smokey52
Posts:493
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| 08/13/2023 01:18 PM |
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I did some riding on Cape Cod earlier this summer. I usually avoid bike paths, but sometimes they are better than riding on shoulder-less roads in heavy traffic. I developed a pet peeve: Some "fast" riders had their headlights on, flashing or steady. I can appreciate keeping the taillight on, but the headlight is just obnoxious. Most of them are so bright they hurt the eyes. I understand keeping visible to cars, but there aren't usually too many cars on the bike path. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/13/2023 07:34 PM |
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Amen brother. WTF are they thinking? (Answer, they are not thinking at all. Jerks)
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/13/2023 07:40 PM |
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Slight tangent: a small percentage of the population can get temporarily blinded by the kind of bright light you described. So, to you dumbf.ukers on two wheels (mainly motorcycles) with your strobes or searing lights visible from the ISS really think you are safer by blinding a driver of a 2 ton slab of steel aiming towards you? The idiots claim: these bright lights don't bother me, therefore they don't bother anyone else.
This rant can continue for days. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 08/13/2023 10:42 PM |
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| The flip side. I've kept boosting my headlight power so I can see the road edge with the increasingly bright auto beams coming my way. The gentle 1/2 mile grade to my house has a couple of grade changes that put those lights straight in my eyes and there is no fog line. I rarely ride with that light on full bright (it's a Night Rider and serious) but I flip to it for that little stretch. I know it blinds drivers. Hey, they (and the auto makers) made their choices. I have to adapt. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/14/2023 07:34 PM |
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| See vs. Be Seen are different issues, but I get that they can overlap. You have a valid reason for bright bright when you need to see. But to be seen in daylight, less is better. |
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smokey52
Posts:493
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| 08/14/2023 09:13 PM |
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Roads and bike paths are different. I am happy when approaching cars dim their brights when they encounter me in the dark on the road. I dim my light as well, sometimes simply with a hand over the light.
For me, a flashing front light is "see me", not "what's ahead". |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/15/2023 08:54 PM |
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| Sorry to be a broken record. "See me" strobes on the bright end of the spectrum mostly annoy oncoming drivers, who will merely curse you and hate cyclists. But bright lights and strobes absolutely definitely can temporarily blind some oncoming drivers even in full daylight. I continue to be amazed by the folks who proclaim that dazzling lights "don't blind me, therefore could not possibly blind the driver of a 3 ton SUV coming towards me." Naive, narcissistic, and dangerous. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 08/16/2023 06:07 AM |
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My red and blue flashing lights get more attention than a set of aircraft landing lights and they're not blindingly bright.
Legal? Not sure.
Do they get noticed? Darn right, Skippy.
https://www.c3sports.com/product/c3s-mini-pursuit100.html |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 08/16/2023 09:28 AM |
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| The part that gets me is riders with these very dim rear lights that they use during daytime which you only notice once you’re effectively on their wheel. “But why?!” |
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smokey52
Posts:493
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| 08/16/2023 10:10 PM |
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Dale,
"Legal lights" reminds me of a disagreement between NY and Vermont. In NY, police cars and ambulances used red flashing lights. Volunteer firemen used flashing blue (at their own expense).
In Vermont, flashing blue was reserved for police.
For a while, when border NY firemen responded to a Vermont fire, they were ticketed for their blue lights. They eventually sorted it out.
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OC,
On a group ride a while back I asked the riders with the brightest and flashiest taillights what brand they were. That guided my selection. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 08/16/2023 10:16 PM |
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Smokey, I think they made a movie about that call Super Troupers.
OC, fully agree: be visible, . . . don't be stupid bright Skippy. |
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