Bicycle Safety at Night

[li10up]

A friend of mine was just elected President of our bicycle club. Last night he asked me to speak at our next meeting on Bicycle Safety at Night. I've found the Texas laws that pertain to required safety equipment. My problem is that I don't have enough material to talk for more than two or three minutes. Do any of you have any ideas of how I can lengthen my talk? I'm not much of a public speaker as it is and really don't want to do this but since he is a friend I feel obligated to help him out at his first meeting.
PLEASE HELP.

[mimitabby]

you can tell some stories of riding at night?

Riding in the dark even with the best lights there will be times that there are things you can't see. Like where the curb cuts are; that's a shadow. So it
is best to go much slower than you normally go.

[tulip]

Will you have powerpoint or some other graphics?

You could elaborate on equipment, like show different kinds of tail lights, headlights, reflective clothing, etc. You could show what a driver sees when a cyclist does not have night equipment and when one does. I'm sure there are some websites that have such graphics. Some states have Bicycle departments in their Depts. of Transportation, and they have alot of info to use.

Also just plain rules of the road that seem obvious to us, but alot of people don't know. Like riding with traffic, for one.

If you use pictures, you don't have to talk so much. When I do presentations, I put very few words, if any, on the slides. Just images, lots of them, and then I can talk from them.

http://bicyclesafe.com/
http://www.biketexas.org/
http://www.helmets.org/lights.htm

ought to get you started.

[jusdooit]

Don't know exactly where you are, but maybe you could share the floor with an LBS about different types of lighting and possibly a police officer. Also have you tried a thread search here for similar topics. And maybe a discussion on how to oblige by the laws of Texas. Some things are not always as clear cut as they seem. Would you friend let you integrate safe riding in inclimate weather as well?

[7rider]

A friend of mine was just elected President of our bicycle club. Last night he asked me to speak at our next meeting on Bicycle Safety at Night. I've found the Texas laws that pertain to required safety equipment. My problem is that I don't have enough material to talk for more than two or three minutes. Do any of you have any ideas of how I can lengthen my talk? I'm not much of a public speaker as it is and really don't want to do this but since he is a friend I feel obligated to help him out at his first meeting.
PLEASE HELP.

Show and tell.
Hit up friends to borrow their lights for the evening.
Bring the lights and show and discuss the differences b/t them.

[divingbiker]

Show and tell.
Hit up friends to borrow their lights for the evening.
Bring the lights and show and discuss the differences b/t them.

And maybe do the same with reflective clothing. Turn the lights off and shine a flashlight on jackets and pants and see the differences. I see a lot of people who probably believe their jackets make them visible, but they're not.

[mimitabby]

I have some photos that might help you with that (of guys all lit up in their gear for a night ride)

[OakLeaf]

Is it dark when the meeting is held? A "field trip" to the sidewalk or parking lot would let you illustrate your points under real-world conditions (visibility-reducing overhead lights) and relevant distances (at 40 mph, a car is traveling about 60 ft/sec). Plus you'd burn up some extra time getting to and from

[Bluetree]

Show and tell.
Hit up friends to borrow their lights for the evening.
Bring the lights and show and discuss the differences b/t them.

+1

My buddies and I do a lot of night riding in the hills. We're always comparing lights and borrowing/lending different kinds to find out what kind of brightness would work best for us. There's always a trade-off for brightness = weight = battery life = cost and it's hard to judge what someone would need by looking at a catalog. Having different kinds of light samples would be very helpful.

I like to use a 200L Dinotte for street riding (only 200g!) and a Niterider TriNewt for some hillwork in the dark. I've also chased someone down a twisty descent at night - he had a Moab and that thing could light up the side of a mountain.

[Eden]

I'd say +1 for the practical demonstration on the peoples real world clothing/equipment. I see lots of people who probably think that they are visible - they at least have a front and rear light, whose stuff is so weak that it is barely visible. I personally think that you should have a blinking white light on the front, whether or not you have a solid one for your own vision. Solid ones look like very little, but the blinking ones attract the eye and really say bicycle. Also stress that from the side bikes at night can be nearly invisible to cars no matter what you are wearing! So be extra careful at driveways and intersections.

You may also want to talk a bit about light ettiquette. Be nice and point your very bright light down onto the ground, especially if you will be riding on a path. It's like driving a car and leaving your high beams on all of the time otherwise. It blinds other riders. If you can't point it down, be a good sport and cover it when there is someone coming towards you or make a shade that stops it from shining in other people's eyes. If you wear a helmet light look away from other riders as you pass. (there's just been a big discussion about this on our local board)

[li10up]

Thanks for the suggestions. I had already decided that lighting is such a big part of safety at night that I was going to do "show and tell" on that. But I hadn't thought about the clothes. That's a great idea. We have a room to ourselves that we can turn the lights out. I'll use a flashlight to demonstrate.

Thanks everyone.

[PscyclePath]

A friend of mine was just elected President of our bicycle club. Last night he asked me to speak at our next meeting on Bicycle Safety at Night. I've found the Texas laws that pertain to required safety equipment. My problem is that I don't have enough material to talk for more than two or three minutes. Do any of you have any ideas of how I can lengthen my talk? I'm not much of a public speaker as it is and really don't want to do this but since he is a friend I feel obligated to help him out at his first meeting.
PLEASE HELP.

Good points in all the above... I do a great deal of night riding these days, and in addition, since the League course on bicycle commuting includes an actual night-time training ride, and we at least talk about night riding in the Road I and Road II courses, the LCI training seminar spends at least one night during the course out on the road on our bikes, in the dark. In addition to the physical practice of riding city streets at night, we went several miles out into the country outside town where it was really dark, then had a couple of exercises where one of the assistant instructors had pre-positioned a car, and we took turns riding up and down the road, passing thru the car's headlight beams (both high and low) to see how the various night-time visibility gear actually worked and looked. We also had a wide variety of headlights among the group, and we tested each one not only for how visible it made the cyclist, but how well you could actually see the road in front of you with it. We had all 20 or so of us lined up in a row, going down the line demonstrating each different light system, when here came this mountain biker down the side of the road with a set of dual HID lights, and threw us all into Headlight Envy...

If this is just your bike club meting at a local restaurant or other facility, an actual night ride or demonstration might not be feasible. But if you've got a computer and maybe even a projector handy, there are some good video clips available on night riding and conspicuity at the NHTSA's bicycle safety program web page at http://tinyurl.com/53kfa , as well as in the sample video clips at http://www.seidlerproductions.com. At any rate, here is a clipping from my class notes, which came from a short newsletter article I did a few months back; and hopefully will give you a little something to flesh out your talk.

When I teach night riding, I focus on a couple of key principles.

1) You should be able to see where you're going as well as be seen by motorists and other traffic;

2) Ride defensively, so as not to place yourself at increased risk of a collision or fall.

People learn in one or a mixture of three ways; aurally (by listening to a lecture or talk); visually (by seeing a demonstration), or tactically, (by actually performing or practicing a skill) We cover all of these by having a short lecture on the principles and rules of night riding, by having a "show-and-tell" demo of lighting and reflective gear, and then we go out in the dark and ride... both where there are streetlights as well as where it's just pure-dee dark to let them get some actual experience in what low-light riding is all about.

I do an optional night ride during the Commuting course, where we go through all of the stuff below; and when I get around to offering a Road II class, I plan to include the night-riding block out of Commuting to that course schedule. Both these courses are intended for a rider who's already familiar with basic traffic safety and bike handling (Road I), but you could do a nice little seminar just on what I call...


Doing it in the Dark...

Tom Ezell
LCI #1853

If you've kept up your after-work or commuting riding schedule, you will have noticed something over the past couple of weeks... with the reversion to Standard Time, it's getting dark earlier and earlier, as soon as 5:30 or a quarter of 6 in the evening. Many riders take this as a signal that the cycling season is over save for the weekend group rides, but others may wish to keep riding in order to maintain their form over the winter. Or maybe you depend on your bike to get to work, or wherever you may need to go, and so riding in the dark is a necessity more than anything else.

I ride a good bit at night this time of year, since my start time and usual route mean I'm coming back at least half way in the dark. I started doing this regularly last year, when my evening training rides left me way out at the turn-around point when it got dark, and after some research and investment in headlights, several of us deliberately scheduled night rides through the winter months, and have kept up the habit.

Here's a few tips on night riding, picked up over the past couple of years' experience:

1) Lights and reflective gear are key. Lights have two purposes on the bike... first, to let motorists and other riders see you coming, and second to let you see where you're going. In both cases, you need active lighting systems, e.g., something with light bulbs that emit lots of light. Don't rely on reflectors alone. Reflectors are passive; they only reflect light that's aimed at them, and by the time your reflectors show up in a motorist's headlights, you probably have a big ol' "deer-in-the-headlights" look yourself.



Here's an illustration (from the 2006 Oregon Bicyclist's Manual) which shows the problem with relying only on reflectors for visibility... When you're being approached by a motorist at a right angle, such as with crossing traffic at an intersection, your bike will only be visible when you're directly in the headlight beams. However with an active light, such as a battery-powered head light and tail light, as well as with some of the supplemental lights mentioned below, lights -- especially moving lights -- will catch a motorist's eye, and hopefully their attention. This also makes a good argument for leaving alone and keeping the white side reflectors that come attached to the spokes of a new bike. In fact, that's what they're there for ;-)

2) Get a good set of headlights that throw enough light for you to clearly see the road or trail in front of you. Typically, the rechargeable battery kind are best. You'll spend a good bit of money, as the more reasonable sets will come in around $120 or so, but lights are one of those things where you usually get a good bit of illumination for the extra money spent. Also, you need a good bright blinky light for the rear of the bike. To be street-legal in most states, your bike must have a white LIGHT on the front that's visible for at least 500 feet, and a red LIGHT on the back that's visible for at least 500 feet. Texas law will allow you to substitute a red reflector on the back for a red light, but it still must be visible for at least 500 feet. New bikes come with white and red reflectors, but these are insufficient to meet the legal requirements... State law requires active lights if you're riding at night.

Lights have come a long way since I rode the rural roads and turnrows of Lonoke County with a flashlight duct-taped to my handlebar stem. Today, a dizzying array of lighting choices are available for the night cyclist. You can still buy halogen lights, but they might be powered by a hub generator, bottle dynamo, or batteries. I strongly recommend rechargeable batteries, but even here a number of technologies are available: sealed lead acid (SLA), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion) and nickel cadmium (NiCad). SLA are cheap but very heavy; Li-ion are pricey but light; NiCad are inexpensive; and NiMH are moderately priced and fairly lightweight and reliable.

Headlights
Front lights are typically divided into “be seen” and “to see” lights. “Be seen” lights are the little blinkies. “To see” lights are those that provide a steady beam to light up the road or trail in front of you. Blinkies are appropriate only for well lit urban areas. For night riding, I like having two lights — one set to blink or flash, the other set to a solid beam. The faster you ride, the farther you need to be able to see, and so the brighter your light needs to be.

Halogen, LED or HID?
While halogen is still a viable option today, the current crop of ultrabright white LED lamps can outshine the 10 watt halogens and rival 20 watt halogens in brightness. While they’re pricey, the higher efficiency of LED lighting translates into longer night-time riding. Off-road bikers like the piercing light created by High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps, but these lamps tend to be very pricey, withthe cheap ones starting in the $200 range.
If you're shopping for headlights, Mountain Bike Review has posted an excellent summary of what's available, with pictures of the various beams on a dark trail at http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/ .

Watts and lumens, quick and dirty
Lamp brightness is measured in lumens and candelas, but lights are normally marketed in terms of watts. Lens and housing design plays a tremendous part in how focused the beam is on the road — a 3-watt (3W) dynamo-powered light can outshine a 10W halogen, for example. But to keep things simple (perhaps too simple) here are some comparisons:

* The brighter “blinkie” style front LED lamps put out less than 20 lumens.
* Each typical 55 watt halogen car headlight generates around 700 lumens on the low beam.
* 6-volt, 3-watt halogen bulbs are used in dynamo powered incandescent lights.

12V 10W and 20W halogens are very bright bicycle lights. 10W halogens put out about 200 lumens, while 20W halogens generate 400 lumens.

Tail lights
These are the red blinking lights, and almost all of them today are red LEDs. Bigger is better, in my opinion. I really like the Planet Bike Superflash. This rear light, incidentally, also provides good side lighting which I consider to be almost as important as front and rear lighting.

Smaller red LED tail lights are often times almost invisible. For tail lights, I think surface area of the lens plays a large (ha ha!) role in the visibility of the lamp.

Another factor to keep in mind is battery life. The manufacturers all claim dozens of even hundreds of hours of battery life are possible with their LED blinkies. While the light does continue to operate, the light output is often so dim that the light is almost invisible in traffic conditions. Remember, your little light is competing with bright lights from cars, trucks, motorcycles, signal lights, street lamps, and illuminated business signs. Seen through the haze of a dirty, fogged-up, sometimes grit-pitted windshield, your little light gets lost. It’s a good idea to recharge your batteries whenever you can. I charge the big bottle-cage batteries for my headlights after every night ride, and change the batteries in my blinkies whenever they start to dim.

3) Conspicuity. One of the basic principles for riding on the road at any time is Be Visible. This is also called conspicuity in some circles, e.g., the state of being conspicuous. In addition to its usual application to your position on the road, you should wear light or bright-colored clothing. Blue, black, gray, brown, and green are not good jersey colors for night or low-light rides. White, yellow, orange, that odd chartreuse that many vendors call "hi-vis" are excellent choices. Me, I try to buy my jerseys in the most eye-poking colors that I can find, that scream "hey, dude, don't run over the biker!" Even a plain white t-shirt will greatly improve your visibility.

Think about it this way... Out on the rural roads, a motorist traveling at 60 mph will cover just a hair short of 90 feet (88, actually) every second. If you think about the standard for a reflective tail light being visibility at 500 feet; this standard gives you a reaction time of only a little less than 6 seconds for the motorist to see the reflector, identify it as a potential hazard, and react to it. In town, where the speed limit is around 30 miles an hour, they're still traveling 50 feet per second, and your margin for detection is extended only to about 10 seconds. The more visible you can make yourself, the safer and better off you are.

Now think about your average "invisible cyclist," the poor working guy who depends on his bike to get back and forth to work, to the grocery store, or anywhere else he needs to go. He's wearing his blue jeans and dark blue flannel shirt and "gimme" ball cap. Chances are he's riding on the wrong side of the road, too, so he "can see oncoming traffic better." By the time he shows up in your headlights, it's maybe around a hundred to two hundred feet, and you've got less than two seconds to respond and react before Julio here is in severe danger of becoming road kill. We had a young teenager here in Lonoke County killed like that back the first of October, when Jordan Elslager of Jacksonville (who will now be forever 15) was hit from behind on a rural road by an SUV. The impact knocked Jordan and his bike 90 feet into an adjacent cotton field. That's why I'm serious about standing up here and saying that Being Visible is the most important thing you can do while riding at night.

What most people don’t realize is just because you’re visible to other motorists at night doesn’t mean you’re safe. Sure you’re telling them that you’re there, but you’re still insignificant in size compared to a car that has two headlights. Motorists are more prone to respond to bigger lights. With that said, I’d recommend getting some sort of green light to accompany your light system. Studies have shown that the color green, especially if used in lights, is the color the human brain responds to quicker. My bike, when rigged for night riding, has a Down Low Glow green neon light (See http://www.rockthebike.com). When I’m on the road people will slow down, check me out and drive off. I even get comments from people saying how cool it is. The neon light emits so much glow that cars will automatically swerve out of my way. In the pitch dark, the DLG will light up a "bubble" of colored light about 10 feet to either side; under streetlights the DLG's "halo" is not quite as big, but still very conspicuous.

Supplement your lights with reflectors... both on your bike, as well as your riding clothing. Reflective strips on your jacket, a reflective vest, etc. are all good. I bought an MTB helmet for night rides, and duded it up with some Scotchlite (TM) reflective tape on all sides, especially in the back, for better visibility. A vest, jacket, or jersey with retro-reflective tape trim is a good idea, especially if it also come in one of the high visibility colors mentioned above. You can get reflective vests in orange (good) or hi-vis yellow (even better) with reflective taping at Home Depot or Lowes for about $9 apiece. I'm very pleased to notice that the League of American Bicyclists has come out with special jerseys for both its certified instructors and general membership that incorporate high visibility colors with bands of Scotchlite reflective tape for better visibility in low light. These jerseys are available from VeloWear at http://www.velowear.com/labwear.aspx.

Another option is a material called "Illuminite" which is advertised to be a super-reflective cloth that glows in the light of headlights. Over the past couple of years I've used a vest, a long-sleeved jersey, and a pair of tights made with this material, and despite the advertisements, the best it does is a sort of "shine" under direct headlights. A big problem that I've often seen with Illuminite garments is that they're often made with dark colors (the actual Illuminite panels are usually black), and tend to blend you into the shadows unless you've already got that "deer-in-the-headlight" panicked look.

Motion of your lights or reflectors is highly effective in getting motorists and other riders to see you in the dark. Those little reflectors on the back of your platform pedals are some of the most effective means of attracting attention in the dark, because of the up-and-down motion. I'm also a big fan of "Tire Flys," (http//www.tireflys.com) which are little lights that thread onto your valve stems and light up as the wheels go 'round. These go a great deal toward making you more visible in the dark. "Hokey Spokes" are a similar product with the same effect, that clip into your wheel spokes.

4) Be alert, and ride defensively. Motorists aren't going to expect to see a cyclist out at night, and often aren't as alert as they would otherwise be in the daytime. Night time also brings you a higher probablity of encountering an "impaired" motorist who's had a little too much "refreshment," or who are simply tired, and/or have poor night vision. So be very careful. Stick to the back streets as much as you can on Friday and weekend nights, as this is when the drunks are most likely to be out.

At night, it's hard to see road hazards, and to see and anticipate the moves of others. You can't see where they're looking, and some may be drunk (especially on Friday and Saturday night!) Slow down from your usual speed. To make sure drivers see you when you're stopped, "flash your lights" by twitching your handlebars back and forth. Watch cars and trucks closely, and be ready to get out of their way.

Ride predictably, which means generally on the right side, and never on the left, going the wrong way against traffic. Likewise, don't crowd the yellow or center line of the roadway -- and absolutely do not cross the line and ride left of center. Just this evening I saw a motorist on River Road along the north side of the River Trail pass another cyclist by crossing a double yellow line -- on a curve, no less -- directly against an oncoming cyclist in the westbound lane. Had the other rider not been hugging the right of his lane, he'd likely have been hit. Ride right!!

California, Florida, and Texas currently lead the nation in the number of cyclists killed in traffic incidents. As a matter of fact, these three states constitute nearly a third of all cyclist fatalities by themselves. Nearly 60 per cent of all adult fatal bicycle accidents in Florida occur during twilight and night hours although less than three percent of bicycle use takes place at that time. Many factors compound the danger of riding at night, such as:

-- Motorists driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol.
-- Motorist’s ability to see what is ahead is limited to the area illuminated by headlights. Visibility is further reduced by the glare from lights of oncoming vehicles.

The major problem occurs when the sun is already low in the sky when you head home at 5 p.m. and the roads are at their highest peak of congestion.
Here’s a few ideas to stay safe:

* Leave early or stay late - See if you can get permission to change up your work hours by thirty minutes to an hour. This will allow you to commute when the roads are less congested.
* Use plenty of lights and reflective material - Buy some blinky lights. Get reflective tape. Do whatever you can to stay visible to drivers.
* Take alternate routes - Route selection is a key tool for safer night riding. Use Google Maps, and find yourself a safer route to and from the office that keeps you off major roads.
* Know when to say ‘no’ - There are conditions that I just won’t ride my bike in. If the traffic is congested, the weather is wet and the sun is down you may want to opt for your car or public transportation. It’s not worth your life.

The Missouri Bicycle Federation has a press release on their site that reminds us that:
“…near the first day of spring and the first day of autumn. At those times of year, the sun rises and sets directly to the east and west. Many of our streets are aligned east/west. With the sun low in the sky and directly aligned with the street, the sun’s glare can temporarily blind the motorist.”

If you are riding when the sun is low in the sky, keep it in mind that drivers are not going to be able to see you when you are between them and the sun. You might want to find another route on an east/west street that isn’t as busy and has more shade.

When you're riding on an unfamiliar road or street at night, be especially sure to use a good headlight to illuminate the road surface in front of you, and slow down a bit so that your reaction time doesn't outrun the reach of your headlights. Otherwise, yuo can consider yourself to be out there trolling for potholes, pavement cracks, and other road surface hazards. Remember what we said about the Invisible Cyclist and the car driver awhile ago? When you're riding at 15 mph, you and your bike are covering 22 feet every second. To give yourself sufficient reaction time to a road hazard, your lights need to reach out a good ways -- or you need to slow down considerably.

Don't bike at night if your visual acuity is less than 20/40 with glasses or contacts, or if you can read a far-away sign or address okay in daylight, but not at night. (See your opthalmologist to be sure).

Know your route and your neighborhood! Take streets, paths, or roads where you know where all the potholes, traffic, and other hazards are, so that you can focus on your riding. And if you're not sure about night-time crime in a neighborhood, ask someone who knows -- or don't ride alone.

5) Be extra careful at intersections and when making turns... again, motorists are less likely to be looking out for you. Don't let yourself get caught out in the intersection when traffic lights turn yellow (or, especially, red). Be more cautious, and stop on the yellow.

6) Slow down, so that you don't outrun the reach of your headlights... e.g., so that you can safely stop once you see a hazard in your lights. Never assume a motorist has seen you, since your lights are easy to get overwhelmed and missed against the brightness of automobile lights.

If you're blinded by someone else's oncoming headlights or overbright street lights / athletic field lights, don't look directly into the beam. Look off to one side and use your peripheral vision. One advantage of the MTB helmet is that it has a visor, and I can use that to help block a blinding light, sort of like a sun-shade in the car. Another handy trick to protect your night vision is one that I learned as an artillery officer at Fort Sill's School of Fires: Close one eye. Yep, it’s as simple as that. When you’re in the light and headed for the dark, or vice versa, close one eye for a half minute — once you get to the dark spot, open that eye and you’ll have your night vision and will be able to see that pedestrian or the patch of loose gravel. I use this trick every day when I’m getting ready to ride under an overpass or through a tunnel. Give it a try next time you’re headed for that shadowy, gloomy spot.

Turn signals can be difficult when you're riding on the streets... having a reflective band on your wrists can help your visibility here, but a solution I found at my LCI seminar was a product called "Glo-Gloves", intended for use by traffic cops and others who have to direct traffic at night. Glo-Gloves are a light, one-size-fits-all polyester shell that can fit over your regular riding gloves, and have brightly reflective yellow and red bands on the back of the hands and palms, and show up brightly in either head or street lights. After I came back from Kentucky, I looked these up and ordered a pair (http://www.night-gear.com, at $19 per pair). I've been very pleased with the way they work, it's just like having turn signal and stop lights on my bike now!

Hope to "see" y'all out there on the trail one of these evenings (literally), and hope that I've got enough lights about that y'all see me, too!

Tom Ezell
LCI #1853

[Geonz]

The three times I've done cycling talks I tried to focus on more than accident avoidance, partly because an awful lot of people are afraid to ride for transportation and I suspect part of that is a self-perpetuating attitude. When people talk about skiing, they don't just talk about avoiding injury, after all - but injuries are more likely to happen skiing than cycling, even in traffic (not counting velodromes though!)
Lots of people don't realize just how much safer and more secure they can be by practicing traffic-oriented riding skills and learning to "read" traffic, night or day.