On 2018-02-12 07:56, sms wrote:
On 2/12/2018 7:20 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 5:25:55 AM UTC-8, sms wrote:
On 2/12/2018 5:00 AM, Sepp Ruf wrote:

No, Joerg is claiming that ordinary StVZO tail lights that are
visible from
500 meters in Europe are not good enough for his and fellow
Californians'
impaired sense of vision, and why he feels tail lights that feature
5000 ft+
visibility are preferable. And he is trying to confuse what can
actually be
powered by dynamo with what he "remembers" seeing, back then, on
inspecified
cycles in traffic.

The StVZO lights are woefully inadequate. Don't forget that you need one
that is visible in the daytime as well. You don't need a 1500 lumen tail
light, but many are ridiculously weak, 10 lumens, or even less.


That was also my impression. I thought LED technology would have made
them better but maybe they reduced the power so much that it didn't
increase brightness much. A bicycle rear light must be as bright as a
motorcycle rear light, else the risk of being rear-ended increases, as
does the number of close calls. Most of all it must be as wide because
motorists often subconsciously gauge their distance to other vehicles in
front by the "fatness" of the lights.


I don't know if I've seen a StVZO tail light, but I've see a lot that
are invisible either by design or because of dying batteries and a lot
that are too bright to ride behind at night. Most fall somewhere in
between and are plentiful -- from PDW, Lesyne, L&M, etc. The
chronically nervous sometimes have two or three tail lights, which is
kind of humorous -- unless they're blinding. Again, in sunshine, I
always see the jersey first. I ride up behind someone and notice the
tail light when I'm five feet away. It's like a fashion accessory.

"Seeing the jersey first" is great if you're riding with recreational
riders all wearing yellow or orange fluorescent jerseys. For
transportational cycling, which there's a lot of in my area, the riders
aren't typically wearing highly visible clothes like that.

The key to getting more people out on bicycles is to promote equipment
that allows them to ride to work or school in normal clothes, and
provide routes that make the ride practical.


Amen! Many people do not understand this and that includes a lot here in
the NG.


If you've been to Palo Alto, the cross-town bicycle boulevard is
probably about the most usable infrastructure I've seen, and there is no
bicycle lane.


A bicycle boulevard without a bicycle lane? What is a bicycle boulevard
then?

scratching head


... It continues through Mountain View. We are working on a
bicycle boulevard system for Cupertino, and in the last election, the
two winners were both in favor of this, while the other three serious
candidates had no interest in bicycle infrastructure at all.


Those three others are unfortunately typical, sounds like our village :-(


I have been trying to get a bicycle light giveaway going, even though
most riders could afford lights they don't get them. Especially bad is
students riding to school in the early morning when it's dark.


Won't help much. I dread going through Davis with my car but sometimes
had to because of carrying a heavy load. At night cyclists dart around
willy-nilly. Traffic rules? Red lights? Phhht, that ain't meanin'
nuthin'. Many have rear lights and they are mostly either off or are
very dim and have depleted alkalines in them that have been leaking for
weeks.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/