Night Cyclist Visibility: Driver's Eye View

[kfergos]

I, too, have lots of both. I can, on my own, light up an entire two-lane road, edge to edge.

I'm really more curious what drivers notice as most attention-getting of all the stuff out there. Also, I'll add this question about placement of stuff: Where are reflectors and lights most effective from a driver's perspective?

[Bluetree]

Good lights are worth the investment. I was hesitant to spend the $$$ on a rear Dinotte, but since then I've had tons of cyclists/drivers/peds come up to me and remark how visible I am.



Up front, I have a TriNewt and a Dinotte helmet light for good measure.

The Nathan reflectors work well from the side. I'm less confident about the Lightweights tape/reflectors. I did some experimenting in pitch darkness and they are considerably less visible than the Nathans.

EDIT: Nathan also makes Reflex wristcuffs in the above material that is super-reflective (TE doesn't carry them). They are self-wrapping and have no velcro, which is nice as they don't mess up the sleeves on your jerseys. They also make the L.E.D. bands

[wackyjacky1]

EDIT: Nathan also makes Reflex wristcuffs in the above material that is super-reflective (TE doesn't carry them). They are self-wrapping and have no velcro, which is nice as they don't mess up the sleeves on your jerseys.

I am definitely going to pick up a few of these -- I think they're great.

My morning commute takes place loooong before the sun comes up (4 a.m.) so I am all about nighttime visibiliity. I have a Superflash flasher in the rear, a bright headlight, and reflective stickers galore (on my helmet; on the headset, fork and chainstays of my bike; and on my wheel rims). Plus I have my stinky Illuminite jacket ( ) that lights up like crazy when someone's headlights hit it.

[wildhawk]

Great ideas! I can’t really add much to it as we have reflectors on every thing attached to our bikes, dual bright LED lights, and dual flashing LED taillights, reflectors on our helmets and gloves, etc. I got some great ideas from this thread too - some “goodies” I will be adding to my bike. Working nights, I can tell you that alot of people ride bikes at night and totally disobey the crossing lights - just ride right out in traffic with little or no reflectors or flashing lights of any kind. Total idiots INHO. But there are the ones who commute who make darn sure they are seen by drivers - and late evening riders like my DH and me. DH made a special lightweight horizontal bar that fits to the rear of our rack between the two rear panniers and added dual taillights. The width of the panniers and the dual lights are easily seen and give a wider profile at night. We are of the thought that the more visible the better. We have had riders dash across the street in front our cars where the only thing that shows up is their sneakers and socks!!

[sfa]

Leaving the house tonight in my car, we saw a kid coming down the street on a bike. It was pitch black out and he had no headlights (or helmet for that matter) and my headlights didn't catch any reflectors that he may have had. But he DID have Tire Sparx and they really did catch my eye immediately. He was probably about 150 feet away when I first noticed him. It was impressive how bright they were, and there was no mistaking that it was a cyclist headed in my direction.

Sarah

[mary9761]

I have both reflective gear and lights on my bike and helmet. I've had bus drivers who have commented on seeing my lights when I was out after dark and watching for a bus coming behind me so I could pull over. The light set is made so you can wear them on wrists or in this case, I ran the straps through my helmet vents pointing the white forward and the red to the rear. I usually put them on blinking then my headlight on the bike steady. Sometimes my bike tail light is solid, but more often it's set to blink as well.

http://thebikeline.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=2128 Trek
Glo Headlight & Ember Taillight Combo





http://thebikeline.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=2128 Trek
Flare 7 Taillight

http://thebikeline.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=2631 Trek
Ion 6 LED Headlight

I also wear ankle biter reflective straps one on my wrist and one on my ankle on my left side facing traffic.

When I'm using my new kitty litter bucket panniers, I have a large red reflecter on the backs and amber on sides and fronts. I plan on adding reflective sewn on tape to the sides of my tights that I've made for colder weather riding and more reflective material to my helmet. I've never been worried about looking like a dork as long as I'm seen.

[Xrayted]

this seems like a good video on the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZdXfvrRmU

We have a local guy who has put reflective stuff and lights on every surface of his bike and himself. It is actually too much. It makes you focus so much on him, that it's distracting. (What happens when you look at that hole in the road as you approach it? You run into it. You drive or ride where you are directly looking.) He takes a lot of chances that most riders wouldn't because he is so lit up. I've seen him cut across 5 lanes of traffic at night in rush hour on a busy road when he could have crossed at the light just 150 ft away. Nuts!! Light up, by all means, but don't assume you are totally safe.

Lots of riders here in Portland. The best advice I can give is to light up the sides too, not just front and back. It's nice to have a blinkie up front in the dark as well as a solid. It differentiates you from cars and motorcycles. Lit strips catch my eye. Cars don't have long reflective strips typically.

[OakLeaf]

Nathan also makes Reflex wristcuffs in the above material that is super-reflective (TE doesn't carry them). They are self-wrapping and have no velcro

I have a similar thing from Adidas. They're convenient to slap over jeans or sweats when I'm riding my commuter a little ways, and they'd probably be okay on the wrists over a LS jersey as long as there's enough length in the sleeves, but they chafe like CRAZY over socks, light arm warmers or bare skin.

They loosen up a bit if you store them snapped flat rather than rolled up, but the edges will still dig into your skin (and I've got pretty small wrists).

[Becky]

Also, I'll add this question about placement of stuff: Where are reflectors and lights most effective from a driver's perspective?

Anything that moves. Wheels, and crankarms are good "bang for the buck" because the movement catches your eye. I have reflective tape all over my crankarms and Lightweights (lightweights.org) on my spokes.

[dachshund]

A red light on the back of the helmet gets my attention, especially if there are cars, etc., blocking my view of the rest of the bike and rider. The reflective strips stand out well. I'm sure the blinking lights get people's attention, but I imagine they're annoying if they're too bright.

[Eden]

One place most cyclists are missing visibility is from the side! I worry a whole lot more about someone pulling into me out of side street than being hit from behind. This year I got some TireSparx - they are blinky LED lights that screw onto your valve stems. They add a lot of side visibility. I gave some to my husband too and he's had several cyclists and even a driver comment about how noticeable they are. Not only that, they are relatively cheap. Two sets, plus valve stem adapters (they come threaded only for schrader valves, so you have to get schrader to presta adapters) cost me under $25 and they each came with an extra set of batteries.

For the past two years I've gotten together with a bunch of other cyclists and we've compared lights/reflectors to see what works and what doesn't. Those Dinotte rear blinkers are very bright! Some of the other things we've determined:

you definitely need both lights and reflectors - reflectors have to have a light shining on them to be seen, lights can be much less effective when there is ambient light (cars and streetlights)

most people have all of their lights down low - having some lighting on your upper body is good too - it gives a better impression of your size and shape to drivers.

Point your headlight at the ground - its no good to blind everyone with it (especially other cyclists...) and the beam on the ground is actually a good cue for others to see you are coming.

Check your LED batteries often - its no good if the blinker is so weak that no one can see it, and make sure you aren't blocking it with your trunk rack, back pack, etc.

white/yellow/light colored clothing really does little to increase your night time visibility - don't rely on it to keep you safe.

oh and one observation I've made recently- I cross a bridge on which the bike traffic goes both ways with auto traffic on my left coming towards me. When cyclists are backlit, they can be very invisible!! even with lighting, though a bright headlight, especially a blinking one, helps a lot. You'll also be lit like this if someone is turning out of a side street - they may very well see the car headlights and miss you in the mix... so be careful when you see a turning car, they may really not be able to see you.

[Geonz]

I have SpokeLits in my wheels ... only problem is I forget to turn them off, and so it seems the batteries didn't last verylong. Going to replace them (but they cost almost as much as the spokelits whihc are only about seven bucks) and see how long they last.

[Eden]

TireSparx are motion activated and turn off less than 30 seconds after you stop moving - pretty cool and saves the batteries.

[lph]

This is a really good thread! Second the be seen from the side (roundabouts... *shudder*) and anything moving. I'm not a big fan of the ultra-strong lights, I've met too many cyclists that I thought could be motorcyclists or insane car drivers with one working headlamp, on the bike path...

[7rider]

Where are reflectors and lights most effective from a driver's perspective?

Well, not quite a driver's perspective...but speaking from a cyclist riding up a hill a bit behind another cyclist in a residential neighborhood......
The first thing I noticed on this guy was a flashing light on his helmet. It was up high and very visible.

Hmmmm...I just uglied up my helmet with reflective stickers last night...perhaps I'll have to see how I can attach a light to my helmet, too.