[OHPV-list] Lighting/Visibility test results

Thu Jan 19 18:34:05 EST 2006

Pat,

Thanks for the summary; sorry I missed the event (and sorry my EL vest didn't get tested).

I always say I'm lit up like a Christmas tree when I ride at night, but I know I use fewer and less bright lights than did any of your six riders.  And I'd wager that all six of your riders were orders of magnitude more visible than the "average" cyclist.

Interesting statistic on the percentage of side collisions . . .  While I often grouse about poorly lighted cyclists while I'm driving at night, the near misses (hits?) that scare me the most (whether on cycle or in car) are the almost side impacts with the bike that seems to come out of nowhere.

As you probably know, cyclists are not legally required to have a rear light on their bikes at night in Oregon (a reflector is the legal minimum).  I'm always surprised by how many and how vehement some cyclists are in opposing a light requirement.  But, then again, there are lots of cyclists opposed to helmets . . .  

Anyway, thanks for the report.  I'll soon be off to the Performance bike shop to get a few super rear blinkies.

--
Brooks Koenig 
Veritas, Vizslas, & Velos 
2833 SE Harrison St. 
Portland, OR 97214

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Pat Franz" <patf at terracycle.com> 

Hi Everyone-

We had a good time testing bike visibilty down at Terry and Laura's Tuesday night. It didn't rain much at all during the test, and we all felt like we learned a lot. I know I'm going to do a couple things right away (add another taillight and get real reflective bands for my ankles).

We had 6 bikes/riders and 4 judges that filled in scorecards. Todd and Edna and I think others took pictures; perhaps they can post representative ones to give a better idea of the bikes/riders. Eventually, we plan to make a page for the OHPV site and perhaps do an article for RCN or BROL about the test.

In the mean time, I've averaged the judges' scores and made up the following table. I also wrote up some notes and comments; if you were there, please pipe up with more. I tried to be complete and brief.

--Pat

                         TerraCycle, Inc.
 Recumbent Bicycle Upgrades & Accessories
www.terracycle.com info at terracycle.com 800-371-5871/503-231-9798(USA)

OHPV Lighting Test 1/17/06
The Test
We tested 6 bike/rider combinations for visibility under 3 different situations: Rear View/Departing, Sideways Approach, and Head On Approach. Roadway had streetlights at intervals, and judges were located near a vehicle with it's high beams on. Bikes/Riders were judged on 5 things during each test: Noticeability at Distance, Ease of Identification as Bike, Ease of determining Location, Ease of determining Direction/Course, and Noticeability at Close Range. Scoring ranged from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).
The Bikes/Riders
Dave Van Gundy: Gold Rush with light colored Bodysock, helmet mounted 10W light, 3 LED flasher on handlebars, helmet mounted rear light, red light in rear of Bodysock, LED reflective vest, reflective dots on ankles of tights.
Laura Minor: Strada with Nite Rider steady and Cateye strobe front lights, Emerson 18 LED rear light, reflective stripes on tights.
Marilyn Haywood: Aero with Performance 5 LED front strobe, Petzl white LED helmet strobe, Yellow TailSok with Cateye white strobe inside, Performance "Viewpoint" 9 LED Taillight (Item #40-2175B) mounted behind TailSok, Illumilite jacket, helmet mounted rear blinky
John Climaldi: TE Clone with front fairing, Light Spin Dynamo with Lumotech 3W halogen lighting up fairing. Old 3 LED taillight with rundown batteries. Bacchetta brain box bag on back with reflective stripes.
Ken Bayer: Gold Rush with front fairing, Night Rider ?? watt helmet light (very bright), Performance 9LED rear light with rundown batteries (not the same as Marilyn's). Motorcycle type turn signals.
Pat Franz: Terra-Za with neon yellow/illumilite TailSok, Cateye EL400 headlight on steady, Pyramid 4 LED headlight on slow blink, Cateye LD500 rear taillight behind sock, sock illuminated by 3LED flashing headlight. Schwalbe relective rear tire, Burley jacket with reflective stripes
Scoring: 1=Poor, 5=Excellent
RiderDaveLauraMarilynJohnKenPat
Test 1: Rear View/Departing      
Noticeability at Distance2.25452.252.753.75
Ease of Identification as Bike33.754.752.7533.75
Ease of determining Location2.753.754.5333.75
Ease of determining Direction/Course2.753.754.25333.5
Noticeability at Close Range43.54.753.53.754.25
Test 2: Sideways Approach      
Noticeability at Distance2.2544.62.52.54.75
Ease of Identification as Bike2.754.754.62.52.254.25
Ease of determining Location3442.252.254.25
Ease of determining Direction/Course344.252.752.254.25
Noticeability at Close Range2.7544.252.7534.5
Test 3: Head on Approach      
Noticeability at Distance3.54.254.7544.53.5
Ease of Identification as Bike33.54.52.53.253.5
Ease of determining Location33.33.753.53.253.5
Ease of determining Direction/Course3.253.343.53.53.5
Noticeability at Close Range43.34.644.53.75

Notes:
This was just a test of how things looked from an auto driver's point of view. We didn't test any of the headlights to determine how well they lit things up from the bike rider's point of view.
>From front and side, noticeability and ease of identification as bike were strongly improved by use of blinky front light.
>From rear, everything was improved by brighter lights and by having more than one. Multiple lights, in front or behind, were very effective.
>From side, a front blinky, an flashing TailSok, and reflectives on clothing were most effective. Solid front lights, even if bright, were not as effective.
Very bright front lights were not as much of a help in getting noticed as blinking lights. Lighting up the front fairing didn't do much.
Reflectives on clothing, particularly things that moved with pedalling, were very effective. 
TailSoks and Bodysocks very effective closer up, but at long range, only the red blinkies were visible. Flashing TailSoks were very visible from the side.
Marilyn's rear taillight was awesome, more effective even than Laura's big Emerson highway emergency light. Everyone else's taillights were a big step down from these two.
Older LED taillights like John and Dave had literally paled in comparison to the newer lights.
We didn't test a number of interesting things: Xenon strobes, reflective tape on the bike frame, wheel reflectors, TireFlys, EL wire, flourescent lights, etc. It would be good to do some more testing.
Conclusions:
1. If you have an LED taillight older than a few years old, get one of the Performance lights like Marilyn's. See Marilyn's post for details.
2. If your LED light is looking at all dim (as in it doesn't hurt your eyes from 5ft away), put in new batteries right away.
3. Put reflective things on your legs and ankles.
4. Add a front blinky light. If you only have a blinky up front, get another.
5. Wear a jacket with reflective stripes.
6. If you have a TailSok or Bodysock, light it up with a strong white blinky.

Consider this excerpt from John Forester: http://www.johnforester.com/Articles/Lights/cpsc9701.htm :
Table 1: Relative Proportions of Car-Bike Collisions Due to Darkness

  Type of Collision %
Motorist exiting from side street47.2
Motorist turning left22.3
Motorist overtaking cyclist21.0
Wrong-way cyclist head-on9.5
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From: "Pat Franz" <patf at terracycle.com>
Subject: [OHPV-list] Lighting/Visibility test results
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:23:38 +0000
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