[SDCBC] Bicyclist Dies After Being Hit By Mercedes

[John Eldon]

In the 1970s when I lived in west Los Angeles, I frequently commuted after dark, with a French strap-on lamp (remember those?) on each leg and on one or both arms, the brightest generator light (remember those?) I could find, a white jersey, sweater, or T-shirt, and all the Scotch reflector tape I could fit onto my rear rack, my cranks, my forks and stays, etc. I worked part-time at a bike shop, where a customer once commented that he regularly observed a bicyclist who was "lit up like a Christmas tree." Comparing routes and times of day, we concluded that he had probably been talking about me. We all know how dramatically battery and lighting technology have improved during the ensuing 35 years -- "Blowtorch," anyone?



----- Original Message ----
From: "JonIsaacs at aol.com" <JonIsaacs at aol.com>
To: sdcbc at bikesandiego.org
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 3:12:18 AM
Subject: Re: [SDCBC] Bicyclist Dies After Being Hit By Mercedes



- I am with Serge and Jim on this one. Light yourself up,  good practice is a good solid head light, at least 10 watts and hopefully double that with 2 beams, multiple flashing tail lights, including at least one that shows to side.  



- One great thing about riding at night is that with proper lighting it puts you on an equal footing with other vehicular traffic, visibility is not longer a function of size but how bright your are.



-  The minimum legal light is probably visible but does not put one on an equal footing with other vehicles.   I see people with fancy Ti bikes riding at night with a $10 head lamp, doesn't make sense to me...



-  Here is something I have wondered about but never tried, maybe some of you are doing this and can tell me how it works:   Wearing an red or maybe amber flasher each wrist.  This provides ample side visibility and when giving a left or right turn signal, it becomes a flashing turn signal.





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