Night Riding

[Peter Aawen]

Not an option over here! They are illegal!

Wow!!

And here in Aus, we look at many of the absolutely verboten mods that you get away with there that are simply too dangerous here because of the inherently dangerous engineering issues they entail, and yet something that can clearly increase your ability to see & be seen & therefore your safety is declared illegal!!! Beggars belief, doesn't it?!? That different 'government authorities' can be so at odds about what's safe & what's not?!?

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Wow!!

And here in Aus, we look at many of the absolutely verboten mods that you get away with there that are simply too dangerous here because of the inherently dangerous engineering issues they entail, and yet something that can clearly increase your ability to see & be seen & therefore your safety is declared illegal!!! Beggars belief, doesn't it?!? That different 'government authorities' can be so at odds about what's safe & what's not?!?

The reason, I'm sure, for not allowing more than 2 high beam lamps on a vehicle is because so much of our driving involves meeting oncoming cars. We don't have the miles of uninhabited, and thus almost no traffic, land you have there. Years ago I saw vehicles in Sweden with a light bar with 4, 6, or more, high intensity lights on them. But they have long dark nights, scarce traffic on many roads, and lots of large animals such as moose and elk wandering along the highways. It's a matter of safety of the driver vs. blinding oncoming drivers, or drivers in front, which is not safe.

I'm going to make a wild ass guess that probably no more than 0.001% of ALL the miles driven at night in the US are driven without meeting an oncoming car, if even that much. You will meet, or be behind, another vehicle at least every few miles even on the Interstates across the wide open lands of Nevada, Kansas, Wyoming, and Texas.

So how many miles or hours can you drive across Aussie open land at night without seeing another car? All night maybe? But not here!

[ARtraveler]

You could move to Alaska. It does not get totally dark from June to August. That's prime time for motorcycles and spyders. When its dark out before 10:00 PM--its getting to cold to ride at night. We are now down to 30's at night and dark at 8:00 PM.

[PistonBlown]

Love night riding, particularly in the early hours on back roads when there's nothing else on the roads. Can go hours without seeing another vehicle here.

Often head out 1 or 2 in the morning and then stop in the middle of nowhere to boil up a coffee just as the suns beginning to rise. Puts a whole new perspective on the day.

A couple of tips:

• Make sure your visor is in very good condition, any scratches can cause 'starring' of lights.
• If you have pin-lock in your visor some people say they also cause starring of lights. My experience is the effect is minor and more than offset by not having your visor mist up - which is more likely to happen at night with the colder air temps.
• Its colder than the day:-) Sounds obvious but sometimes with the wind chill it's surprisingly cold even in summer.
• Here there are only a few 24 hour garages so you have to plan where you stop carefully. Not sure if that's a problem in the states.

[UtahPete]

A couple of tips:

• Make sure your visor is in very good condition, any scratches can cause 'starring' of lights.
• If you have pin-lock in your visor some people say they also cause starring of lights. My experience is the effect is minor and more than offset by not having your visor mist up - which is more likely to happen at night with the colder air temps.
• Its colder than the day:-) Sounds obvious but sometimes with the wind chill it's surprisingly cold even in summer.
• Here there are only a few 24 hour garages so you have to plan where you stop carefully. Not sure if that's a problem in the states.

Very good advice. I would add that, since many of us in the SouthWest US use tinted visors to help block the glare of the desert sun during the day, be prepared to switch out to a clear one if you got caught out on the open road at night or other low-light conditions. I recently did a 2,000 mile trip where I got caught out on the road at night and discovered that just flipping up my visor as I had planned isn't the best option to be stuck with, particularly if it is cold and wet.....

[Peteoz]

The reason, I'm sure, for not allowing more than 2 high beam lamps on a vehicle is because so much of our driving involves meeting oncoming cars. We don't have the miles of uninhabited, and thus almost no traffic, land you have there. Years ago I saw vehicles in Sweden with a light bar with 4, 6, or more, high intensity lights on them. But they have long dark nights, scarce traffic on many roads, and lots of large animals such as moose and elk wandering along the highways. It's a matter of safety of the driver vs. blinding oncoming drivers, or drivers in front, which is not safe.

I'm going to make a wild ass guess that probably no more than 0.001% of ALL the miles driven at night in the US are driven without meeting an oncoming car, if even that much. You will meet, or be behind, another vehicle at least every few miles even on the Interstates across the wide open lands of Nevada, Kansas, Wyoming, and Texas.

So how many miles or hours can you drive across Aussie open land at night without seeing another car? All night maybe? But not here!

Too many assumptions there, Idaho.

You would be lucky if you could drive for 30 seconds without having to dip your high beam/driving lights for oncoming traffic anywhere on the freeways between the capital cities. The trouble is, it's sooooo black for that 30 seconds you need great lighting in case of bounding Roos, wandering Wombats etc.

The same applies to the major back roads, except there it might be a minute of two.

Drivers and riders out here are very considerate of the impact their high beams/driving lights would have on oncoming traffic, so lights are dipped as soon as an oncoming vehicle is detected. You just don't get oncoming traffic using their high beams when approaching you unless they have lost concentration.

There are, of course, two lane highways in the outback where you would only see another car every 15/30 minutes or so, but because Roos can jump a long way in one bound, and they are in plague proportions in the outback, most people other than interstate trucks don't travel on those roads at night if they can avoid it.

So no, a lack of oncoming traffic is not the reason we are allowed to use light bars with our high beams.

Pete

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Too many assumptions there, Idaho.

Not too many, just one, that I thought I knew what I was talking about!

Thanks for setting me straight!

But I did see light bars on pickup trucks in Sweden, and Sweden does have long nights in the winter!

[Peteoz]

Not too many, just one, that I thought I knew what I was talking about!

Thanks for setting me straight!

But I did see light bars on pickup trucks in Sweden, and Sweden does have long nights in the winter!

Hahahaha.....well, maybe ONE too many assumptions, Idaho.

What you were were saying did make perfect sense though. I think it's because they can't have one rule for one group of drivers and one for the others, so the fact that some drivers on night drives through the outback need serious, high set lighting, they have left that as the general rule. I could be wrong though

Pete

[Peter Aawen]

...... I think it's because they can't have one rule for one group of drivers and one for the others, so the fact that some drivers on night drives through the outback need serious, high set lighting, they have left that as the general rule. I could be wrong though

Pete

I doubt that you're wrong - there were calls for & moves afoot to ban the high set lighting, largely arising from the population centres along the Eastern Coastline & the South Eastern States, but then when the stats & info about the animal collision risks during night time driving in ALL the 'non-city' areas was added to the outcry from the more remote centres & the transport industry where driving long distances at night is the norm & animal strikes are pretty much unavoidable, the whole thing was dropped & high set lighting remains legal & very very useful!!