On 3/8/2017 5:22 PM, Doug Landau wrote:
My taillight hopped off 5 miles from home at the end of a 500 mile tour. It was dark and the road got narrow and unlit so I strapped my flashlight to the left seatstay, pointed down, illuminating the roadway.

Looking at the result, I thought it did an absolutely great job of improving (creating?) visibility.

A useful product? A legal product? A marketable product? I have searched a few times over the years but found no mention of such a product, nor such a use of a light, nor any patents, nor laws regulating or prohibiting downward-facing lights. There are however as you know a lot of laws about what lights one can have on a vehicle, what color and direction and distance they go, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's illegal I just haven't found it yet.

I think it adds a lot more visibility than a red blinky.

I'm curious how you tested that visibility. Did you have someone else
evaluate it for you as you rode? Or did you observe it from a passing
car as someone else rode your bicycle? I think some strategy like that
would be necessary to do a reasonably accurate evaluation.

BTW, Sir is right. At least in many jurisdictions, rear lights must be
red. You could easily make yours red, of course.

--
- Frank Krygowski