blinded by light

On 9/30/2019 9:11 AM, Duane wrote:
On 30/09/2019 9:54 a.m., jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 6:18:46 AM UTC-7, AMuzi
wrote:
On 9/29/2019 11:03 PM, David Scheidt wrote:
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
:On Sat, 28 Sep 2019 03:06:49 +0000 (UTC), David Scheidt
wrote:

:I got blinded by a bike light this afternoon.

:Blinded during afternoon daylight hours? I could see
that happening
:at night, but not during daylight hours. Have you
recovered from the
:blinding light?

During the day, gray and rainy.

:Some stupidly bright flashing thing, poorly aimed.

:Probably someone doing weapons research. Megalumen
lights will
robably be prominent in the next inevitable war.

:How do I know it was poorly aimed? I was inside. At
my desk. On the
:second floor. Looking 90 degrees away from the
direction the bike was
:traveling.

:If it was a headlight, 90 degree side illumination
suggests it may
:have had 180 degree beamwidth. Impressive for a
bicycle light.

My desk is at the corner of the building. I stand
facing out a east
window, and have southern ones immediately to my right.
The biker was
in the alley on the block south, heading towards me.
The light was
annoying me (flahs, flash, flash, SUPER FLASH,
flash...), and turned
to see what it was, which is when I really was blinded.
If I'd been
driving a car down the alley, I'd have run the guy and
his pinarello
over.

:Assuming your description is accurate, my guess(tm)
would be a poorly
:secured headlight that had rotated itself to one side.
Further, I
:suspect that the rider was not familiar with the
operation of a day
:time blinky "safety" headlight. Perhaps the bicycle
was stolen, he
:was making a hasty escape, and he did not have time to
adjust and
:secure the headlight?


:http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/bicycles/slides/bicycle-flashlight.html

:It's difficult to be certain, but I suspect that this
was a unique and
:unusual occurrence, which is unlikely to be repeated in
the near
:future.

Dude lives on that block (or at least, he keeps his
collection of
bikes there). I expect I'll see him and the light again.




A brief survey of bikes in for service shows some large
number of tail lights pointing at the pavement and a lesser
but significant number of head lamps directed at outer
space.



Tail lights don't have much directionality except for the
designs with the built in bike paths.
https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/...1-led-23r-v104


The popular move these days is multiple tail lights --
which is O.K. unless you're riding behind the person. I
have a single pulsing rear light which is a nice
compromise. You stand out as a bicycle without blinding
anyone. My bike also has a bunch of reflective tape, and
if I'm really concerned, I'll wear my reflective shoe
covers. Those things are really noticeable -- but just
so-so keeping my feet dry.

I also see a lot of DRL "good luck" rear blinkies -- the
sort of thing you would get free for your kid to wear
trick-or-treating. Why bother.

Maybe it's just to comply with the law. Here lights are
required at night. There's no specification except one
white in front and one red behind. They've recently added
that blinkies are allowed. BTW, there's no real
specification as to what constitutes night either. I have
decent lights for night riding though I don't do that much.
I have some pretty decent ones that I keep on the bike in
case of a rainy commute or when I commute this time of year.

I use some reflective tape because unlike lights, reflectors
are mandatory at all times. Since I don't have pedals I can
put tape on my shoes. For wheels it's even better. You can
use tape on the wheel but it has to cover the full
circumference of the wheel. My HED wheels have reflective
labels but they aren't compliant because there are spaces on
the rim with no label. But we are allowed to substitute
reflective tape on the seat stays or fork. Now how does
that make sense? The cops at our club's info session told
us it would be useful if the clowns making the laws actually
saw a bicycle but no matter, we have to comply to avoid the
fines. The fines are 65 bucks per missing reflector so I
put the tape on. I don't see much use for reflectors in
daylight anyway.


Super-bright front flashers should be outlawed, but then
only outlaws will have bright flashers.

BTW, there's no real
specification as to what constitutes night either.

I could not find it for Quebec but in USA the legal concept
is well defined ['civil twilight'] as it affects various
activities and obligations from firearm use to auto lights
to watercraft.


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 2:26:09 AM UTC-4, John B. wrote:


We were driving from Florida to Massachusetts and somewhere in N.
Carolina or thereabouts we hit an area with huge advertising signs.
We'd be happily cruising down the road and hit one of these advert
areas and the head lights would go mad. Down, up, down,up again, down
and every which way except sideways. I can assure you that if you were
feeling a bit sleepy that the light fandango would weak you up.

So, it was a "feature" and not a bug!

- Frank Krygowski

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 8:43:46 AM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 13:15:35 +0700, John B.
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Sep 2019 20:57:39 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 06:13:05 +0700, John B.
wrote:

And, I might add, eliminate the complaints of "lights in my eyes".

There's a better and easier way that has been proposed many times and
rejected every time. Install a horizontally polarizing screen over
all headlights, and require riders, drivers, and pedestrians to wear
vertically polarized glasses, which blocks the horizontally polarized
light from the lights. As an added bonus, the glasses would also
eliminate most forms of glare.

Sounds great.... but what about bright street lamps, light from
buildings. windows, etc., hand held spot lights, flashing directional
lights (red arrow sort of things), warning lamps on obstructions,
lamps at railway crossings, and so on?

How many of those light sources are mounted on vehicles or bicycles?
Probably none.
How many are located in the middle of the road where they might impair
a drivers or riders vision? Probably none.
Street and traffic lights are designed to be usable by drivers wearing
anti-glare polarized glasses.

We tested a few of these to see how the glasses would work. Most of
the signage, traffic, and warning indicators produced non-polarized
light and were easily visible through the glasses. This was in the
days when most of the lights were incandescent. I don't recall the
polarization of fluorescent lightning, but since the light source is a
phosphor, I would guess(tm) that these are also non-polarized. Same
guess(tm) with todays phosphor LED lighting. The polarized glasses
would dim some of the light from random sources, but not all of it.

If you're looking for additional failure modes, using IPS LCD displays
in automobile dashboard displays, tablets, and smartphones are big
problems. My Google Nexus 7 (2013) tablet goes black if I wear
polarizing (anti-glare) glasses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM3FBPrga3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUA6nyvy-LY
https://youtu.be/26qYrSNYJXM?t=189
There are also some psychedelic rainbow color effects viewing
instruments that are behind clear plastic dashboard panels.

"The Reason Polarized Lenses Cause Crazy Patterns in Car Windows"
https://www.revantoptics.com/blog/why-youre-seeing-rainbows-in-car-windows/

"Why aren't headlights and windshields polarized?"
https://www.quora.com/Why-arent-headlights-and-windshields-polarized

"Student Develops First Polarized LED"
https://phys.org/news/2008-03-student-polarized.html


Interesting post!

- Frank Krygowski

On Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 1:51:11 PM UTC-7, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 28 Sep 2019 03:06:49 +0000 (UTC), David Scheidt
wrote:

I got blinded by a bike light this afternoon.

Blinded during afternoon daylight hours? I could see that happening
at night, but not during daylight hours. Have you recovered from the
blinding light?

Some stupidly bright flashing thing, poorly aimed.

Probably someone doing weapons research. Megalumen lights will
probably be prominent in the next inevitable war.

How do I know it was poorly aimed? I was inside. At my desk. On the
second floor. Looking 90 degrees away from the direction the bike was
traveling.

If it was a headlight, 90 degree side illumination suggests it may
have had 180 degree beamwidth. Impressive for a bicycle light.

Assuming your description is accurate, my guess(tm) would be a poorly
secured headlight that had rotated itself to one side. Further, I
suspect that the rider was not familiar with the operation of a day
time blinky "safety" headlight. Perhaps the bicycle was stolen, he
was making a hasty escape, and he did not have time to adjust and
secure the headlight?
http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/bicycles/slides/bicycle-flashlight.html
It's difficult to be certain, but I suspect that this was a unique and
unusual occurrence, which is unlikely to be repeated in the near
future.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Lights, particularly bright lights are the last thing that would be used. It is very easy to use rifle fired missiles that would center on bright lights.

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 9:00:33 AM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Today, we have Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights, which work
better than previous generations of high/low headlight switchers, but
are still not perfect for every possible situation.
https://www.koito.co.jp/english/technology/koito/system.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=adb+headlights&tbm=isch

"It’s Time to Bring U.S. Headlight Standards Out of the Dark Ages"
https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/04/research-european-headlight-technology-us-low-beam-safety/

From the AAA article: "Previous AAA research found that a majority of Americans (64 percent) do not regularly use their high beams." But the problem is, the
other 36% never use their low beams!

OK, that's an exaggeration. But I encounter plenty of knuckleheads who don't dim
their headlights as I approach. And then there are the guys who add accessory
driving lights or fog lights, and have those things glaring as well. Pickup
drivers seem to be greatly over-represented in that group. And if a pickup is
towing a trailer around here? Almost guaranteed he'll have high beams on.

It's not clear to me how Adaptive Beams will work. Cresting hills and rounding
curves, it takes a bit of intelligence and foresight to dim high beams before
they blind someone. I watch for early signs, such as reflections off roadside
telephone lines. I doubt these systems will do that.

I also doubt these systems will prevent blinding of oncoming bicyclists.

- Frank Krygowski

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

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 11:46:31 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/30/2019 9:11 AM, Duane wrote:

BTW, there's no real
specification as to what constitutes night either.

I could not find it for Quebec but in USA the legal concept
is well defined ['civil twilight'] as it affects various
activities and obligations from firearm use to auto lights
to watercraft.

Some states (including Ohio) have changed their vehicle lighting laws, making
them apply from sunset to sunrise instead of between periods of civil twilight.

I thought that was a change made by the NCUTLO, but it's not in the 2000 version
from what I can tell.

- Frank Krygowski

On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:02:05 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

Interesting post!
- Frank Krygowski

Y'er welcome. Some more reading of interest. Like I said, this is
nothing new and has been demonstrated that it works repeatedly. The
problem is dealing with upgrading millions of existing headlights. The
best that can be done is use them on new cars. With roughly a 20 year
life on automobiles, it may take several generations before universal
adoption.

"The Glare in the Eyes of Edwin Land"
https://www.polarization.com/land/land.html

Some of the other articles on polarized light on the above web site
are worth reading:
https://www.polarization.com

"Polarizer Headlight Test"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOQFlbiIQE

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:25:24 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

It's not clear to me how Adaptive Beams will work. Cresting hills and rounding
curves, it takes a bit of intelligence and foresight to dim high beams before
they blind someone. I watch for early signs, such as reflections off roadside
telephone lines. I doubt these systems will do that.

I saw a patent that uses a camera to detect the horizontal line made
between the background and the roadway. The algorithm was quite
complexicated. I don't think that's going to fly. What makes more
sense is attaching the headlight elevation control to a GPS mapping
system that includes the tilt angle of the roadway. For most major
roads in the USA, the road is quite flat and the database would be
fairly small. Maybe convince Google Maps and similar mapping services
to measure the road angle and add it to their database. Connect the
GPS mapping thing to an elevation servo and you have a headlight that
is always aimed at the roadway ahead. Eventually, the technology
would trickle down to bicycle headlights, but the big need and market
is for automobiles. Of course, be sure to wave the "safety first"
flag when mentioning the idea. How many head on collisions caused by
headlight blinded drivers would the technology save?

I also doubt these systems will prevent blinding of oncoming bicyclists.

The system can easily detect an oncoming bright light and dim
accordingly. The existing kludges can do that. Unfortunately, when
these systems become common on automobiles, such a feature might be a
sales incentive for cyclists buying brighter headlights. So eliminate
that potential problem, methinks that LED headlights should have some
kind of on/off code superimposed onto the headlight. The sensor in
the vehicle detects this code and dims accordingly. That's much
easier than trying to distinguish between street lights and head
lights. LED's and be pulse modulated at a much higher rate than the
old incandescent lights, making such a modification fairly cheap and
easy.

Argh, I'm late (again)...


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Mon, 30 Sep 2019 08:18:42 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

A brief survey of bikes in for service shows some large
number of tail lights pointing at the pavement and a lesser
but significant number of head lamps directed at outer space.

That's because not one vendor of bicycle head or tail lights bothers
to use thread lock on their hardware to prevent vibration from
loosening the mount. Worse, the quick release flavor of headlight
mounting hardware tends to cold flow when the plastic gets warm
causing the mount to deform and loosen. Some clamps are offered in
only one handlebar diameter and use a rubber "shim" to fit smaller
diameters. If you put some tacky glue on the rubber, it would not
require as much force on the clamp to keep it in place.

I use mostly Loctite blue (243) and and a little purple (222) for tiny
screws:
http://henkeladhesivesna.com/blog/the-difference-between-red-blue-green-and-purple-threadlockers/

Tacky glue:
https://www.dickblick.com/products/aleenes-original-tacky-glue/




--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558