Riding and visibility

As it gets darker earlier here we go again with riders without lights,that's an easy fix but I've noticed that the blinking red gets lost in the sea of red in traffic. Many cars have yellow turn signals to stand out and I saw a few bikes with blue lights. Maybe we need a color not on vehicles to be seen better?

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Permalink Reply by H2 on October 14, 2015 at 9:01am

I prefer the solid white light up front - There are some bikes that have the crazy high powered front light and when that is put on strobe effect it really messes with my night vision and is way more distracting in a negative way. the steady shows me (when driving) more consistently where the biker is. Also why I think bikers should pay attention to the angle of their lights - doesn't help if you are just blinding those around you. For this reason I keep my front light on steady and have my back red light blink but the one that blinks side to side so there is always a light on but still gives the flashing punch if that makes sense.

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Permalink Reply by Steve G on October 14, 2015 at 9:20am

I agree, bright white front light aimed such that it is not in the eyes of oncoming traffic is what's needed.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 14, 2015 at 9:09am

State law requires a RED rear reflector or light.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=1815&Chapt...

    (625 ILCS 5/11-1507) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-1507)
    Sec. 11-1507. Lamps and other equipment on bicycles.

(a) Every bicycle when in use at nighttime shall be equipped with a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible from a distance of at least 500 feet to the front and with a red reflector on the rear of a type approved by the Department which shall be visible from all distances from 100 feet to 600 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful lower beams of headlamps on a motor vehicle. A lamp emitting a red light visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear may be used in addition to the red reflector.

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Permalink Reply by H2 on October 14, 2015 at 9:33am

I think we are both talking about the white front light (at least I was) that should be a steady white. The back should definitely be red. We should always mimic the cars.

and just realized that you weren't replying to my (and/or Steve's) post necessarily. Oops! move along - nothing to see here! ;)

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on October 14, 2015 at 2:03pm

H2 said, "we should always mimic the cars."

Mike Zumwalt said, "the blinking red gets lost in the sea of red in traffic."

I guess that this means in summation, that we can legally do very little to change things, except becoming even more annoyingly bright.