See and Be Seen
Ellen's equipment tips for riding in the dark
by Ellen Bone
Florida State Law
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT [§316.2065(8)]
A bicycle operated between sunset and sunrise
must be equipped with a lamp on the front exhibiting
a white light visible from 500 feet to the front and
both a red reflector and a lamp on the rear exhibiting
a red light visible from 600 feet to the rear.
Additional lighting is permitted and recommended.
The risk of fatal or incapacitating injury increases
sharply at night.
What type of riding do you do? What do you need lights to do?
Besides meeting the letter of the law, which most lights do, you need to decide what type of riding you do and what you need lights to do for you. Do you only ride in town on street lamp lit city streets? Do you ride on dark trails? Do you ride on very dark country roads that may include turns or twisting decents? Do you ride all of these? Do you ride by yourself or in a group in the dark? These questions are important as they determine the type of lights you need.
City riding means there is probably enough ambient light around for you to see the road so the primary concern is to make sure cars see you: front and rear lights that blink are probably all you need to call attention to yourself. Don’t forget the headlight! Lighting must let you be seen as well as see where you are going. Just because you can see the car as you come up to an intersection doesn’t mean they can see you. If you don’t have a headlight or two to attract attention, they may not be able to see you.
Riding on dark roads or trails means that you will need lights to see the road and avoid obstructions in addition to being seen. You will want a headlight with a fairly bright and broad beam. There are lots of headlights though few battery powered lamps are bright enough or have a wide enough beam to really illuminate the road. There are several models of lights that are intended for off road riding. These often will have helmet mounted options as well as handlebar options. They usually have a separate battery that can be carried in a water bottle holder. These are very bright and can be heavy when the battery is taken into consideration. When you are choosing a light, know how long you plan on riding as each light should have battery life listed.
Placement of headlights is important. The farther off axis from your eyelevel lights are placed, the more effective they are at providing a contrast and showing you where rocks, potholes, and other road hazards are. So, for example, the lower lights are placed (like down on your forks) the more they will help show you the road. There are so many types of beams from headlights you should check out the beam before you buy.
Tail lights are purely for others to see you. If you ride only in an urban setting a bright taillight on flash setting is best. Keep in mind that Florida law requires a reflector in addition to a light. See below for options.
If you want to ride all night and battery powered lights won’t last long enough nor are they bright enough there are several options. None are really cheap and since very few folks are going to ride all night, you can just call or email me!
As ever your decision about lighting will have tradeoffs. It may be light but not as bright, longer battery life but not as bright, brighter but heavier to carry. That is why you need to know what you need for your type of riding as well as your budget.
Common Mistakes
One thing I find horribly overlooked by many cyclists I ride with is the aiming of lights. The very best brightest 50 LED taillight in the world won’t do anything if it is pointed down at the road. It will not do its job of alerting a driver and calling attention to you. When you install lights on your bike take a look with them on in a dark room. Put the bike in front of a wall and see where the light is shining. A tail light should be hitting the wall in a straight line out from the bike. The same is true of a headlight you are using for attention only, not illuminating the street.
Another common mistake of aiming a headlight is to put it too close in front of you. The purpose of the headlight is to let you see obstructions with enough time to avoid them. Aim the headlight 7 to 10 feet in front of you so you can see things coming and adjust to go around them.
Reflective Gear
An often overlooked option in the trying to be visible field is reflective gear. This can include safety vests, safety sashes, and ankle reflectors. These are all inexpensive and easily found at bicycle shops and sports stores. The ankle bands are one of my favorites because they combine reflectivity with motion as you pedal.
OK, so this seems like a whole heck of a lot of information but for obvious reasons this is really important. I will list what I view as good compromises.
- Headlights- at least one with 3 to 5 LED’s set to flash on your handlebars if you only do city riding. If you are going to ride in dark places add a second one also on your handlebars or down on your forks with as many lumens as you can afford and battery life that is twice what you will be riding at night.
- Taillights- a minimum of two- one with a reflector and several LED’s set to flash for attention. One set on steady at a different height that the other. Also, it is really annoying to be blinded by a flashing taillight when riding in a paceline, so put the steady light mounted higher than the flashing light
- Reflective ankle bands or safety vest
