If the motorist did leave the road I suspect they would claim they had been blinded :-(
If motorist had of hit me I suspect I might be dead :-/
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Good reflectives and light clothing would seem appropriate when walking on such paths.
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Did I say I didn't have any of the above in addition to the light?
I never said you did or didn't.
As others have said, when riding, it may not be a good idea to shine a light in the face of an oncoming motorist. I just don't think its a good idea, pavement, road, anywhere, and if my life were at risk I'd probably be more likely to be jumping out of the way rather than flashing a light in their eyes.
"JohnB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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As others have said, when riding, it may not be a good idea to shine a light in the face of an oncoming motorist. I just don't think its a good idea, pavement, road, anywhere, and if my life were at risk I'd probably be more likely to be jumping out of the way rather than flashing a light in their eyes.
I think this also depends on how bright the light is. Flashing a 55W car headlamp around would be a bad idea, flashing my caving lamp on pilot (0.5W) would probably not even get noticed. I suspect Helen's torch is somewhere between the two, and probably not very dazzling.
FWIW I reckon the thing to do is to be moving, ie flashing the light around will make it a lot more obvious that leaving it still. Otherwise people may just think you're a reflective post (yes, I do mean that).
And motorists who won't dip. I used to have vengeful thoughts of fitting a really powerful photographic flashlight to the front of my bike to deal with such tossers.
"JohnB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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As others have said, when riding, it may not be a good idea to shine a light in the face of an oncoming motorist. I just don't think its a good idea, pavement, road, anywhere, and if my life were at risk I'd probably be more likely to be jumping out of the way rather than flashing a light in their eyes.
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FWIW I reckon the thing to do is to be moving, ie flashing the light around will make it a lot more obvious that leaving it still. Otherwise people may just think you're a reflective post (yes, I do mean that).
I agree completely. I find that when walking with a torch it wobbles around a bit anyway - just come back from delivering daughter to saxophone using a couple of miles dark dark country paths.
Phew. IMO dodgy. I certainly wouldn't do that from the pavement. I don't like the idea of shining a bright light at a motorist as he approaches me.
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Damn sight less dodgy than motorist not seeing me in place where there is no street lighting - otherwise pitch-black and due to run-off from nearby fields and gardens, very difficult to tell where footpath ends and road begins...
If the motorist did leave the road I suspect they would claim they had been blinded :-( Good reflectives and light clothing would seem appropriate when walking on such paths.
John B
Given the amount of badly adjusted headlights on the road these days, any motorist claiming to have been dazzled by a hand-held light such as helen's is just taking the [censored], IMO.
I've done exactly the same as her, in the same situation, and it's clear that drivers who are approaching too fast and are making no attempt to slow to pass safely *do* give every indication of only just having seen something is there when you give them a brief flash, regardless of how visible your light should be prior to that.
I'll continue to do that too. I'm talking a brief flash, not a 'point it at their eyes till you see the reflection in them' stuff. And as I said, compared to the problem of badly adjusted headlights, it pales into insignificance.
>Phew. IMO dodgy. >I certainly wouldn't do that from the pavement. >I don't like the idea of shining a bright light at a motorist as he >approaches me.
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Damn sight less dodgy than motorist not seeing me in place where there is no street lighting - otherwise pitch-black and due to run-off from nearby fields and gardens, very difficult to tell where footpath ends and road begins...
If the motorist did leave the road I suspect they would claim they had been blinded :-( Good reflectives and light clothing would seem appropriate when walking on such paths.
John B
Given the amount of badly adjusted headlights on the road these days, any motorist claiming to have been dazzled by a hand-held light such as helen's is just taking the [censored], IMO.
Of course the light intensity matters. Wasn't there a case of a cyclist on an adjacent cycle path whose light (it was claimed) dazzled an oncoming motorist who then mounted the path and killed the cyclist?
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I've done exactly the same as her, in the same situation, and it's clear that drivers who are approaching too fast
It intrigues some people can so easily estimate the speed of a vehicle travelling towards them, in the pitch dark, with headlights facing them.
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I'll continue to do that too. I'm talking a brief flash, not a 'point it at their eyes till you see the reflection in them' stuff.
OK. We'll disagree.
In these days of blame culture I do feel that you would be subjected to a claim of contributing towards any accident, however unjustified that may be.
On the shelf in the shed lying next to some 12V 2Ah NiCad packs is a surprisingly small 12V 150W commercial aircraft landing light. This thing is bright, very bright.
20A should give about 6 mins run time.
In your dreams. If you discharge NiCd at 10C, you'll find it won't make its full capacity. My guess is that you'll get a dimmer light than expected for maybe 3-4 minutes, and the batteries won't put up with many cycles like that.
Depends on teh Nicad. My model electric hovercraft takes 40A from 1.4Ah nicads with minimal drop (no detectable loss of power at the props). It drops a bit at 50A, but only just detectably. Those are cells intended for high current discharge, and the OP doesn't specify what his are.
However, it won't be legal on road - I thgink you're limitted to 3.6W, and it must be from a bulb with teh right BS markings.
Yeah, I shine two (dipped) car headlights at oncoming drivers all the time and no one has crashed yet.
<pedant> If they're correctly adjusted then you should be shining them towards the left hand side of the road, rather than at oncoming drivers. </pedant>
-- Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address) <URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/> "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
Of course the light intensity matters. Wasn't there a case of a cyclist on an adjacent cycle path whose light (it was claimed) dazzled an oncoming motorist who then mounted the path and killed the cyclist?
ISTR they were on an adjacent pavement, not designated a cyclepath. But anyway, a Google groups search for messages posted here in November 2002 with the heading "Copied from rec.bicycles.soc" will bring up a discussion about it, as will a search for messages posted to rec.bicycles.soc with the heading "DAZZLING LIGHT CLUES TO CYCLE DEATHS".
-- Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address) <URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/> "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
Yeah, I shine two (dipped) car headlights at oncoming drivers all the time and no one has crashed yet.
<pedant> If they're correctly adjusted then you should be shining them towards the left hand side of the road, rather than at oncoming drivers. </pedant>
<amazed> a road in the UK without bends or bumps? </amazed>
