blinded by light

On Tue, 1 Oct 2019 15:58:42 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 9/30/2019 9:16 PM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:30:18 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:11:05 AM UTC-4, duane wrote:
Here lights are required at
night. There's no specification except one white in front and one red
behind.

I think the NHTSA codes and most U.S. state codes say the bike lights must be
visible from 500 feet. It's true that's a pretty vague spec. Visible under what
conditions? Total darkness or surrounded by city glare? And it's high time we
had upper limits, as well.

- Frank Krygowski

Visible from a stated distance is a fairly standard specification.
Marine navigation lights have used this standard for more than a
hundred years.

I think it makes more sense in a marine environment. There's rarely
enough bright surrounding light to cause an observer's pupils to stop down.

I suspect that the "standard" exists is because it was first set more
than a hundred years ago when there was no other method of specifying
brightness.

I also suspect that as a vessel is required to keep a lookout and the
excuse of "Ohhh I didn't see him" would in most cases simply pin the
blame onto the party that said it that light brightness is probably
not a major factor in vessel to vessel collisions.
--
cheers,

John B.