phil said:When out on the bike after dark I just use the steady mode, in
conjunction with the European Reflective Sticky Tape Mountain (which is
blummin' great stuff, by the way).
I'm with you and Mike on this. I particularly dislike being stuck
behind a fast flashing light when I'm cycling.
I /do/ use a strobing light (Knight Rider style), but that is in
addition to 3 steady lights.
Quoted message said:Technically I think you are legally only allowed a maximum of 2.5W of
light at the front of a bike;
That's nearly right, but not quite. The lighting regs include 2 sets of
requirements for cycle lights - one set for mandatory lights, another
set for optional lights.
You *must* have lights that meet the mandatory lighting requirements.
One of these requirements is that the lights must meet British
Standards, or some equivalent foreign standard (my dynamo lights meet
German standards, for example, and are thus acceptable as my mandatory
lights). I don't know about current British Standards (they were
updated a few years ago), but AIUI the old standard used to specify a
maximum power of 2.4W. I think this was to maximise battery life, the
standards having been written at a time when battery technology was not
what it is today.
Any additional lights only have to meet the less stringent requirements
for optional lights. So it is legal for me to use my 10 & 20W
Lumicycles on the public highway, as long as I also use my 2.4W dynamo
light (and as long as I don't dazzle anyone).
Quoted message said:I feel that lights on cycles is a matter
of common sense rather than the letter of the law.
Can you imagine the field day the press would have if the police
insisted on the letter of the law being followed? "Cyclist prosecuted
for being too well lit".
There /was/ a story a couple of years ago about a motorist who killed
two cyclists and blamed it on one of the cyclists' lights. A group of
cyclists (well, POBs really) was riding home from the pub. On the
pavement (US - sidewalk). On the wrong side of the road. One of them
was displaying what, from the descriptions I read at the time, were
probably Smart or CatEye 2.5W + 10W twin lights. A speeding motorist
came round a bend, was dazzled and confused by the oncoming lights and
drove onto the pavement, into the cyclists.
--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
