bloody lights!

headlights on dipped beam doesnt bother me at all, seeing as my busa,sv, and transalp are all hard wired and cant be turned off anyway. when i'm in my car i dont have a problem with bikes filtering at speed using high beam, what i do get the severe hump with is bikes using main beam ALL the time. when in heavy, slow moving traffic go back to dipped beam so you dont blind people. the idiots who only ride with main beam on should be flogged and made to re take their tests. it must be difficult being so thick and selfish.

In law with regards to headlights a flashing light only means "I AM HERE"and your
interpretation and action you take is your responsibility

EX 1 Faster car behind you when in an overtaking lane I would take to mean move over and let me pass,not very polite but it happens

Ex 2 You are leaving a busy junction and a car stops and flashes his lights at you
I would take that he has stopped or slowed to let you out but it is still your responsibility to ensure it is clear to do so

Very grey and misunderstood area flashing headlights and I only use it as a guide as most people have their own interpretation

Originally Posted by sv_dan

High beams can cause dazzling and it's illegal. So Kate you were correct. Feel free to brandish me as a menace on the roads and chastise me in public. Oh you already have!

Lol, I don't think I actually used the work menace...This thread just kinda got me going after having a biker sit behind me with his lights on full this morning which meant I couldn't filter or move as I couldn't actually see diddly-squat. I don't like feeling blind on the M25!

[Stu]

Can I stick up for Dan & me, I don't think either of us would stick behind the same person car or bike for any length of time with full beam on.

Originally Posted by Kate

Lol, I don't think I actually used the work menace...This thread just kinda got me going after having a biker sit behind me with his lights on full this morning which meant I couldn't filter or move as I couldn't actually see diddly-squat. I don't like feeling blind on the M25!

Having anyone behind you with their beams on high is dangerous... I was filtering between the traffic on the a13 during winter last year on my way home with some n*b behind me with his lights on full. I couldn't see much ahead of me because he was blinding me which meant I couldn't filter very fast. I wanted to thump the **** for putting me in danger. All it would've taken is the usual salmon driver to leap across my path and I'd have had NO chance to avoid it.

I generally move out of the way for faster filterers so being forced out of the way for my own safety really wound me up.

I tend to weave a bit in filtering space with my lights on dipped beam in the hope that the flickering (rather than steady light) attracts drivers' attention rather than them thinking the light is just another traffic-snarled car's headlight.

My big gripes with lights are:

1. People who think any sort of division between the oncoming lane and themselves (eg central reservation on an unlit dual carriageway) will miraculously prevent oncoming drivers from being blinded by their full beams. They drive along on full beam oblivious to the oncoming traffic flashing its lights.

2. People (usually cagers) who drive down country roads at 35-40mph with dipped beams and even when nothing is coming, don't switch to full beam. When you overtake them (having to use full beam to do so) they invariably manage to keep up at 60mph. Quite why they couldn't put their lights on full beam in the first place is beyond me.

3. People with obscenely bright, or poorly (upwardly) angled lights. Yes, they may actually be dipped, but if every oncoming car is flashing you, thinking you're on high beam, searing their eyeballs with a blast of high beam to show, "no actually, I was using dipped" doesn't make it right.

Originally Posted by Kate

Lol, I don't think I actually used the work menace...This thread just kinda got me going after having a biker sit behind me with his lights on full this morning which meant I couldn't filter or move as I couldn't actually see diddly-squat. I don't like feeling blind on the M25!

No you didn't call me a menace, I was just being flippant! And in that situation I would have got a little bit annoyed as well. But I've realised that despite only ever having high beams on for a short period at a time it may still dazzle other drivers, and I don't want to be the one to cause a problem on the roads. I honestly (maybe foolishly) thought that my high beams would not be that bad. Heyho, you live and learn.

[glade]

Our car has xenon headlights and people are always flashing us because they think its on full beam... you can only take it for so long before you give the next guy a retina burning flash of the mains!!

i don't like xenons because of this... wonderful to drive with though!

I think that full beam for filtereing sounds a like a reasonable thing to do, so long as when you are in the 'normal' position or behind another bike you switch to dipped. Its only going to catch one mirror and if the traffic is stationary you'll be past before too long. Only during the day of course, at night it'd be way too bright... though filtering at night you're taking your chances anyway!

is the answer to upgrade your headlight bulbs. I've done this and the effect is dramatic.

Edski

Originally Posted by glade

Our car has xenon headlights and people are always flashing us because they think its on full beam... you can only take it for so long before you give the next guy a retina burning flash of the mains!!

Erm...yeah, I would be inclined to get the positioning of the headlights checked if I were you I drive pass plenty of cars with xenon headlights and if anything, a correctly set pair of xenons are far less harsh on the eye than any halogen or regular lightbulb

As for the retina-burning flash...well