Powerful cycle lights classed as an Offensive Weapon

[dacouch]

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php...

An interesting case

[Vaud]

dacouch said:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php...

An interesting case

If real.

[Mopar440]

Especially since no one seems to believe the OP!

[mybrainhurts]

I'm constantly being dazzled on country roads by the current crop of bicycle lights.

£65 fine? Should have been shot at dawn.

[MC Bodge]

I'm constantly being dazzled by cars with fancy arrays of OEM 'dipped' HIDs and LED drls(?) whilst driving and cycling to and from work in the dark.

Should they all be fined?

They are certainly unnecessary in a dipped beam and very unpleasant.

[thetrash]

mybrainhurts said:

I'm constantly being dazzled on country roads by the current crop of bicycle lights.

£65 fine? Should have been shot at dawn.

I used to constantly get dazzled by car drivers on country roads until I got some of the current crop of bicycle lights.

[PhillipM]

To be honest, there's a big issue with groups of bikers around here using serious powered bike and helmet lights, you cannot see anything when they are coming towards you with the helmet cams flashing over your face whilst set on 'slightly less bright than the sun' - several times I've had to just pull over and stop until they've gone past.

[Riley Blue]

Good! Quite apart from me finding them too bright with very irritating flashing, my O/H suffers from epilepsy and thought it's well controlled with medication she finds cycle lights very disturbing, more so than just about any other light she might encounter in the street.

[Devil2575]

I use a bright cycle light. I get noticed a lot more than I used too and on dark country roads cars treat me like a Motorbike as the light is similar to a dipped beam headlight. Aside from one occasions where a in a white van chose to shout abuse at me I've never had any problems with it. I do keep it angled down so the beam hits the road about 20m in front of the bike though.

[MC Bodge]

PhillipM said:

To be honest, there's a big issue with groups of bikers around here using serious powered bike and helmet lights, you cannot see anything when they are coming towards you with the helmet cams flashing over your face whilst set on 'slightly less bright than the sun' - several times I've had to just pull over and stop until they've gone past.

That sounds a bit like what I have to tolerate from many cars whilst cycling to work.

I use a modern LED bike light, but have it dipped/pointed down, on brightness 1 (of 3) and don't have it flashing. It makes the rough, pot-holed off-road section of my commute (and spotting road debris) much easier and cars can see me from further away than if I used a candle. Please note: These lights are *nowhere near* as bright as a set of 55W car HIDs (I have a set of those for extra light on main beam on my car) and I am not flashed at by cars.

[PhillipM]

MC Bodge said:

These lights are nowhere near as bright as a set of 55W car HIDs.

Most HIDs are 35w though, and I don't know what the guys near me are using, I'd imagine 10w CREE or similar chips, but they put my 4 x 55w car bulbs to shame, I've been pulled up for well over a minute on one occasion because I thought they were far closer than they were.
The problem is not just the brightness, it's that when they are using helmet lights, they are often looking straight at the cockpit of your oncoming car with them...

[Vaud]

PhillipM said:

Most HIDs are 35w though, and I don't know what the guys near me are using, I'd imagine 10w CREE or similar chips, but they put my 4 x 55w car bulbs to shame, I've been pulled up for well over a minute on one occasion because I thought they were far closer than they were.
The problem is not just the brightness, it's that when they are using helmet lights, they are often looking straight at the cockpit of your oncoming car with them...

This. It's about the focus of the beam, it's colour and where it is pointed.

[MC Bodge]

PhillipM said:

MC Bodge said:

These lights are nowhere near as bright as a set of 55W car HIDs.

Most HIDs are 35w though, and I don't know what the guys near me are using, but they put my 4 x 55w car bulbs to shame, I've been pulled up for well over a minute on one occasion because I thought they were far closer than they were.

They may have shone their lamps into your face, but they are not putting out anywhere near as much light as a 35W HID.

I have "run out of light throw" whilst descending at speed from a local gritstone edge in the dark on a mountain bike with a Cree LED lamp. Had I a set of 35W HIDs, this would be very unlikely.

[Mr E]

One of the reasons the lights are on the bars and angled down when commuting.

Helmet lights are great for off road. They're not great for the commute - shining a thousand lumens of Cree directly at the driver of a two ton lump of metal doing a mile a minute towards you seems a poor idea.

[TheEnd]

"They were only tiny as well. The police also discovered the lights were so powerful they can burn through paper from 7ft away in a lit room. I bought some more to test this theory (i did surrender them straight after the test as i needed it for my defence) and it in fact turns out the lights can burn through paper in a lit room. "

So he fitted lasers to his bike that could actually blind people it seems.

[Mr E]

Yah. Just read that.
I smell the produce of a male cow.

[Devil2575]

TheEnd said:

"They were only tiny as well. The police also discovered the lights were so powerful they can burn through paper from 7ft away in a lit room. I bought some more to test this theory (i did surrender them straight after the test as i needed it for my defence) and it in fact turns out the lights can burn through paper in a lit room. "

So he fitted lasers to his bike that could actually blind people it seems.

So not really cycle lights then...

[PhillipM]

Mr E said:

One of the reasons the lights are on the bars and angled down when commuting.

Helmet lights are great for off road. They're not great for the commute - shining a thousand lumens of Cree directly at the driver of a two ton lump of metal doing a mile a minute towards you seems a poor idea.

Indeed, however, seems there's idiots into everything these days, I encounter this group regularly.

[Dammit]

An interesting experiment that is quite instructive is as follows:

- Obtain a helper
- Stand opposite one another in a room which can be totally darkened
- Turn a bike light on to constant
- Extinguish the room lights so it is totally dark
- Throw the light to the other person

You might fumble the catch, but you're likely to be close.

Now try the same thing, but put the light on flashing.

My money is on you missing the light - it's very hard to judge the trajectory when it's not constantly visible.

Flashing lights are more eye-catching, but if you are going to use one pair it with a solid beam.

[abbotsmike]

Dammit said:

An interesting experiment that is quite instructive is as follows:

- Obtain a helper
- Stand opposite one another in a room which can be totally darkened
- Turn a bike light on to constant
- Extinguish the room lights so it is totally dark
- Throw the light to the other person

You might fumble the catch, but you're likely to be close.

Now try the same thing, but put the light on flashing.

My money is on you missing the light - it's very hard to judge the trajectory when it's not constantly visible.

Flashing lights are more eye-catching, but if you are going to use one pair it with a solid beam.

This has always been my approach. A flashing light will hopefully catch the eye of a motorist not really paying attention, but it is also 'off' half the time, which is not good!