sit below the white front light, but seem to be just as, if not brighter.

keef66

squired wrote:

What's going on with the new green lights that the cycle hire bikes in London now seem to be sporting? They sit below the white front light, but seem to be just as, if not brighter.

There was an item on here about them a week or so ago. Didn't read it since I don't cycle in London, but it looked like one of the laser light things that illuminates the patch of road around the bike in bright green, presumably to make the cyclist more obvious and maybe prompt other road users to allow more room?

Here you go

http://www.bikeradar.com/commuting/news ... eet-46018/

squired

Thanks for the link Keef66. Must admit, I think those lights are pointless. The ones I've seen are barely visible on the road under streetlights. Great revenues for the makers though. For cars coming in the opposite direction I'm sure it will be confusing because it does just look like a green light head-on.

asprilla

squired wrote:

Thanks for the link Keef66. Must admit, I think those lights are pointless. The ones I've seen are barely visible on the road under streetlights. Great revenues for the makers though. For cars coming in the opposite direction I'm sure it will be confusing because it does just look like a green light head-on.

Also, as Rower63 pointed out, they are noisy in an EM sense and tend to interfere with Ant+.

secretsam

squired wrote:

What's going on with the new green lights that the cycle hire bikes in London now seem to be sporting? They sit below the white front light, but seem to be just as, if not brighter.

They're to give us all advance warning that the person coming is incapable of riding in a straight line for more than 1 second, usually because they are on their mobile :evil:

velow.bike

Didn't Blaze lights sign a deal with TFL to kit out all the Sanrtander bikes with their kit?

cookeeemonster

SecretSam wrote:

squired wrote:

What's going on with the new green lights that the cycle hire bikes in London now seem to be sporting? They sit below the white front light, but seem to be just as, if not brighter.

They're to give us all advance warning that the person coming is incapable of riding in a straight line for more than 1 second, usually because they are on their mobile :evil:

I was very cynical about this - thought backhanders must have taken place to get such an overrated (expensive) light on to them.

But no - someone at Santander is a keen cyclist and genius!!! An early warning system of di*kheads ahead or beside you about to shoal/jump the light!!

Kudos to that man/woman

rower63

I came across 3 prats in quick succession last night. I was going through the middle of Richmond Park, and as a pair of utterly blinding lights closed on me I shouted DIP YOUR LIGHTS I'M BLINDED! "F*ck off!" they both said. So I shouted something back along the lines of "Inconsiderate +rseholes!"

Shortly afterwards, on the path from the gate to Ham X, another one blinded me to the extent I lost orientation. So I aimed just to the left of the approaching light. From his point of view (and he could see perfectly well of course) I'd fairly sharply changed course and was heading straight towards him. He was afraid I was going to hit him and and as it turns out I drove him off the path. I might do that every time now.

thistle_

It was pretty bad on my way home last night.
One woman (or a bloke with a squeaky voice) was blinding me even from some distance away. I turned my light off as a hint but it didn't work so I whacked it on full power and pointed it in her face. She shouted at me to turn my lights down....

fenix

This used to be a problem when I was younger and would train on the road at night with crappy lights. Drivers didnt even notice you head on so would often be on full beam.

Having a cap on or wearing a peak on the helmet helped. Just lower your head to block out the blinding light. That's what I'd be doing as you'll never get rid of idiots with lights pointing at you.

asprilla

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

It was pretty bad on my way home last night.
One woman (or a bloke with a squeaky voice) was blinding me even from some distance away. I turned my light off as a hint but it didn't work so I whacked it on full power and pointed it in her face. She shouted at me to turn my lights down....

Yeah, been there many times in RP.

itboffin

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

It was pretty bad on my way home last night.
One woman (or a bloke with a squeaky voice) was blinding me even from some distance away. I turned my light off as a hint but it didn't work so I whacked it on full power and pointed it in her face. She shouted at me to turn my lights down....

i dont have bike lights to contend with out here in the sticks but drivers on the other hand seem to think because its dark and the roads are remote its fine to drive towards me with full beams, i guess the single dipped beam is a give away anyway i use the same tactic full beams on which usually results in the car stopping until i've passed.

two +1000 lm and my 650 lm :twisted:

velow.bike

I find extremely bright rear lights can be just as distracting, almost mesmerising as you come up behind

sloppyschleckonds

rower63 wrote:

He was afraid I was going to hit him and and as it turns out I drove him off the path. I might do that every time now.

WAC

UndercoverElephant

velow.bike wrote:

I find extremely bright rear lights can be just as distracting, almost mesmerising as you come up behind

Yep, was coming up behind a guy in Musselburgh tonight whose light was so bright and up-pointy, I could see absolutely nothing else.

Still, good motivation to overtake. Swings and roundabouts, really.

rower63

itboffin wrote:

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

It was pretty bad on my way home last night.
One woman (or a bloke with a squeaky voice) was blinding me even from some distance away. I turned my light off as a hint but it didn't work so I whacked it on full power and pointed it in her face. She shouted at me to turn my lights down....

i dont have bike lights to contend with out here in the sticks but drivers on the other hand seem to think because its dark and the roads are remote its fine to drive towards me with full beams, i guess the single dipped beam is a give away anyway i use the same tactic full beams on which usually results in the car stopping until i've passed.

two +1000 lm and my 650 lm :twisted:

that too is temtping but it resembles too much "well if the teachers and more pupils had guns it wouldn't have happened..."

tangled_metal

Used to do the odd long distance challenge walk, often ending up walking down a country road in the dark. I had a very bright head torch. I got sick and tired of cars coming towards us with full beam on despite seeing us. Common courtesy dictates you should dip your lights for oncoming traffic and other users surely? So I started to put my headtorch on full and looking directly into the driver's side. They dipped their lights quick enough. However later on as mate asked me what would happen if the driver lost control due to my headtorch? I got his meaning and never did it again. I'm just too soft and squishy to a car whether on foot or bike. Not worth the risk.

Other cyclists? I'm perfectly happy to burn their retinas out if they don't have their uber bright lights dipped. I'm big enough to not come out the worst if they hit me.

bompington

So by now we're well into the winter commuting season.
I have two lights - one spot and one flood. The flood has three brightness settings, the spot two, and I never actually run them on the highest settings. In fact most mornings at the moment I just have the flood on lowest and the spot off altogether for most of the trip.
I have the flood angles down and to the left, the spot points straight up the road - good for fast descents when there's no-one coming the other way.

Despite my restraint, there are plenty of drivers who object. I'm not sure to what. Having my spot switched off means that I have a handy full-beam flash. Most drivers who drive along on full beam obliviously (whether deliberately or not) will dip after a quick flash of that. The ones who put their lights up 20m before they pass you are the worst - seriously, what sort of a bellend do you have to be to do this?

But my biggest bugbear is the prevalence of xenon and LED headlights on cars these days. Of course they are supposed to have shaped and self-levelling beams, but this is absolutely no use unless the road is absolutely straight and level. Clue: there aren't many roads like that in Scotland.
What this means is that whenever a car comes round a bend or over a rise, you get a blinding flash of lights that I'm pretty sure are far brighter than full beam lights were 10 or 20 years ago. Not to mention the number of drivers with a load on in the back who would seem to be completely ignorant of the levelling control.

So yes, there are plenty of cyclists with somewhat blinding lights, but cars are much worse.

Broonster

Ah, didn't notice this thread, after having a rant in the 'rant' thread about this earlier...... oops!

roger_merriman

bompington wrote:

So yes, there are plenty of cyclists with somewhat blinding lights, but cars are much worse.

About the only thing is you do get bikes with powerful yet flashing lights which is bad enough in urban areas let alone darker country/suburban areas.

Coming back on the embankment/superhyway there was number of anti-social lit bikes, though nowhere near as blinding as some of the cars/vans etc later on.

Did get a few thank you's from runners in Richmond and Bushy Park, my commute bike is a pottering type of thing so it's easy enough to use my hand to cut off the beam, for the few brave souls I encountered. I have a blinky for being seen and a Magicshine to see, ideally it would have a remote cut off, but in fairness I rarely encounter anyone once it's dark so for the odd times I do a hand is okay.

Nellyspania

bompington wrote:

Despite my restraint, there are plenty of drivers who object. I'm not sure to what. Having my spot switched off means that I have a handy full-beam flash. Most drivers who drive along on full beam obliviously (whether deliberately or not) will dip after a quick flash of that. The ones who put their lights up 20m before they pass you are the worst - seriously, what sort of a bellend do you have to be to do this?

I've got a shaped beam on my light (B&M Ixon Premium) set with the beam cut-off at number plate height. On unlit country roads I still sometimes get flashed, beeped and 'revenge' dazzled; I think that some drivers stare for too long at the light trying to work out what it is and get slightly dazzled at the same time as working out that it's a cyclist.

keef66

Nellyspania wrote:

I've got a shaped beam on my light (B&M Ixon Premium) set with the beam cut-off at number plate height. On unlit country roads I still sometimes get flashed, beeped and 'revenge' dazzled; I think that some drivers stare for too long at the light trying to work out what it is and get slightly dazzled at the same time as working out that it's a cyclist.

Ha! I have the same light and sometimes get the same response. The beam cut-off is pretty sharp, so I know it's not aimed too high. Maybe I need a flasher too to give them a clue I'm a bike?

First.Aspect

bompington wrote:

So yes, there are plenty of cyclists with somewhat blinding lights, but cars are much worse.

This. I point mine down, where possible on the lanes I turn it down. Badly adjusted car headlights are bad. Worse are full beams on punishment mode, which happens no matter how far down you tip your lights, unless they are so dim you can't see where you are going. Fine for cars, but somehow if you are cycling, illuminating the road causes outrage.

Spoke to our local plod about this earlier in the year (he's a road safety guy and was at a campaign thing - don't worry, I didn't call 999 or anything). Law is on your side and his view, as a motorcycle outrider, is that slightly downward pointing lights are (a) legal and (b) perfectly reasonable and no more blinding than a car and (c) don't be bullied.

So, no offence to some on here, but stop whinging and get a life. Particularly about rear lights, for god's sake.

roger_merriman

rower63 wrote:

I came across 3 prats in quick succession last night. I was going through the middle of Richmond Park, and as a pair of utterly blinding lights closed on me I shouted DIP YOUR LIGHTS I'M BLINDED! "F*ck off!" they both said. So I shouted something back along the lines of "Inconsiderate +rseholes!"

Shortly afterwards, on the path from the gate to Ham X, another one blinded me to the extent I lost orientation. So I aimed just to the left of the approaching light. From his point of view (and he could see perfectly well of course) I'd fairly sharply changed course and was heading straight towards him. He was afraid I was going to hit him and and as it turns out I drove him off the path. I might do that every time now.

Oddly most of the folks in Richmond Park on way to the drinks, dipped/lowered their lights, I have a one of the newer Magicshine lights which is a good MTB beam shape, but not friendly hence I was shielding the light as riders approached. And bar one guy with a very bright head light they dipped, and/or shouted thanks etc.

itboffin

On the flip side I had to flash at least three fellow drivers today through the thick tree lined forest road to put their lights on, dense foggy mist and visibility no more than 100ft

Idiots

secretsam

Bromptons. Just 'cos your light for your totally unnecessary dynamo hub is close to the ground, doesn't mean it has to point upwards

CRAIGO5000

But if I point my light down, it's not going to distract the drivers from playing Candy Crush?