Last night I was out for a walk in the local countryside, with my Acebeam E70, on high. I saw a group of runners approaching, so I pointed my light down at the ground. There were more than ten of them, all with lights pointing straight ahead blinding me, so I shielded my eyes with my left hand. So as they approached, I pointed my light straight at them to make a point. Half an hour later exactly the same thing happened with the same group of runners, they were doing a circular route. I know I blinded them as some of them were shielding their eyes with their hands, as was I.
Part of the problem is that they wear very bright head lights attached to their heads, with no facility for beam adjustment, and they can be bothered to dim them.
I see this too with cyclists. When out driving, I sometimes come across oncoming cyclists whose lights are so bright it causes me problems driving. Ten years ago I was out running in a wood, and came across some cyclists. The light from one bike was so bright I was unable to do anything other than stand still and shield my eyes. They were stationary. And they started talking to me while pointing a light at me.
Some people just have no consideration for others.
There are regular posts on r/flashlight from cyclists wanting either strobe lights or advice on attaching a lumen cannon to their bike “to make me more visible”, the idea of clothing with reflective stripes never seems to occur to them, just blinding oncoming motorists.
Also note the negative reaction on this forum to most “how can I bolt all these SBT90 LEDs to my car” type posts. The selfish minority spoil it for the rest of us.
With groups of people using headlamps, there is an unintential lumens war, if someone else is using a brighter light than you, they will cast distracting/annoying shadows over your less bright light, so you have to use a higher mode…
I’ve had two encounters with dog walkers on unlit roads this winter, one with a really bright head light and one with a much less bright torch but wearing a high-vis vest. The first one simply appeared as a bright light, I couldn’t tell what it was or how far away because there was no other visible reference point and there are often bright lights in the fields from farmers working, it wasn’t until I got close enough for my headlights to hit him directly that I could tell it was a person.
The second one’s vest lit up like a Christmas tree from quite a distance and immediately looked like someone wearing high-vis.
I don’t disagree with you. The problem is that the “Latest and greatest 10000000 lumens CREEEE LED tactical searchlight” is more sexy than a “builders” hivis vest for £5 from Screwfix. Same goes for cyclists, speaking as someone who used to cycle a lot.
Ninja cyclists (in dark jeans/trakkies and a dark grey top, no lights, no reflectors) are far more common near me (greater London). I’ve not seen obnoxiously bright bike lights in a long while.
Very often I meet cyclists with flashlight on handlebar, blinding as hell.
With my StVZO no chance to compete.
Oncoming bikers with blinding lights I treat mutually with my dual Nitefighter BT40S setup to let them feel the same.
Works miracles
Mike
Excellent point. When I’m driving, and an oncoming cyclist or motorbikelist blinds me, I have no visibility of the road ahead. There could be an unlit pedestrian or cyclist, a large rock or a fallen tree branch, or an animal, or even a pedestrian or cyclist who has collapsed or fallen in the road. We do occasionally get sheep in the road. I even once worked in concert with two complete strangers to lift a stray sheep back into its field. And deer running across a road are not uncommon.
Motor bikes are particularly bad, it is common to have three stupid bright LED lights. When questioned they say it is for their safety. The British police won’t do anything, they are too busy investigating online hate crimes. No, I’m not exaggerating, I have first hand experience.
When I’m out night bike riding I generally use my hand to cover my head lamp so as not to blind others . My bicycle head light is usually aimed downward but at times I will cover or turn by bars into some other direction, that is when I am not rolling . I have not been blinded by others though.
I have that issue a lot with cars at night running high-beam and not switching it off for oncoming Traffic, much less for bikers/hikers.
Last time it happened to me with the motorbike I got so pissed I ended up flashing back. My headlights have one XHP70.2 for low beam and one XHP70.2 for high beam. After getting a short flash of 4000lm right in their face they mostly shut off the high beams as well.
SUVs with poorly adjusted lights or who insist on tailgating are the absolute bain of my existence when driving at night… I’d guess my eye height is ~1.25m when driving so I’m lower than most on the road. Drawback of having a fun car
Not sure what the solution is for bright headlamps, the drawback since their invention is that they shine light where you are looking.
SUVs are the cancer of modern road traffic in general. Worse are only people driving pickup trucks that have not once seen a single speck of dust on the bed.
I understand it for some cases (my grandpa has a bad back, and struggled to get in and out of his old C class, so he got a smaller end SUV where he sits higher), but most of the SUVs are just a waste of space and energy.
Another “etiquette” issue I have is beamshots on domestic properties that you don’t own, especially for the super-throwers, this is really antisocial. Go nuts on warehouses, fields, forests etc, but let people enjoy their private spaces in peace.
Down here in the southern plains, every other vehicle is a full size truck. Whether they are using hi beams or not, it is more than difficult to see at night. I often have to slow to a crawl on our narrow, zero-lit county roads when a Ford F-150 comes at me from the other direction. And, in the rain, forget it…
Yes I loathe pickups, SUVs and pseudo SUVs, unless the owner has a genuine need e.g. towing a horse box, carrying horse feed or building equipment.
The lights are higher off the road, hence they blind car drivers.
Also these vehicles are huge. If one parks next to you in a supermarket car park, reversing out of the space is horrible because you have no visibility on one side, or both if you are between two.
And when out walking I know when one has overtaken me as I can smell the sweet sickly stench. Normal cars don’t have that SUV stench.
Opinions about why people drive vehicles they don’t “need” is one thing, but smelling differently is a whole other kind of prejudice. We may have strayed too far from flashlights at this point…
