Cycling UK Forum

Nearholmer wrote: ↑18 Mar 2024, 6:11pm There is a non-confrontational, non-making-a-big-self-righteous-fuss-about-it, way to deal with this: “Excuse me mate. Did you know you’ve accidentally left your front light on?”.

I’ll confess that I’ve sometimes come off a road, onto a path, and forgotten to turn the light off, so you never know, it might be me.

If you have a dazzling flashing front light, please don't use it on the road either.
"Dazzling" isn't good when the people you dazzle include drivers of oncoming motors as well as oncoming cyclists.

Good places for dazzling lights are when there's nobody coming the other way and you need to see the ground better than normal bike lights will allow, in which case you want them steady, not flashing.

Back to the original question, it shouldn't be unreasonable but when I've tried I've been treated as if my suggestion will surely lead to the miscreant's certain death and it has been angrily dismissed.
I wonder how they'd feel if they were driving at night and oncoming traffic strobed main beam on and off all the time?

Pete.

Nicholas wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 7:01am Good grief ... some folks love to catastrophize! What started out as a few seconds minor annoyance for the OP has been blown out of all proportion ... again.

..well - it might be more than a few seconds annoyance. As white/blue leds produce a strength of light associated with really bright sunlight on a clear day... what we could have is a situation where our eyes are actually damaged by these over bright leds, over time - to the point where the incidence of those suffering cataracts increase and the age that the are suffered decreases...

..there is simply no point in using such lights in daytime in areas where there is no motor traffic. All it suggests is that the user is gullible and has read too many bike light adverts

simonhill wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 12:33am You could look away, ride off path, fall in canal and when he hopefully helps you out you explain that you fell in because his lights dazzled you.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? In future, that's what I'll do every time the situation arises.

Nicholas wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 7:01am Good grief ... some folks love to catastrophize! What started out as a few seconds minor annoyance for the OP has been blown out of all proportion ... again.

I think you've left your front light on..... and there's no evidence to actually suggest day time lights actually work....

If you have a dazzling flashing front light, please don't use it on the road either.

Like the vast majority of other cyclists I see out on rural roads, I use a pretty ordinary “flasher” front and rear during the daytime. I also choose a top/jacket that is a good bright colour (I favour bright orange). And, I wear a helmet, having chosen a white one, because I’ve noticed that they seem to show up quite well too.

Now, doubtless at least some, possibly all, of those measures that I take to be seen will bring the wrath, opprobrium, or whatever, of some part of this forum down on me for some supposed sin against the interests of cyclists. That won’t alter my choices.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 8:45am

If you have a dazzling flashing front light, please don't use it on the road either.

Like the vast majority of other cyclists I see out on rural roads, I use a pretty ordinary “flasher” front and rear during the daytime. I also choose a top/jacket that is a good bright colour (I favour bright orange). And, I wear a helmet, having chosen a white one, because I’ve noticed that they seem to show up quite well too.

Now, doubtless at least some, possibly all, of those measures that I take to be seen will bring the wrath, opprobrium, or whatever, of some part of this forum down on me for some supposed sin against the interests of cyclists. That won’t alter my choices.

+1 - My front "flasher" is tilted downwards but is bright enough to be seen.
I often encounter other cyclists similarly equipped - I can't recall being dazzled.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 8:45am

If you have a dazzling flashing front light, please don't use it on the road either.

Like the vast majority of other cyclists I see out on rural roads, I use a pretty ordinary “flasher” front and rear during the daytime. I also choose a top/jacket that is a good bright colour (I favour bright orange). And, I wear a helmet, having chosen a white one, because I’ve noticed that they seem to show up quite well too.

I think that's fair enough - the thing about personal choice safety and responsibility is that we should at least consider why we do it based on our own experiences... rather than follow whatever stooopid advert is in the bike comic we're reading and think "Oooooooh, a 1000,000000 lumen flashing front light - that will keep me safe..."

..I've got no idea about how your rural roads work... its more than propable that they're quite straight in some sections, have hidden dark patches under trees and woodland which grow against the lanes..... in which case everything sounds reasonable, on the provision that no one gets blinded...

...I will say during those times when I and driving, I am alot more patient behind bike riders who aren't trying to damage my eyesight with a bloody stoooopid bright red flashing light...

nirakaro wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 8:31am

simonhill wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 12:33am You could look away, ride off path, fall in canal and when he hopefully helps you out you explain that you fell in because his lights dazzled you.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? In future, that's what I'll do every time the situation arises.

It's a pity the smart phone approach may not work. I find it very useful to walk in a straight line and then the dumb, smart phone users who don't look where they're going, literally bounce off. May be too dangerous on a bicycle, c/w bright lights ?

Or at the end of a 65+ mile ride yesterday, on a small alley way, 100' from where I live. Found I didn't have to speak to the individual allowing two dogs to deposit remains across the alleyway. Stopped, got off the bike, stood and stared directly at the dog owner. No need to speak. It worked

cycle tramp wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 9:05am
...I will say during those times when I and driving, I am alot more patient behind bike riders who aren't trying to damage my eyesight with a bloody stoooopid bright red flashing light...

Perhaps you are driving too close?

I find this “dazzle” business slightly mystifying, which may be down to each of us using the word to mean something slightly different, or each of us seeing slightly differently.

To me, “dazzle” implies temporary blindness, while looking at a light, and in the “after image” period. It’s certainly something I’ve experienced from a full-on bright headlamp in the dark, car or bike, a genuine inability to see for a few moments, but not something I’ve experienced from either head or tail flashers in daylight.

Which isn’t to say that flashers can never be annoyingly intrusive, possibly distracting even, and I certainly wouldn’t want to stare directly at a front flasher at close range, because that I’m pretty sure would cause a temporary inability to see, but I’ve never in practice had an eyeful from one that actually caused a temporary inability to see. Have others?

TBH, if I ever have a serious annoyance from headlights, it’s after dark, and caused by wrinkling of the retina in my right eye due to it having torn slightly and then been laser-repaired. That causes some scatter from bright point sources, which while not blinding does become tiring after a while, and certainly limits my already small appetite for driving after dark.

ANTONISH wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 10:01am

cycle tramp wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 9:05am
...I will say during those times when I and driving, I am alot more patient behind bike riders who aren't trying to damage my eyesight with a bloody stoooopid bright red flashing light...

Perhaps you are driving too close?

Perhaps led manufacturers should be sued for selling rear lights which are stronger than rear fog lights...?

Personally, I see no difference in using lights which shine much brighter than every other road or path user to achieve the ideal of 'road safety' to those who attempt to achieve their own road safety by using a larger vehicle than anyone else....

Nearholmer wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 8:45am Now, doubtless at least some, possibly all, of those measures that I take to be seen will bring the wrath, opprobrium, or whatever, of some part of this forum down on me for some supposed sin against the interests of cyclists. That won’t alter my choices.

Well said.

Bonefishblues wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 7:57am I think a small tut could be used to good effect, or perhaps a shrug if you want to really drive home your discontent. That'll do the trick.

For best effect combine it with a muttered "Well, really!" They'll be devastated.

mattsccm wrote: ↑18 Mar 2024, 5:50pm I don't appreciate being blinded. What really irritates me is the use of those lights in daylight or nearly so. Equally flashing rears off road if on at all.

I shall continue to use one on the road, all-year round. Correct use is what’s required, attention to angle and consideration towards others such as horse riders - when I do my best to remember to switch a flashing light off.
That said, nobody is perfect and some of my rides feature frequent swaps between road and off-road.

AndyK wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 11:29am

Bonefishblues wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 7:57am I think a small tut could be used to good effect, or perhaps a shrug if you want to really drive home your discontent. That'll do the trick.

For best effect combine it with a muttered "Well, really!" They'll be devastated.

Or go nuclear:

https://youtu.be/gT9xuXQjxMM?si=mSaW_HaEuUrxabPR