View Full Version : Single headlights on naked bikes
Details and update on Vltn3[Pete]
...I spoke with the woman who was driving the car, she explained that she had seen my car approaching as she came round the bend judged that she had enough time to get through the gap before me but had not seen the single headlight of Petes bike through the lights of my car I must state that my car was coming over a small rise... PLEASE ALL BE VERY VERY CAREFUL and consider that a single headlight as on the naked can be mistaken for another car behind the car approaching
...Or as a part of the vehicle behind the bike(bandit 600 in this case)... as experinced by me this evening on my way home from work :oops: :oops: I am now even more aware of what is going on around me as I saw a similar accident nearly happen under the exact same conditions as above this evening...
Please be careful out there people! :? :?
Noticed the same thing some time ago in my cage driving towards a sea of headlights, almost didn't see the bike filtering through on the outside.
I did try one of these strobe light thingys on my naked to make it stand out from the other lights but found it restricted the light output too much.
Sid Squid
31-01-06, 08:22 AM
I've got to say I think this is a load of codswallop.
Not long ago EU rules were considered such that twin light bikes could only have one light on for either beam, (we see this with many import bikes, hence the common "how do I make both lights come on" questions), I'm not sure where we are with this legislation right now, EU bikes still seem to have one light, ours still two. This is apparently done so that poor daft drivers won't think that your twin headlamp motorcycle bearing down upon them is a car further away and pull out in front of you.
That was a clear attempt at shifting the blame from those who don't look properly to you, dear motorbicyclist: if they don't see you right it's all your own fault.
Now we have the same crap again, only this time with the opposite excuse.
Two lights - we can't be expected to see you right - it's your fault.
One light - we can't be expected to see you right - it's your fault.
Anybody notice a trend? Not just me surely?
This may conceivably be a rant, all the same I remain unconvinced by this which seems to me, at a distance from the specific circumstance which inspired the post it's true, thus I'm not attempting to suggest that in this exact situation recklessness or worse was responsible, but all the same it's got excuse writ large across it.
EU bikes still seem to have one light, ours still two.
My CBR has two headlights but they only both come on with high beam, otherwise it is just one light. Hence all the dopey "did you know one of your bulbs has blown" comments I keep getting.
diamond
31-01-06, 08:36 AM
Saw this story on the bbc website yesterday, maybe drivers will begining to realise they actually have to look before they pull out at junctions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4663864.stm
"Drivers need to take an extra second or two to look out for bikers".
Or just try looking full stop!
Even when they do see you im sure some of the stuff they do is just pi55 you off, i had a bloke in a BMW in front of me Saturday & whenever i pulled out to the white line to look at going past him he also moved over, three times he did this before i got past & when i did he drove along on my rear wheel bipping his horn.
I just gave him the usual response. :toss:
Stormspiel
31-01-06, 12:28 PM
Saw this story on the bbc website yesterday, maybe drivers will begining to realise they actually have to look before they pull out at junctions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4663864.stm
They're running a similar campaign through the summer in Barnsley and guess who's the biker for all the media shots.......yours truly 8) autographs at a later date :lol: :roll: .They want me to roll up to a junction and take shots as i approach....Then ask drivers when they feel they could get out in front of me safely....sort of 5 secs to impact...4 secs to impact 3...2...1.
Seriously though...it shows that some concils are running bike friendly advertisements even if the UK government as a whole aren't. The head honcho of our traffic section has just retired but ade sure he initiated this scheme before he left as he was a 30 years + biker and tried his best to make everything bike friendly.
northwind
31-01-06, 12:56 PM
The one-headlight camoflague trick's a favourite on Visordown. Someone managed to get a shot of a bike in front of an old-model Land Rover Defender with the headlights in basiaclly the exact same place, and fair play, the bike's seriously hard to see. It's a good example, but in reality it's not likely to happen like that- the lights need to be at nearly the same height to make it work, and the bike needs to be perfectly on the line of sight from driver to car headlight. Not very likely at all. But the safer-than-thou brigade have jumped on it as a golden rule and it seems to be spreading.
They did the same with hi-vis... A single study in Holland showed that some hi-viz vest can act as camflague, as they break up the rider's outline and can confuse people- you see the vest fine, you just don't know what it is. But it was a tentative conclusion in a single study on one particular type of vest (which wasn't rated for road use)- yet suddenly this is "Proof that hi-viz is dangerous"
Flamin_Squirrel
31-01-06, 01:20 PM
As a wise man (Homer Simpson) once said, "Facts, pfft. You can prove anything with facts."
Jelster
31-01-06, 02:15 PM
Drivers may look, but they don't necessarily see.... And even if they do, they class motorcyclists as 2nd class citizens.
Yesterday afternoon I was following my Son on his scooter when a car decided to change lanes just before a junction. He couldn't get all the way across and blocked the "channel", but he did it right on top of Alex who almost hit the car.
The Driver proceeded to give Alex a lecture in observation.... Until I appeared on the scen and told him that he didn't look, to which I received the standard "Yes I did" response.
"So if you looked, and he was obviuosly there, why did you pull out then ?"
"Well he's only on a scooter..."
I rest my case.........
:rant:
Flamin_Squirrel
31-01-06, 02:19 PM
Did you claim another wing mirror? :o
"Story", "Codswallop", "Camourflage"... Each to his own I say :!:
I know what I saw last night, and I believe that it is another reason just to be a bit more careful and move about in the lane not only for "lane prescence" but also for visibility while out there :wink:
Jelster
31-01-06, 06:45 PM
Did you claim another wing mirror? :o
"Wing Mirror ?" I say young man you are getting your knickers in a twist... Modern cars have "door mirrors", and no, the removal of somebody's door mirror is generally a reactive response brought on by adrenalin. In this instance I was annoyed but calm.
Best you teleport back to Vulcan..... Obviously too much emotion here for you...
.
I believe that in the EU (apart from us it seems) it is law that only 1 light may shine for normal headlights.
Because more and more European countries were taking this stance, it ended up that the UK are now the only county that does not require it by law.
Because of this the main manufactures have "standardised" the wiring of motorcycle headlights and so we now also have bikes that have two headlight sockets but only one of them is the headlight and the other is main beam.
I am positive that I read this in MCN a couple of years ago. I had bought the new shape bandit that also had this configuration and was looking for a mod so I could change it. It was because of this that I remember reading the article.
It also mentioned the point as to why the were making it law, and Sid Squids explanation of poor car driver not realising that the two lights was in fact a bike quite close and not a car way in the distance was the reason given.
I also am on the same thinking as Sid Squid when I think it's a load of CRAP.
Flamin_Squirrel
31-01-06, 08:17 PM
Best you teleport back to Vulcan..... Obviously too much emotion here for you...
I think you'll find your lack of sense of humour qualifies you, not me.
Steve W
31-01-06, 08:34 PM
I also am on the same thinking as Sid Squid when I think it's a load of CRAP.
Correct !
I also am on the same thinking as Sid Squid when I think it's a load of CRAP.
As I said before...each to his own :wink:
But, as witnessed last night by myself and by Pete's accident (albeit from the woman who drove into him) I still believe that the single headlight is dangerous when the bike is in a certain postion on the road and AS SUCH, riders should position the bike wisely :)
The end...my point made and rant over :wink:
I think I may have been misunderstood. What I mean is that I think the whole thing about single or twin lights is CRAP. At the end of the day, it is the drivers lack of proper observations that are the problem not the fact that the motorcycle has one or two lights on the bike.
I think I may have been misunderstood...
Yep, most definitely :oops:
My sincerest apologies :)
Sid Squid
31-01-06, 10:19 PM
I still believe that the single headlight is dangerous when the bike is in a certain postion on the road and AS SUCH, riders should position the bike wisely :)
Couldn't agree more, we all need to pay attention as much as is humanly possible to every facet of our riding, we need to do this 'cos we know only too well that too many drivers won't.
Note won't, not can't, isn't possible etc etc, plain old won't, 'cos when the plan goes thrupennies up it hurts, and it mostly don't hurt them. I'm sure it's not a conscious component of the rubbish driving decision making process, but I'm damn sure it's a part of it.
Back to the accident in question; I don't accept that a single headlight is any different as regards driver awareness, I'm quite sure that there are circumstances where one or two might be more visible, but who's to know which or when you'd be best off with either?
northwind
31-01-06, 10:33 PM
What bothered me with the VD threads was that people were being advised against running with their headlights on since it had been "proved that that reduces visibility". What are the odds that riding with headlights has disguised enough bikes to offset the safety advantage you get from having them on? Slim to none, I'd call it.
21QUEST
01-02-06, 02:01 AM
Ah ...what did the man say again 'Miliions of reasons but no excuses' or summat like that.
Cheers
Ben
Ceri JC
01-02-06, 11:50 AM
Cars with one headlight working/far brighter than the other, or not on at all in darkness, are a far bigger problem than bikes with one or two. I've never seen a bike riding with lights off in conditions of poor visibility.
Still, it's the bikers fault/responsibility when a car driver doesn't see them... :roll: :D
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