jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) (09/18/84)
> I have tried using a flashing amber light while riding my bike at night, and > have had some bad experiences. I think some drivers are confused by the > light, thinking it is signalling a baracade up ahead. I agree, though, that > it is visible. GREAT!!! That's called the "camoflage principle" of bicycle lighting. Try to look like something objectionable to a car! Hitting a bike is like swatting a mosquito to your average, power-pig American gas guzzler. "Oops! Poor guy! I guess I should call somebody at the next gas station!" Bike lighting is *NOT* to make you seen, but to make you look like something that better not be hit! Hypothetical case: Driver is on a narrow road with no shoulders, travelling too fast for conditions. He sees a car coming in the opposite lane and you, peacefully travelling "as far to the right as possible" a la Uniform Motor Vehicle Code. He can't stop in time. He identifies you as a bicycle by your bobbing leg-light, little red tail-light, or whatever. Which is he going to take out, you, or the car? Second case: He only sees a highway obstruction, identified by the typical flashing yellow. "Hmm," he rapidly thinks, "might be a washout, a missing person-hole cover, or a really big chuckhole. Might do some damage." Now, granted, this alone will probably not give enough reason for hime to take out another car, but if you (the cyclist) are an unknown, potentially life threatening object, he will take much more care than if he knows you are a mere bicycle. ("Probably won't even scratch the paint.") Perhaps I'm overly cynical, but I really believe there are many motorists who would rather hit a bicycle than a chuckhole. (Notice I didn't say a "bicyclist": "Gee, oficer; I kinda forgot there might be someone riding a bicycle on this road!") Disguise yourself as a chuckhole! -- :::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 61-161 (w)503/685-2843 :::::: :::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 ::::::