When exactly are lights needed?

[lordofthemark]

this afternoon it was grey and snowing lightly. Cars mostly had their lights on. While I might have wimped out anyway, I told myself I was heading home early because I had no lights.

Would lights be required in conditions like today?

[KLizotte]

@lordofthemark 44113 wrote:

this afternoon it was grey and snowing lightly. Cars mostly had their lights on. While I might have wimped out anyway, I told myself I was heading home early because I had no lights.

Would lights be required in conditions like today?

If cars have their lights on cyclists should too. I put my lights on whenever I’m in traffic and I think there is a prayer they might make me more visible.

[lordofthemark]

@KLizotte 44114 wrote:

If cars have their lights on cyclists should too. I put my lights on whenever I’m in traffic and I think there is a prayer they might make me more visible.

Of course there are some drivers who drive with lights on at all times.

[mstone]

I had the helmet vis360 set to blink (so front/back/sides), didn’t bother with frame lights.

[PotomacCyclist]

Leave your lights attached to the bike every day. If you don’t need them, don’t turn them on. But if you need them, they will be readily available.

If you’re worried about the lights getting stolen when your bike is parked, bring the lights with you until you return for the bike.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I usually turn mine on at dusk-ish. Since I leave work about 530pm, I usually turn them on when rolling out. Also, if I’m going for a daytime ride, I’ll sometimes use blinkies if I’m riding somewhere I think cars may not be looking for bikes, such as rural roads.

[5555624]

@PotomacCyclist 44118 wrote:

Leave your lights attached to the bike every day. If you don’t need them, don’t turn them on. But if you need them, they will be readily available.

And check the batteries on a regular basis, preferably at the end of a ride. Do they shine far enough in front to actually show the pavement? From behind, how far can you be seen? (Turn ’em on and walk back ten feet, twenty feet, etc. and see what they look like.) Recently, I was behind someone and it wasn’t until I was about five feet away that I realized his rear red light was actually turned on (and the only because I was staring right at it). Recharge and/or replace batteries on a regular basis.

[PotomacCyclist]

Better yet, use rechargeable batteries so you don’t have to throw away old batteries on a regular basis. If you use your lights often, have a few extra batteries that are charged at home. Then if the current batteries in the light are drained, swap them out. When you have spare time, recharge the drained batteries. (Note that you should only recharge batteries that are designed to be rechargeable.)

[dbb]

@PotomacCyclist 44137 wrote:

If you use your lights often, have a few extra batteries that are charged at home.

If you commute, keep spare batteries or a way to charge your lights at the office as well. I favor my rechargable lights that use the mini-USB plugs that I connect to my computer at the office. Multiple lights (head and tail) provide an additional measure of safety.

I almost always run a strobe or solid headlight during daylight when I am on roads, normally running no lights in sunlight on the trail. Lights come on when it seems I need that be seen element (dark shadows, haze, dusk). Taillight is turned on when the bike comes off the rack, regardless of the time.

[PotomacCyclist]

And if you have managed to pick up a few of the BikeArlington lights over the years, keep those as backups in case the batteries in your primary lights die in the middle of a ride.

[DCAKen]

@lordofthemark 44115 wrote:

Of course there are some drivers who drive with lights on at all times.

Or cyclists who have their lights on all the time. That’s the nice thing about having a Schmidt dynamo hub.

[rcannon100]

My car lights are on all the time. Not sure how much safer it makes me. Cars have excess electricity – there is virtually no cost in terms of mpg. And I make the assumption it makes me X% safer where X might equal 3% …. 4%???? If over the lifetime of driving I can avoid an accident, seems worth doing. The only cost to this is that you burn through light bulbs faster.

On my bike, I pretty much follow the same approach. Any time I am dancing with cars, I have lights on – particularly headlights. I also find that pedestrians on MUTs seems to move more readily when you have lights on. The only time I forgo lights is when I am riding strictly off road.

Also remember high viz clothing. I am impressed both by the number of cyclists, joggers, and road crews where high viz is now standard equipment – and how much earlier I visually pick up someone wearing high viz as opposed to a ninja.

[lordofthemark]

so until i have lights and high viz clothes I should stay off roads, regardless of conditions?

[dbb]

No. You might want to be more sensitive to your surroundings if you don’t but you can still cycle safely. If you need reflective stuff, the fine folks at BikeArlington often have some reflective ankle straps.

I wouldn’t look to ride in a black sweatshirt but light clothing helps as well.

[Terpfan]

While I hate being blinded by those who have the illumination of the sun, I would much prefer that than no lights at all. Recently I’ve seen a bunch of folks on the MVT sans lights and one of these days someone is going to hit them. I realize most of that path you can see in the dark. The value of light is as much (or more so) about being seen and when you’re heading southbound at night you have the car lights from GWP coming at you so if someone doesn’t have some form of light on them coming northbound, you may not even know they’re there.

To your last question, I think riding on the streets at night without lights is a very daring (along the darwin lines) adventure. There are enough bad drivers looking at their cell phones, fiddling with the radio dial, putting on makeup, eating, or doing any number of things that when evening hits they’re searching for other headlights and people at crosswalks. The easier for them to miss you, the more likely they are to hit you.

[Author]

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