Lights. What are the real standards?

[classic33]

He may well have been back, but just didnt log in. I often do this on forums coz I cant be arsed to log in just to check new posts.

Now that the topic has already been made off; what is your opinion on the Cateye Volt6000? (apart from being slightly cheaper than the ISS)

Too small for my liking. I'd be afraid I'd break something on it, if not itself. And at that price, £500-£600, not something I could afford to do the once.

 

[Tigerbiten]

View attachment 155667
Where does the law, at present, say that lights must be fitted on the above?
Type and position, and how many.

It doesn't matter how many lights you fit.
If the pedal reflectors are not visible from behind, it's not legal .......

 

[classic33]

It doesn't matter how many lights you fit.
If the pedal reflectors are not visible from behind, it's not legal .......

Four are required, coloured amber and marked BS6102/2 (or equivalent), positioned so that one is plainly visible to the front and another to the rear of each pedal.
If I can see them, from my seated position on a recumbent, they're legal. Nothing about being visible to the rear of the cycle.

 

[cubey]

One of the best reflective jackets available and compliments a decent lighting setup.

 

[Sunny Portrush]

Is there a legal definition of what is dazzling? A car headlight on low beam is around 700 lumens. My bike light says it can produce 760 lumens but it`s a smaller point source. One thing for sure, it`s BAF.....

 

[cubey]

Most car headlights are adjusted in the MOT test to avoid dazzle, cyclists light however................

 

[mjr]

Is there a legal definition of what is dazzling? A car headlight on low beam is around 700 lumens. My bike light says it can produce 760 lumens but it`s a smaller point source. One thing for sure, it`s BAF.....

A car headlight on low beam is only allowed to send at most 350cd above its cut-off. A British Standard bike light is only allowed to send 70cd above the horizontal (see earlier link), so cannot be dazzling if aimed correctly - German standards seem to allow 200cd max, which is still less than a car headlight above the horizontal, but most lights produce less. You only need a few cd to be seen and reflect off road signs.

I suspect that in theory, "be seen" flashing bike lights could be brighter because there's only the 4cd minimum limit in law but no maximum, but anything bright enough to dazzle oncomers would probably also hinder you seeing where you were going. Also, it's just a waste of battery capacity, so why would you?

Surely most of us check the aim of our headlights almost every time we turn them on, spotting the outline of their beam on walls on the outside of bends and so on? I use a spirit level on the dynamo lights each time I do a minor service on the bike, just to check they've not been knocked... and battery "to see" lights seem to need aiming again each time I fit them. Then there's always the random police checks for unlit bikes, but you need to be in a fairly bike-friendly place or rather unlucky to encounter one of those.