Riding at (or past) the edges of daylight

[emily_in_nc]

Driving home from work this week, like Denise, I encountered a commuting cyclist from behind who had a bright blinking tail light, but no other forms of reflectivity and darkish cycling clothing (tho after a certain level of darkness, even screaming yellow wouldn't have helped much). I immediately thought "Illuminite" -- the fabric that's used in jerseys, vests, jackets, and such, and lights up in car headlights. Does anyone who rides after dark use it? From the photos in catalogs, it looks like it would dramatically increase a rider's visibility to a car with headlights on, but I've never actually seen it in use.

I worry about those bike commuters out there too -- and as a fellow cyclist (tho' I don't ride at night), I certainly feel for them. I think some of them just have no idea that they are not as visible to motorists as they think.

Emily

[SadieKate]

I live in a college town and there seems to be a distinct difference in one's perception of visibility between adults and students. The students will have whatever OEM reflectors came on their claptrap bikes and a very weak head lamp, though most don't even have this. You would think that a few days of the campus police getting a little persnickety would solve this. Earlier this week, 3 of them plowed into each other behind us at a roundy because none of them had lights and could see one another. The adult commuters have lights, reflective wear and aren't wearing headphones or talking on their cellphones. It just seems so easy for a college to do some education about visibility -- and then enforce it on campus.

[makbike]

Sadly, this morning a cyclist in Louisville was killed as he made a right turn off a busy road onto a side street just as a motorist was making a left turn onto the same side street. The accident occurred just before sunrise and according to various news sources in town the cyclist was not wearing any reflective clothing. He had the right of way but the motorist did not see him. Now a family grieves the loss of their loved one and the motorist's life has been changed forever, a sad start to the day for many.

Last night as I was traveling on one of Louisville's busiest roadways I came upon a cyclist who apparently had a deathwish. They had a blinking light on the bike but it was very evident the batteries were worn out for the light was quite dim. The cyclist had on a reflective vest but it too appeared to be tired for it was not bouncing light like it should. Finally, the cyclist was dressed in black making them even harder to see at 8:30 p.m. I'm guessing this person made it home safe and sound but all I can say is they were very fortunate to do so.

Please take Denise's note to heart if you ride before the sun rises or after it sets. We have a responsibility to make ourselves visible so all can see us from the front, from the back and from the side.

[DeniseGoldberg]

...I immediately thought "Illuminite" -- the fabric that's used in jerseys, vests, jackets, and such, and lights up in car headlights. Does anyone who rides after dark use it?
Emily

I have a jacket that has Illuminte in the sleeves and in a band around the bottom of the jacket. I bought it because I liked the jacket (as opposed to for the Illuminite). Illuminite does light up when it's hit by lights - but only with a direct hit straight at the material. So I'd say that it's OK as an extra, but not as a sole lighting source.

I still believe that lighter and brighter colors are better at night - they are more visible when hit by light than dark colors.

But I really believe that if we're going to be out on the road at night - whether it's on our bikes or on foot - that we need some type of active light (as in blinking lights, not just bright colored or reflective fabric).

--- Denise

[Bikingmomof3]

Thank you again Denise for reminding me I am not lit up enough when I run at night. I will be ordering more lights, since I actually prefer running in the evenings.

[SadieKate]

I think lots of lights of lights are important. Sometimes visibility is the hardest in town because of the dazzle of the street lights, car lights, porch lights, store fronts, etc., so even more lights maybe necessary there.

On the blinking lights, I thought that drunks were attracted to blinking lights and that a steady light is better. I know on brevets, a blinkling light means you need assistance. Anyone have links to the studies on blinking lights and safety?

[xeney]

My husband is convinced that the blinking light is more visible, but my Cateye EL300 does not blink, and last week I had a driver roll down his window and thank me for using such a bright light. I do use a smaller blinking Cateye sometimes because this one is so big that I worry about it falling off, though.

Lately I have been doing most of my riding in the dark, and I always use front and rear lights, but I'm going to tack on to Denise's advice and say that lights aren't enough, either; you also need the reflectors and light clothing. When my husband got hit by a car, he had front and rear lights, and the left-turning car was coming from the other direction, and the driver still never saw him and drove right into him. Every jacket my husband owns is black or dark blue, his bike is dark blue, he doesn't wear reflective clothing, and basically he is relying on what amounts to a flashlight to alert drivers to his presence. (I'm pretty sure the guy who hit him was a little drunk, because I think a sober person would have seen the light, but you have to account for drunks and people who are distracted, too.)

The jacket I wear most of the winter is a bright yellow, but it has no reflective points. I'm thinking of putting some reflector strips on my helmet and maybe on the rear baskets on my commuter. I've started wearing a red light on my helmet as well as on the back of the bike, but I worry about front illumination, and about cars seeing me from the side. I really like riding at night, and in some ways I feel safer because I can see cars a lot better even if they don't see me, and in my neighborhood it is certainly safer to ride at night than to walk at night, which is my other option. But I have been thinking about the reflector issue a lot.

[SadieKate]

I have a Cateye EL400 on my helmet and run a L&M HID on my bars. One of the things I've noticed in town is how often lights mounted low on the bike are invisible. So, I've got a Cateye safety light on the back of my helmet and added reflective strips for side visibility. This puts a lot of stuff up high and less likely to be blocked. Lights mounted low on a fork or chain stay can be good some of the time but I've seen cyclists become invisible when something else blocked view of those lights.

I also just switched to a Blackburn Mars3 tail light for its side visibility.

Fortunately, I don't commute in the rain and heavy traffic, but if I did I think I would invest in one of the lighted safety vests

[wannaduacentury]

Great post. I look at it like this, if you have daytime running lights on your car, try to do the same for you and your bike. I'm going to put a blinky on my bike even for daytime on top of my bright clothing etc.

[HipGnosis6]

I'm lucky I have a specialty store near me (Seattle Fabrics) that sells strips of reflective tape, reflectorized grosgrain ribbon, even reflective-coated ripstop nylon. I add this stuff to EVERYTHING. But Denise is right - active lighting is way better than passive systems ilike textiles and reflectors. Reflectors only work at very limited angles, and things like coated fabrics have that same limitation as well as not working when they're wet! Sheldon Brown has some really interesting articles on reflectors:

http://sheldonbrown.com/reflectors.html

[DeniseGoldberg]

Sheldon Brown has some really interesting articles on reflectors:
http://sheldonbrown.com/reflectors.html

Thanks for the link, very interesting!
--- Denise

[maillotpois]

Great post! Yesterday, I had to go pick up DH from his long ride as he had misjudged the time and didn't want to ride without a rear light (which is on his commuter bike, but not the bike he rode yesterday). I was a little grumpy about it because I had to go get him in the middle of cooking dinner, and it seemed plenty light to me when I left the house - but he was right. By the time he would have been home, it would have been too dark to ride. So he did the right thing.

As for blinky lights - RUSA and other rando groups discourage use of blinky tail lights. I do remember hearing something about them being a magnet for drunk drivers as well. I can tell you they are SUPER annoying when you are riding beside or behind someone with a blinky tail light.

[GLC1968]

This is a great post!

My DH and I started commuting this year and we made a point of outfitting our bikes with lights, reflective tape, reflective clothing, etc. Then we each took turns riding around while the other of us was in the car (we went to a non-lit neighborhood) to see how visable we actually were. My tail light was very bright, blinking or not. DH's tail light was less visible when it was a steady light. We both put reflective tape on our bikes and extra reflective sticky things on our helmets after this exercise.

Something else to think about: I choose my clothing based on my riding conditions. My evening commute used to take me through a construction zone while the sun was setting and the leaves were turning. This meant that wearing yellow or orange wasn't going to help my visability. Those days, I wore turquoise or bright blue. Now, it's fully dark in those places (and the trees have lost most of the leaves) so I've gone back to bright yellow.

I also wear an illuminite vest but I have no idea how bright it is as I've never seen it on someone else! (I didn't have it yet when we did our little test mentioned above). I'll have to prop it up infront of my headlights tonight after dark to see how visible it really is....

[newfsmith]

There are 2 ways to add reflectivity to any jacket. The easiest and most reversable is to top it with a cycling/running vest. However, this route means putting on still another layer of clothes, which is a real drag. I went to a marine (boating supply) store and purchased flexible retroreflective stickers. I put them on the back of my jacket, down the arms & in stripes over my shoulders halfway down the front of the jacket. So far they have stayed on through at least 8 launderings.