From: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu (Terry Quinn)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
Subject: Re: 90/130W H4 QI headlight bulbs wanted
Date: 10 Jan 1993 09:52:20 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu



>  1) motorcycle headlights can legally be MUCH brighter than car lights
> 
>  2) motorcycle lights tend to move around a lot, particularly ones
>     attached to the fork tubes, as most are.  This gives a nice flashy,
>     jittery eye-searing high beam,   
> 
>  3) a) if you can't see a low beam, you probably can't see a high beam
>     b) if you can't see something six feet tall, seven feet long, and
>        over two feet wide moving down the road, you probably can't see
>        it with a headlight on
 
If you had ever talked to someone who has been in a motorcycle 
accident when a car pulled out in front of him, you would not be 
saying this.  The frontal projection of a motorcycle that is 
approaching you is so much smaller from an area standpoint that 
drivers frequently will not notice it at all when they are 
searching for oncoming traffic.
 
One of the most frequent and disastrous accidents that occurs is 
when the biker is just driving down the road, and someone is 
pulling onto that same road from a side street ahead of him on his 
right.  Often that driver is taking a left hand turn.  The driver 
does not notice the motorcycle coming toward him, pulls out, and 
the biker runs into the side of the car and is thrown into it or 
over it. 
 
I watched a TV special once, and they said that in this type of 
accident, the motorcyclists frequently state that before the car 
pulled out, they were certain that they had established eye 
contact with the driver of the car . . . and yet the car pulled 
out anyway.  A friend that I know told me the same thing . . . not 
only that, but after he was thrown into the street in a crumpled 
ball (luckily he was wearing a helmet), he noticed that the driver 
looked back at him, and then drove away, hit and run.  (But that 
is another story). 
 
When they give training classes for motorcycle safety, they advise 
you to ride as if you were invisible.  They also note that the 
most dangerous time to ride is when it first warms up in the 
spring, because the automobile drivers are not used to seeing 
bikers and will often pull out in front of or into them. 
 
And although I occasionally ride a motorcycle and hence like to 
think I am more aware of the problem, I confess to pulling out in 
front of a Harley (with his lights on and flickering) in the above 
described situation.  Luckily I caught sight of him and stopped 
after pulling forward about 6 feet, and he swerved, which narrowly 
avoided the accident. 
 
 
All of this is probably why the NHTSA funded a university study 
(Michigan or Michigan State I believe) to look for ways to make 
motorcycles MORE visible.  What they arrived at was a device 
called a "Q-switch", which you may have seen on some motorcycles.  
It repeatedly switches the headlight between low and high beam, 
causing a flashing sensation, to make it even more visible, 
"jittery," and probably annoying to you.
 
I don't know if I've convinced you of anything.  Perhaps with the 
"Q-switch" installed on more bikes, you will see this as more 
"perfect for annoying car drivers," and will really be out to "try 
to kill" bikers.
 
But since there is only one of you, and I perceive a lot more 
threat from the remainder of the automobile drivers who, through 
no fault of their own, have trouble seeing me when I ride a bike, 
I'll continue to ride with my high beam on.  The odds seem better 
that way. 
 
Also, I hope that by posting the this long winded message that 
some of the rest of you will be made more aware of how hard bikers 
are to see when you are accustomed to looking for regular sized 
vehicles.  If you, like me, ever pull out in front of one, and the 
bike happens to hit you, it really won't make you feel any better 
knowing that motorcycles are hard to see.  It scared the daylights 
out of me. 
 

--
                                    Terry Quinn
                                     Germantown Hills, IL
                                      tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu
from Compuserve . . .                  >INTERNET: tquinn@heartland.bradley.edu