A pet peeve - autos with brights on

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

As the days have gotten shorter and shorter, and my p.m. commutes are now
wholly in the dark, a old pet peeve has come back into play - viz. oncoming
autos shining their bright lights. This is no big problem when there is a
reasonable amount of ambient light around - street lights, businesses, and
the like. That greatly reduces the effect of the glare. But on dark
streets, it's a real problem, at least for me, because I just can't see
because of the glare. I tend to become disoriented about where I am on the
street and can't even easily find the edge of the road. My usual response
is to try to find the edge of the road and then dismount and wait, and [censored]
at the driver when he goes by.

I aim my headlight at the driver, it's usually enough to get them to
dim their high beams, just like an oncoming motorist flashing high
beams as a reminder.

When I still used a NiteRider dual-beam system with MR-11 bulbs, that
was one of the few advantages of the inefficient round beam pattern,
lots of light from the high beam went up enough to get in oncoming
drivers' eyes, so it worked well for getting them to dim their high
beams. My generator puts as much useful light on the road with only
3W, but isn't nearly as obnoxious to oncoming drivers.

--
[email hidden] is Joshua Putnam
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/>
Updated Bicycle Touring Books List:
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/tourbooks.html>

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
<deleted>oncoming autos shining their bright lights. <deleted> on dark

Quoted message said:

streets, it's a real problem, at least for me, because I just can't see
because of the glare. I tend to become disoriented about where I am on the
street and can't even easily find the edge of the road. My usual response
is to try to find the edge of the road and then dismount and wait, and [censored]
at the driver when he goes by.

Is ths just me, or do others have the same problem?

Definitely unable to continue. I had very dim headlights and got
brighter ones.
Cateye HLEL-300 see http://www.eddys.com for a photo comparison.

wear your helmet low down on your forehead
[this is where it should be anyway]
use the edge to block headlights
a visor edge is even better

wle.

Joshua Putnam said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As the days have gotten shorter and shorter, and my p.m. commutes are
now wholly in the dark, a old pet peeve has come back into play - viz.
oncoming autos shining their bright lights. This is no big problem
when there is a reasonable amount of ambient light around - street
lights, businesses, and the like. That greatly reduces the effect of
the glare. But on dark streets, it's a real problem, at least for
me, because I just can't see because of the glare. I tend to become
disoriented about where I am on the street and can't even easily find
the edge of the road. My usual response is to try to find the edge of
the road and then dismount and wait, and [censored] at the driver when he
goes by.

I aim my headlight at the driver, it's usually enough to get them to dim
their high beams, just like an oncoming motorist flashing high beams as
a reminder.

When I still used a NiteRider dual-beam system with MR-11 bulbs, that
was one of the few advantages of the inefficient round beam pattern,
lots of light from the high beam went up enough to get in oncoming
drivers' eyes, so it worked well for getting them to dim their high
beams. My generator puts as much useful light on the road with only 3W,
but isn't nearly as obnoxious to oncoming drivers.

This is what a helmet light is handy for -- getting drivers' attention.
But if you just put a hand up to your eyes to signal you're being blinded,
most drivers will get the idea.

Do you know who's inclined to be driving around with their high beams on?
Drunks! This is one of the first clues the police look for. So beware!

Matt O.

Ron Wallenfang said:

As the days have gotten shorter and shorter, and my p.m. commutes are now
wholly in the dark, a old pet peeve has come back into play - viz. oncoming
autos shining their bright lights. This is no big problem when there is a
reasonable amount of ambient light around - street lights, businesses, and
the like. That greatly reduces the effect of the glare. But on dark
streets, it's a real problem, at least for me, because I just can't see
because of the glare. I tend to become disoriented about where I am on the
street and can't even easily find the edge of the road. My usual response
is to try to find the edge of the road and then dismount and wait, and [censored]
at the driver when he goes by.

Is ths just me, or do others have the same problem?

Try not to look directly at the lights. The natural inclination is to do
so, like a moth. Also, you can move your hand in front of your own light
to easily create a blinking effect to get their attention to turn off
their high beams.

Wayne

email hidden said:

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
<deleted>oncoming autos shining their bright lights. <deleted> on dark

Quoted message said:

streets, it's a real problem, at least for me, because I just can't see
because of the glare. I tend to become disoriented about where I am on the
street and can't even easily find the edge of the road. My usual response
is to try to find the edge of the road and then dismount and wait, and [censored]
at the driver when he goes by.

Is ths just me, or do others have the same problem?

Definitely unable to continue. I had very dim headlights and got
brighter ones.
Cateye HLEL-300 see http://www.eddys.com for a photo comparison.

Look at the EL-500. *Much* brighter (at least 2.5 times) thean the
EL-300.

Indiana Mike

Also I find that as vehicles average height is increasing that lots of
times normal headlight beams cause this problem as well. Even when
driving I have sometimes "flashed" oncoming vehicles to signal them to
turn down their brights only to have them flash back at me to
demonstrate that they were running their regular beams.

Ron Wallenfang said:

As the days have gotten shorter and shorter, and my p.m. commutes are now
wholly in the dark, a old pet peeve has come back into play - viz. oncoming
autos shining their bright lights.

Don't get mad... get even:

http://teamsheep.nu/research.html?page=10

Chalo Colina

"Chalo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ron Wallenfang said:

As the days have gotten shorter and shorter, and my p.m. commutes are now
wholly in the dark, a old pet peeve has come back into play - viz.
oncoming
autos shining their bright lights.

Don't get mad... get even:

http://teamsheep.nu/research.html?page=10

Chalo Colina

Interesting! I'm assuming that's mostly a flight of fancy, but nice reading
anyway. It would surely make a point!