Daytime Running Lights - DRL's ?

[imbecile]

paulsm said:

maybe they should stop riding like they are the only thing on the road and speed limts don't apply to them.

Are you trolling or something?

[Sheriff JWPepper]

Is accusing a poster of being a troll the new trolling?

[imbecile]

Sheriff JWPepper said:

Is accusing a poster of being a troll the new trolling?

I do rather enjoy trolling, but in this thread I've been nothing other than serious.

[parapaul]

brap_brap said:

And my pet peeve.... not driving through fog at night? Turn the darned fog lights off.

um.....how about during the day then? Surely fog lights are designed for use in ANY situation where the car behind cannot see you. Personally, I only use mine in absolute pea-soup fog, in the daylight. I find that at night the tail lights are usually easily vsisble on their own.

Oh, and I also use them when its pissing down with rain on the motorway and the spray reduces visbility enough not to be seen with ordinary lights.

But agree with you completely. Nothing more annoying than foglights left on when there's no need.

[SVS]

Good to avoid using the rear fog light (except when truly necessary, e.g. in fog with less than a hundred yards viz). The rear fog light tends to mask your rear brake light ...

parapaul said:

Surely fog lights are designed for use in ANY situation where the car behind cannot see you ... Oh, and I also use them when its pissing down with rain on the motorway and the spray reduces visbility enough not to be seen with ordinary lights.

I'd discourage using fog lights solely because of spray: the water droplets can increase dazzle from fog lights Dipped beam should be enough, unless your bulbs may need replacing. Better to spend £14 on a pair of Philips Premium bulbs than danderously dazzle

Cheers ears

[SVS]

Hi everyone,

vipers said:

... my objection is to bikes in day time having FULL BEAM on, not just the headlight.

Perfectly understandable. Some bikers, either deliberately or forgetfully, leave their lights on full beam. Some car drivers leave their fog lights on

I never ride on full beam, but often get flashed by cars who presumably think I'm on full beam. My Ducati's weak headlight was dangerously dim at night, so I replaced the bulb with a Philips X-Treme Power one. Now I can ride more safely at night but some people think I'm on full beam

Please bear in mind how bumps may affect a bike's suspension. Ducati suspesion is great on track but doesn't deal so well with poor quality British roads (I've had it professionally set up to improve coping with bumps, but still dazzle oncoming cars occasionally.)

Please also bear in mind that bikers get fed up with cars pulling out on them** This leads some to ride on full beam. If you've been dazzled, then at least you've seen the bike. (I'm not excusing this, only explaining where riders may be coming from.)

Finally, bikers don't think they own the road. Some bikers might ride agressively: these are the ones you notice.* The biker riding courteusly is the one you don't remember. Some car drivers tailgate in the rain, drive whilst using their mobile phone or pull out on bikers. That doesn't mean to say that all car drivers think they own the road.

Take care out there, whatever you drive or ride

* Within the biking community, sportsbikers in race gear who ride selfishly are derided as "Power Rangers". This is the stereotype agressive rider, who tends to focus on fast but selfish riding during only summer. Unfortunately, Power Rangers tend to be the bikers most noticed by other road users. In contrast, more accomplished riders blend into the flow of traffic, so don't get remembered.

** Ample research has shown the cause of around 80% of bike accidents is "looked but failed to see" by car drivers. Car drivers commonly pull out of a side road into the path of the bike. This is caused be a phenomenon called cognitive conspicuity: drivers only notice what they're looking out for. Car drivers look out for other cars and larger vehicles, so that's all they notice ... hence they pull out of roads into motorcyclists, cyclists, etc. See The Psychology of Driving by Graham J. Hole:www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805859780/026-1...

Edited by SVS on Saturday 6th October 17:03

[anonymous-user]

paulsm said:

either way, there are more cars than bikes. Better to make it safer for many rather than the few. Bikes are an accident waiting to happen anyway.

And you are oh so enlightened and are clearly very intelligent....

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 6th October 17:58

[Pigeon]

SVS said:

Please also bear in mind that bikers get fed up with cars pulling out on them** This leads some to ride on full beam. If you've been dazzled, then at least you've seen the bike. (I'm not excusing this, only explaining where riders may be coming from.)

What about the car drivers who think that if something's dazzling them it can't be a real object and they can drive straight through it?

I was riding along (on dipped beam, not main) one day when a car driver coming the other way decided to turn right into a side road straight through me and caught me full on the side of the bike. As I am lying on the pavement the dappy cow comes over and says "Oh, I was dazzled". If I had been capable of speech...

[Code Monkey]

brap_brap said:

vipers said:

Handbrake on when stationary is safe and courteous.

I would have to disagree. If you get rear-ended you have next to nil force applied to the braking end of the car with the least effect.

Your foot should be doing it for the very same reason you don't turn your wheels while stopped tomake a turn across oposing traffic.... if you get hit, you'll be pushed into oncoming traffic.

I've seen cars get rear-ended and get pushed right through a 4 lane intersection while four wheels locked.... imagine just a slight brake preasure on two wheels?

I beg to differ.

Best solution requires to pay a little attention......

handbrake and footbrake when stopped at lights until car behind arrives then off brake pedal and wait.

then no roll back on pull away, and no blinding car behind. red might not dazzle but the new led lighting on the high end german motors is pretty close to dazzling.

[Hooli]

i havent run the whole thread but the law they should pass is that dipped lights come on automaticly with the wipers.

[R_U_LOCAL]

Hooli said:

i havent run the whole thread but the law they should pass is that dipped lights come on automaticly with the wipers.

What about the delay-wipe setting though? Would the lights flash on and off?

[TripleS]

Hooli said:

i havent run the whole thread but the law they should pass is that dipped lights come on automatically with the wipers.

I may be mistaken but I thought I'd heard that there were cars that already have that feature, or am I confusing this with some recent Peugeot models that automatically put dipped headlights on when the ambient lighting falls to a certain level - although that can yield problems again, like unwanted headlight flashes that can confuse other drivers in rapidly changing light conditions - tunnels, underpasses etc.

These new ideas are quite natty but I'm wary of doing more harm than good with some of them.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Hooli]

R_U_LOCAL said:

Hooli said:

i havent run the whole thread but the law they should pass is that dipped lights come on automaticly with the wipers.

What about the delay-wipe setting though? Would the lights flash on and off?

not sure to be honest, but running in crap weather with no lights so you cant be seen seems to be a new game everyone else on the road plays these days.
even seen a few traffic cars who really should know better doing it recently.

[Moonhawk]

randlemarcus said:

Car drivers seem to find it terribly difficult to spot great big lumps of metal, often in eye catching colours, with full sized humans on top of them, lights blazing in amongst cars with lights off. Which way do you suppose accident rates will go when the light is just one among many?

Unfortunately some bikers seem to think that having their lights on makes them immune to danger. Being an ex-biker myself I can honestly say that the only close shaves I ever had was with other bikers. And after seeing some complete tt overtake both me and another car at well in excess of the posted NSL by crossing double whites on a blind bend yesterday - I am rapidly loosing sympathy.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 22 October 17:33

[randlemarcus]

Moonhawk said:

randlemarcus said:

Car drivers seem to find it terribly difficult to spot great big lumps of metal, often in eye catching colours, with full sized humans on top of them, lights blazing in amongst cars with lights off. Which way do you suppose accident rates will go when the light is just one among many?

Unfortunately some bikers seem to think that having their lights on makes them immune to danger. Being an ex-biker myself I can honestly say that the only close shaves I ever had was with other bikers. And after seeing some complete tt overtake both me and another car at well in excess of the posted NSL by crossing double whites on a blind bend yesterday - I am rapidly loosing sympathy.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 22 October 17:33

Which has precisely what to do with the DRL issue? Are you saying you failed to spot him as he came up behind you? No? Then begone to another thread

No issue with you taking umbrage at an overtake on solid whites though.