Bicycling at Night in Long Beach, California

Two League of American Bicyclists certified traffic cycling instructors ride at night in various traffic conditions in Long Beach, California

Category:

Education

Tags:

• bicycle
• night
• long
• beach

[ridefour15]

Your taillight is really low; you should have one placed higher, such as clipped on your jersey or helmet, to increase visibility. Helps cars behind the car directly behind you to see you too.

[CyclistLorax]

The tail lights are lower because I'm using a seat bag and have no other place as high to properly mount them. Placing lights on a soft mount like a jersey is a non-starter becasue the lights cannot be oriented parallel to the ground to keep the bright center beam pointed backwards at the eyes of drivers. Similar for a helmet mount, since the helmet orientation to the rear varies when I sit up versus using the drops or when I turn my head.

[CyclistLorax]

Brian and I both have been using these light configurations at night and the video shows that drivers see us quite well, so while a higher light may be a little easier for drivers immediately behind us to see, we are well above the necessary visibility threshold for effective visibility for night riding. I also don't expect my tail lights to be visible to the driver of the vehicle behind the vehicle that is following me, so this is not a consideration in my mounting schemes.

[EdgarG78]

You are a free soul with a Bicycle!!!!

[twilwel]

A flashing taillight draws attention very good, but the exact location is hard to pinpoint for a driver when it's totally dark. Do all the streets have lighting?

[mikoguy]

Cool, good to see it's safe to ride out there.

[Porgot138]

Awesome. Good luck man.