Cycling UK Forum

+1 for multiple lights.
My usual setup has 3 front lights (one flashing), total 5 LEDs and one halogen, and 5 rear lights, 2 flashing, total 25 LEDs, plus retro-reflective arm and leg bands with 4 flashing LEDs in each.

Batteries are a total of 10 x AA and 11 x AAA (all LSD NiMH) and 4 x CR2032.

I've got all the required reflectors, and some additional retro-reflective stuff on clothes and luggage.

Might change on the next bike though - it will have different places to mount them.

Riding a black bike in black trousers and a black hoodie with beaming lamps on it wouldn't be the best thing to do when you are riding home with the drugs money.

Run them down and do us a favour..

I must be a bit strange as i find I have no problem seeing unlit pedestrians and cyclists at night.......Except of course when blinded by a set of million candlepower headlights on the car traveling in the opposite direction, there really should be a law limiting the brightness of headlights as they are getting to the point where they are a danger to other road users.

Perhaps we should all be slowing down a bit at night just to have that extra bit of reaction time

sirmy wrote: there really should be a law limiting the brightness of headlights as they are getting to the point where they are a danger to other road users.

Can you point us to the published researched evidence that proves the above statement?

I would suggest the main dangers are actually caused by misalignment of the dip beam and inappropriate use of full beam rather than the brightness per se.

well coming home from Wembley after watching the Rugby league 4 nations I can tell you that a Land Rover Discov had lights that were incredibly bright, like mine on full beam. Admittedly they were on dipped but the amount of light being thrown forward of the vehicle was incredible & was crazy bright, add in the height they are set at and these will impinge on other road users. Even slightly out of alignment & they'd potentially be very blinding & dangerous.
I'm all for LED lights on cars as they save fuel/reduce emissions/should never need replacing, however the intensity of some are even worse than the HID types seen on higher end motors.
How legislators cannot see this to be a bad thing I don't know.

De Sisti, can you point to any evidence that suggests it isn't a problem?

No, but I'm sure you can.

I do see a fair number of Ninja Cyclists and they tend to be either big kids on very tiny bikes, or blokes wearing building site boots and riding bikes that look like their grandparents rode them, or some BSO from Tessgoes.

I suspect that not being motorists themselves may play a part in this. i.e. Go outside at night. Able to see people moving at 20m distance under streetlights. "That's good enough! I can see where I'm going" Does not occur to them that a motorist needs to be able to see considerable further ahead, through a grimy, steamed up windscreen whilst being dazzled by other car lights.
I saw a lovely one last week, could not fault the front light but... wearing all-black (even had the 'hoodie' up) and no rear light.

De Sisti wrote:

sirmy wrote: there really should be a law limiting the brightness of headlights as they are getting to the point where they are a danger to other road users.

Can you point us to the published researched evidence that proves the above statement?

No, just my personal prejudice, and the feeling that I keep wanting to shield my eyes as cars approach from the opposite direction, and that statement isn't purporting to be a fact, just an opinion (hence the exaggeration of the brightness of the lights) and, therefore, doesn't need proving

sirmy wrote: there really should be a law limiting the brightness of headlights as they are getting to the point where they are a danger to other road users.

There is a law limiting the brightness of headlights. The law is within European directives covering the requirements for vehicles used on the road. Within the EU directives, they have adopted UNECE standards for a number of parts and systems. Automotive lighting is one of them. UNECE standards provide extensive standards and test specification which must be met. The test standard sets out zones with specific requirements in maximum and minimum lux for each zone. If anyone is interested in the technical detail, an example for LED headlights is here.

I am another who I'd frequently dazzled by oncoming or following headlights, even though I'm in an mpv.

They are silly bright, and operated by fools. Last trip home in the car I lost count of the people who dipped their lights in approach, but then put full beam back on about 3m too soon - just enought absolutely blind me for the time I most need my eyesight.

T wrote:

cycle cat wrote:What can we do?

I believe some fire brigades can provide you with free smoke alarms (with free fitting service). I wonder if some relevant body could, as part of some sort of safety campaign, provide free bike lights, while at the same time making people aware that they should be using them.

Thats already happening where I live,IMO its ridiculous.The offenders should be fined £20 and their bike impounded until they turn up to collect it with a pair of decent lights.
Then see how quick the word gets around,I'll guarentee that every cyclist would have lights PDQ!
Its a weird system that provides law breakers with lights so they can sell them and then collect another pair next time they're stopped

I seem to recall that somewhere like Cambridge gives out £xx fines, reduced to nothing if they show up at a police station proving they've bought some lights. That makes good sense.

mark a. wrote:I seem to recall that somewhere like Cambridge gives out £xx fines, reduced to nothing if they show up at a police station proving they've bought some lights. That makes good sense.

I'd agree to that.

A couple of years ago, in Cambridge they were handing out £30 fines, with free lights and free lessons.