Using lights during the day for more visibility

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

If I remember to mount it up and I'm headed through a congested area,
I run a small 3 LED on "strobe" during the day. I feel it helps a lot,
and it's not as obnoxious as you'd think. At night, I always run it
solid.

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

A hi-viz orange or yellow shirt is far superior.

Wayne

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

I just bought the new Niterider MiNewt.x2 dual headlights. I can
never wait to try something new, so I've been using them on flash mode
during the part of my commute that's on a busy street, even though
it's already/still light out during my commute. I have noticed a
marked decrease in the number of drivers who pull out in front of me
when I use these lights - even though I always dress in bright yellow
or orange already.

Jenn

"thejen12" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

I just bought the new Niterider MiNewt.x2 dual headlights. I can
never wait to try something new, so I've been using them on flash mode
during the part of my commute that's on a busy street, even though
it's already/still light out during my commute. I have noticed a
marked decrease in the number of drivers who pull out in front of me
when I use these lights - even though I always dress in bright yellow
or orange already.

Jenn

that's great thanks Jenn

thejen12 said:

On Sep 4, 8:58 am, "smn" <[email hidden]> wrote:

I have noticed a
marked decrease in the number of drivers who pull out in front of me
when I use these lights ...

I'm curious about the "marked decrease," because it seems there must
have been _many_ drivers pulling out in front of you without the
lights.

I'm curious because that's a very, very rare problem for me - like,
perhaps once per year. How often do drivers pull out in front of
you? Under what conditions?

- Frank Krygowski

In article <LgfDi.126430$rX4.34287@pd7urf2no>,

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

If you have a motorcycle light mounted on your bicycle, go for it.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, teranews.com, x-privat.org

Quoted message said:

thejen12 said:

On Sep 4, 8:58 am, "smn" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

I have noticed a
marked decrease in the number of drivers who pull out in front of me
when I use these lights ...

I'm curious about the "marked decrease," because it seems there must
have been _many_ drivers pulling out in front of you without the
lights.

I'm curious because that's a very, very rare problem for me - like,
perhaps once per year. How often do drivers pull out in front of
you? Under what conditions?

- Frank Krygowski

I ride about 4 miles along a road that has private homes, apartment
complexes, strip malls, shopping centers, and you name it. This is in
a congested area of Silicon Valley. Driver are always pulling into
and out of these establishments. There are also two schools along the
route and people pull in and out of them to drop off and pick up
kids. I'm quite used to it and adjust my riding accordingly to avoid
collisions, but I really notice now with the flashing lights that they
wait before pulling out.

In the mornings, I can see on their faces that they notice me now, and
in the evening, I think the bright lights confuse them because they
are generally looking into the sun when looking my way (I see them
shading their eyes with their hand when they look my way). I think
they see the flashing lights in the evening, but can't tell what they
are, so they wait before pulling out in front of me.

I'd say probably about 6 drivers per day used to pull out in front of
me, and now it seems like it's more like two or three. Either way,
very rarely do they actually surprise me, I almost always have my
evasive maneuver already planned (usually some type of braking action,
rarely a change in course). I'm aware of what to look for and where
the most troublesome areas are. I also make liberal use of my bell!
But I've been commuting on this route for over 12 years, so I'm used
to it.

Jenn

thejen12 said:

Quoted message said:

I'm curious about the "marked decrease," because it seems there must
have been _many_ drivers pulling out in front of you without the
lights.

Quoted message said:

I'm curious because that's a very, very rare problem for me - like,
perhaps once per year. How often do drivers pull out in front of
you? Under what conditions?

Quoted message said:

- Frank Krygowski

I ride about 4 miles along a road that has private homes, apartment
complexes, strip malls, shopping centers, and you name it. This is in
a congested area of Silicon Valley. Driver are always pulling into
and out of these establishments. There are also two schools along the
route and people pull in and out of them to drop off and pick up
kids. I'm quite used to it and adjust my riding accordingly to avoid
collisions, but I really notice now with the flashing lights that they
wait before pulling out.

In the mornings, I can see on their faces that they notice me now, and
in the evening, I think the bright lights confuse them because they
are generally looking into the sun when looking my way (I see them
shading their eyes with their hand when they look my way). I think
they see the flashing lights in the evening, but can't tell what they
are, so they wait before pulling out in front of me.

I'd say probably about 6 drivers per day used to pull out in front of
me, and now it seems like it's more like two or three. Either way,
very rarely do they actually surprise me, I almost always have my
evasive maneuver already planned (usually some type of braking action,
rarely a change in course). I'm aware of what to look for and where
the most troublesome areas are. I also make liberal use of my bell!
But I've been commuting on this route for over 12 years, so I'm used
to it.

That is an amazing, amazing number of drivers pulling out in front of
you.

It occurs to me, the business about sun in the drivers' eyes is a
problem that's rarely mentioned. The cyclist can tell that's a
problem when he sees his own shadow stretching way ahead, directly
toward the driver. That means the sun is low and directly behind you,
and it is a signal to be especially watchful for pullouts.

However, that's a problem for me only a few times a year, when the
sunset is directly aligned with the busy road near my home.

- Frank Krygowski

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:28:21 -0400, Wayne Pein <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

smn said:

Anyone do this and notice any increase in driver awareness?
Motorcyclists do it and I thought it might be a good idea.

Somebody sold my daughter (bless her heart) on this idea, so she runs
her rear blinky whenever she rides. While riding with (behind) her in
sunshine, I can sorta kinda see there's something twinkling. Not
conspicuous enough to pick her up from more than 10-15 feet away,
though.

Quoted message said:

A hi-viz orange or yellow shirt is far superior.

Wayne

But hardly fool-proof. (Somebody has to say, "Fools are so ingenious"
here, right?) Five years later, I still can't figure out how that
lady couldn't see an XXL yellow jersey at noon, riding into the sun.
The jersey that made my secretary say I looked like Big Bird...

Pat
Email address works as is.

Patrick Lamb said:

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:28:21 -0400, Wayne Pein <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A hi-viz orange or yellow shirt is far superior.

Wayne

But hardly fool-proof. (Somebody has to say, "Fools are so ingenious"
here, right?) Five years later, I still can't figure out how that
lady couldn't see an XXL yellow jersey at noon, riding into the sun.
The jersey that made my secretary say I looked like Big Bird...

This is true. There's not many things that are fool proof. I've had
motorists pull out in front of me when I'm wearing a neon jersey and
riding in the middle or even left side of the lane, but it's always been
when I've been descending at 30-35 mph. Some motorists are bad at
judging bicyclist high speed, whether you're neon, wearing a strobe on
the top of your head, or have July 4th sparklers twinkling off your
wheels. Main collisions among motorcyclists, who have headlights during
the day, are motorist Drive Out or Left Cross maneuvers.

Wayne

Quoted message said:

In the mornings, I can see on their faces that they notice me now, and
in the evening, I think the bright lights confuse them because they
are generally looking into the sun when looking my way

super dangerous time as is friday at 5pm and sat/sun am

im not sure i would ride with my back to the sun

what i have found that seems to make a difference is the
3 inch reflecter tape on my pants and on my jackets--i think drivers think
im a fireman or a cop

they have saved me a number of times

hth
peter

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:15:58 GMT, "ilaboo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In the mornings, I can see on their faces that they notice me now, and
in the evening, I think the bright lights confuse them because they
are generally looking into the sun when looking my way

super dangerous time as is friday at 5pm and sat/sun am

im not sure i would ride with my back to the sun

what i have found that seems to make a difference is the
3 inch reflecter tape on my pants and on my jackets--i think drivers think
im a fireman or a cop

they have saved me a number of times

hth
peter

Not sure I follow why Sat/Sun am? I try to avoid churches at around
let out time (noonish).

On the reflector tape, I agree. I've also toyed with the idea of
getting a police replica jacket that says (instead):

P O L I T E

in big yellow letters. (that's an old one, hehe).

I've also been mistaken for a cop on some trails - that's a good
thing, except at times they expect you to stop so they can complain
about...uh, cyclists. :-)