How I look at night from behind
 

Don't think they could miss seeing me! Even with the taillight being off!
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...ey-d7fznp2.jpg

Well done. Its just a shame that most MC accidents occur when cars pull out IN FRONT of the mc :thumbdown:

That's why I drive with all the lights on all the time, and they are MUCHO bright. State trooper told me last weekend, "If they don't see you comin' they're too impaired to have got a license anyway:mchappy:"

Is it legal in your country to have an amber filter on your light? It is far more visible on bright sunny days than a white light. For us it is legal as long as all lights are one colour to have amber or yellow. The problem with amber is night fisibility is poor, so it is best if the filter is detachable.

I had some cop angling for a bribe who stopped me and said he saw me from far away (which is exactly the reason for it), and that it is illegal. I asked him for a copy of his Traffic regulations and referred him to the section on colour of lights. He claimed not to have it. I said i can download it for you on my phone and I asked him give me the fine and I will see you in court for an illegal fine. He saw he was getting no bribe and said 'why cant you be nice' lol.

If he was clever he would have given me a fine (or demand a bribe) for standing up going over a speed bump. The regulations say you must be seated with your feet on the pegs.

nice stickers, but the truth is, the guy or girl that nails you from behind isn't going to be alerted by the stickers. it will likely be some numbnuts texting their bff...

sorry but anyone found to have been texting as they caused an accident should have one finger surgically removed.

In my experience the biggest culprits of texting and driving are young white women, and by far the majority are doing it. One time I filtered through between a line of cages at a traffic light. Next to me was a young woman, texting with one hand, cigarette in the other, head nodding to boom boom music of some screeching female singer blaring from the cage, Im sure you all know the scenario. Light turns green and I figure let her go I don't want her behind me. She takes off at high speed. A a few hundred metres down the road a black man is crossing the road. She slams into him and I never saw her brake lights come on. I hope her message was worth someone's life.

It's very interesting your amber filter... but in Italy, if the cops stop us, they are trouble... ;)
In England or Canada you know if it's regular??

Rush McColley

In my pic above the bike isn't running so it is only a running light, and is already very visible. The amber is much more visible when the bike is running but then the bright light would have ruined the pic of the handsome ou on the bike (me)!


Selective yellow colours have been shown to be far more visible over greater distance than white light in daylight conditions. Safety on the road starts with seeing and being seen. White light might be better for seeing, but a yellower light is more conspicuous for being seen.

One Australian study found:

Bright yellow turn signal DRLs should be
encouraged for motorcycles. These should have an
on-axis luminous intensity of not less than 1000cd
and not more than 1800cd. Automatic headlights
should also be encouraged so that a light sensor is
used to switch from DRL operation to headlights. To
avoid glare, bright turn signals should not be
continuously illuminated at night.
In Australia bright yellow DRLs should be permitted
on motorcycles but should continue to be disallowed
on other vehicles. These would be far more effective
as DRLs than headlights and have the potential to
reduce fatal motorcycle crashes by more than 13%.


It seems related to latitude and brightness of the day as well, with selective yellow being far more visible in the tropics and under bright daylight conditions, where white light has limited visibility.

For visibility, yellow to amber to orange you were designed to improve visibility during off-road/dirt road use in dust and misty conditions. It worked so well that more and more riders started using them on-road as well. When I filter cars open up for me. A very large number of bikes in SA fit such covers for this reason. The very bright sunny conditions make white light not so visible.

Although there is legal debate about it, in our traffic code it states:

181. Colour of lights
*
(1) Subject to the provisions of regulation 170 (1), 171 (1), 172, 175 or 176, no person shall operate
on a public road a motor vehicle which is fitted with or carries on it a lamp which—
except in the case of a brake anti-lock warning light to the front of a trailer, emits a light
which is not white, amber or yellow in colour towards the front;*

Because another section of the law states emit a clear white light it is a grey area and incites some traffic cops to tray and solicit bribes if you don't know the regulations. I don't know of anyone who ever paid a fine for it. If one is ever issued it gets overturned.

It should be legal in Europe. French cars used to have yellow lights.

I've been riding with a yellow H4 bulb on my bike for years in Belgium when I lived there and it has just passed it's certificate of roadworthyness (MOT) in the UK with the same bulb. I don't know about the technical idea of better or worse lighting but I like that it is a different colour from all the other headlights so at night in traffic, my single yellow headlamp is different and might just get noticed against all the other white headlights.

Here in the UK, a white or yellow headlight is legal (ex-Cop). I have a yellow screen over the headlight on my R100GS-Paris Dakar and yes, it does reduce the lighting efficiency at night.

I replaced the pathetic standard rear light with a superb 34 red & 6 white LED light from John Olive in Australia ($67.50AUS).