Riding in the Dark

[newfsmith]

I'm of the "don't tell me you couldn't see me school" While my winter ride has a truck taillight (56 LED's) I also have a Cat-eye taillight attached to my helmet running in the flashing mode. From the side I have truck marker lights on the forks and a "beehive" amber light on top of the rear trunk, plus lots of reflective tape on wheels as well as spoke reflectors. On the front I have double front reflectors, a 10W equivalent LED headlight, plus a helmet headlight, also in the flashing mode. The helmet light is important because as you check the traffic at an intersection you are flashing light at the traffic approaching from either side, which will not be able to see your handle bar light. I routinely ride a poorly lit backroad in the dark both ways to work from December to late February, and also have to cross a 6-lane highway. I take "lighting up" very seriously in those months. I also wear lots of reflective material: a safety triangle, double leg band reflectors, and either Glo-gloves or leg reflectors wrapped around my mitts. Everyone laughs at the extremes I go to, but I get good clearance on the road.