Night riding...

"chesty" wrote in message
...
writes:

Might just be me but a flashing light tends to attract the eye more than
a steady state one.

Yes, flashing lights definitely are more noticeable. No doubt that's
why emergency vehicles lights flash, or appear to flash, anyway.

The question is, is it legal to have a flashing light on a bicycle
in Australia? It's not in other parts.

It's not like you'll get pulled over and booked. But if you are
involved in an accident where you're not at fault, you don't want
stupid things like a flashing light being used to try and push the
blame your way.

It's harder to track a flashing light, too. So if you really want a
flashing light, put a steady one on, too.

Yes it is legal to have a flashing light, only on bikes though, not on cars.
Having several is even better.
Those yellow tops from Netti are really bright. I also wear reflective ankle
bands.

Marty

"Absent Husband" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

Was driving home with my wife last night after movie & dinner (kids
being baby-sat at their aunt's - woohoo!!) at the late (for us!) time
of 10:45pm.

As I drove through the "Woolloongabba 5-ways" intersection (right next
to the Gabba cricket ground for non-BrisVegans), I saw a cyclist
(roadie) go powering passed.

He was dressed up in some pretty nice gear, but couldn't pick what sort
of bike it was (too dark!). He had a flashing rear led, but couldn't

I used to ride at night after work, as excercise for managing my diabetes.
Yellow jacket, bright lights. Had many drivers deliberately trying to run me
off the road. Had an airgun pellet fired at me. Had a carload of yobbos
follow me through side streets yelling obscenities. Another car of yobbos
pulled up and one bod was about to rush at me. Couldn't get a single ride in
without an "incident" That was on top of drivers trying to kill me through
negligence. Eventually the number of people wanting to kill me got to me,
and I gave up night riding.

Henry.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 17:59:22 -0800, Absent Husband wrote:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the late
PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

We've occasionally cycled up to the local resturant, but
that's only a couple of km's at most. One time we rode
the Chittaway Point - The Entrance cyclepath (12k each way)
had dinner, then rode back in the dark. I loved it
but the consensus was from those without that you really
need good lights for the tree-filled windy bits.

I love the ride home from the train station in winter...
You get the mist rising up from the paddocks, and the
10W spotty firing off into the distance like something
out of the X-files.

All up - it's damn good.

-kt


--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: )
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked Questions

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:58:14 -0800, Absent Husband wrote:

Or should I shell out for a "real"
front light that is designed to 'see things' (rather than just an "I am
here!!" warning light)??

Definately.

Either build your own, or buy something like a
Vistalite nightstick (the 5w should be enough
for general urban riding).

-kt

--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: )
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked Questions

"hippy" wrote in message
...
"Absent Husband" wrote in message
So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Yes. Midnight training not out of the question..
Cooler, less cars, "different", fun..

It's almost certainly safer than my regular
peak-hour commute..

hippy

Have you ever taken the track bike out on the velodrome at night??? I love
riding at night or pre-dawn both on and off road and once I get my track
bike up and running and get a few daytime sessions in I might have to give
it a go.

Might make for a good photo if you leave a camera set up with the aperture
open and try to ride the same line for a few laps to get one of those "river
of light" type pictures that you always see across the Harbour Bridge (I am
sure that some of the more photographically aware people will know what I am
talking about and might even be able to tell me if it would be possible)

Gags

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 at 08:47 GMT, (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
"Absent" == Absent Husband writes:

Absent I'm up for anything once (well, most things...), so I might
Absent have to give it a shot and see how I go. Only front light
Absent I've got though, is a flashing LED (although I'd only be
Absent riding on well-lit main roads)... Do people think that that
Absent is enough?? Or should I shell out for a "real" front light
Absent that is designed to 'see things' (rather than just an "I am
Absent here!!" warning light)??

I use both. I've a Cat Eye flasher which I call my "look look, bike
coming!" light and a NiteFlux so I can see where I'm going.

Just looked at niteflux website. Why does an extra NiMH cell end up
costing you $70?

If only I had ths skills and time to make a light myself...

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Shift to the Left;
Shift to the Right
Pop up; Push down
Byte! Byte! Byte!!! --unk

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 at 09:15 GMT, chesty (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
writes:

Might just be me but a flashing light tends to attract the eye more than
a steady state one.

Yes, flashing lights definitely are more noticeable. No doubt that's
why emergency vehicles lights flash, or appear to flash, anyway.

The question is, is it legal to have a flashing light on a bicycle
in Australia? It's not in other parts.

I bought a rear light a few days ago that warned not to use flashing
mode on a bike, because of bike laws. But given that the rest of the
documentation was in Kanji and/or poorly translated Strine, I'm
guessing that the laws may well not apply to Australia. No idea.

I've ridden past booze busses and police plenty enough times with no
incident - but that could just be because they don't care.

One day, they'll just be looking for an excuse to book a cyclist, and
we'll all be vulnerable, because of that law that is usually not
enforced.

It's harder to track a flashing light, too. So if you really want a
flashing light, put a steady one on, too.

Yep. But that involves me going to the LBS and buying my *third* rear
light in 2 weeks. ******* faulty mount that lost my brand new rear
light up some mountain...

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Your fault (core dumped)

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 at 08:49 GMT, (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
"Absent" == Absent Husband writes:

Absent Hi all, Was driving home with my wife last night after movie
Absent & dinner (kids being baby-sat at their aunt's - woohoo!!) at
Absent the late (for us!) time of 10:45pm.

Fortunately not regularly but I have in the past commuted to work at
22:00 and commuted back at 04:00 by bicycle. About the only ``dodgy''
thing was a late night reveler expressing admiration of my Lycra
encased legs (it was winter, it was cold).

He must have been REALLY drunk.

Are you female or male?

I've had a guy grab my arse before when I was grinding away. Kindof
weird

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
The Klein-Gordon equation was derived by Schroedinger.
Hence its name. -- Peter Robinson, Rel. Quant. Mech Lecturer.

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 at 10:02 GMT, Gags (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Might make for a good photo if you leave a camera set up with the aperture
open and try to ride the same line for a few laps to get one of those "river
of light" type pictures that you always see across the Harbour Bridge (I am
sure that some of the more photographically aware people will know what I am
talking about and might even be able to tell me if it would be possible)

Look. I'm really going to have to get my arse into gear and put label
ym photos from the GVBR and put them online.

I've got a few nice ones like that...



OK, I'm drunk enough now that I can neither work, nor ride home, so I
guess I'll keep on rotating and labelled and enhancing photos. The
GIMP can't be too hard whenst drnuk, right?


--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Er, RFC 882 put the dot in .com.

TimC Wrote:

I bought a rear light a few days ago that warned not to use flashing
mode on a bike, because of bike laws. But given that the rest of the
documentation was in Kanji and/or poorly translated Strine, I'm
guessing that the laws may well not apply to Australia. No idea.


Specifically legal by the National Road Rules, no idea about WA.

Personally I think the difficulty of judging a flashing light is les
than that from the highly variable speed differential, and is countere
by flashing=bicycle.

The downside of my Light&Motion ARC headlight is sometimes cars thin
I'm a motorbike turning left (if I'm near the curb) and pull out

--
aeek