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High beam riding for safety

Do you use high beams for safety/visibility

  • Yes, all attention is good attention

    Votes: 69 75.0%
  • Nope, I am against flashing in public

    Votes: 20 21.7%
  • No, but Im about to start

    Votes: 3 3.3%

  • Total voters
    92
That really only applies at night for the reasons Blue knight mentioned. During the daytime the ambient light already has the pupils of your eye as small as they will ever get and should have no noticeable changes from headlights except on very cloudy days. Even then daytime light is much more in control of your light perception than an oncoming vehicle.
 
what about state laws re dimming of lights for approaching vehicles???

I suggest you read everything that is written concerning that law ...... I think it will apply to the Hours listed for night time operation ..... Vermont's laws pertain to night time operation...... Mike :thumbup:
 
That law on modulators is pretty specific and is federal law that supercedes (sp?) all state laws. If I recall correctly it is covered in 49 CFR Part 571.108 S7.9.4) allows motorcycle headlight modulation systems all 50 states provided they comply with the standards set forth. . .
 
*note all headlight modulators seem to ONLY modulate the high beam.:dontknow: Haven’t checked them all*
IIRC, the reg allows either the high or low beam to be modulated, so it makes sense use it on the high beam only. Although when I wired in my modulator I didn't want to go through the extra hassle of wiring it to modulate the high beam only since we have a shutter system. I use a switch on the dash to turn it on and off as needed. And of course, it automatically turns off at night.
 
I used to use high on my ZX7. When my highs are on both headlights are on. Low its just one. I was told by a state trooper that high beams in the daylight can cause people to pull out in front of you because the gap between your right and left set of lights shrink. It because now you have multiple lights that are close together and that can give the illusion your vehicle is further away then it really is. People are used to seeing car headlights. The closer the vehicle gets the more separation between the right and the left set of lights. Because the motorcycle lights are close together even at close distances it can register in someone's head you are further away and they feel they have more time to turn in front of you.

That is why I do not ride with my brights on in daylight.
 
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" Honestly officer, I didn't see him".......

Modulator on the poor ,old, slow V-Max and haven't had a frontal " incident" since. High beam only which is on during daylight hours. LED High beams on the :spyder2: ---- With 3,000 LMs driving lights wired to the LED fog lights. The system turns night into day so it must be highly visable during daylight hours. " Honestly officer, I didn't see him"....... Oh yes you saw me.
 
Still don't have a Spyder. On my GL1800, I have Signal Dynamics headlight modulators. Too bad they don't work on LEDs.
 
ADOT here in Arizona recommends high beams for motorcycles during the day. Most people just ride with low beam anyway..... Jim
 
I used to use high on my ZX7. When my highs are on both headlights are on. Low its just one. I was told by a state trooper that high beams in the daylight can cause people to pull out in front of you because the gap between your right and left set of lights shrink. It because now you have multiple lights that are close together and that can give the illusion your vehicle is further away then it really is. People are used to seeing car headlights. The closer the vehicle gets the more separation between the right and the left set of lights. Because the motorcycle lights are close together even at close distances it can register in someone's head you are further away and they feel they have more time to turn in front of you.

That is why I do not ride with my brights on in daylight.

On a Spyder they are both always on, shutters down or up, the distance between them is the same. On shutters down they might think one was farther away vs shutters up. I just keep my bobble head looking around.
 
Still don't have a Spyder. On my GL1800, I have Signal Dynamics headlight modulators. Too bad they don't work on LEDs.
Kisan has a modulator that works on LED headlights. Not sure if they have a plug and play harness for the Spyder though. I'm sure they do for the GL1800.
 
" Honestly officer, I didn't see him"....... Oh yes you saw me.
You may not want to believe it but that CAN be true. Our brains do the seeing. Our eyes only collect the data that the brain deciphers. When you turn your head your brain sees the image in frames, like an old fashioned movie sequence. If your head is turning fast enough your brain may not see a slice of the image in between frames. A narrow object like a bicycle or a motorcycle can often fit into the gap between frames so the brain does not see it. The other physiological characteristic our brain exhibits is to discard background information that is static in order to focus on the active parts of the image. A motorcycle approaching a motorist from the side very possibly will look like a stationary object slowly increasing in size so the brain discards that part of the image. That is why a modulator works. The brain tends to focus on motion and a modulator presents an image in motion. You could try weaving back and force across the lane if you see a car waiting to turn onto the road in front of you. Your weaving is motion that attracts the brain's attention.
 
:agree: Wot 'e says! :thumbup:

And all of that also applies when it comes to lights &/or hi-vis colors etc. Mention was made earlier of how running your lights on high beam might make a driver think that you're a 'normal vehicle' that's a lot further away than you really are because of how close your left & right headlights are when compared to those other 'normal vehicles', altho I believe that's generally a lot more of an issue at night time/in the dark; but there's a lot of evidence & research out there to support the likelihood that lights &/or bright colors, especially bright lights, are far more effective at making you visible at a distance than they are when they're close up!! The premise is that once you get within about 30 metres of another vehicle, the number & brightness of lights or colors you have on you/your machine MAY NOT HELP YOU BE 'SEEN' in quite the manner you expect!! :lecturef_smilie: . In fact, having a lot of lights or extra bright lights might even make the brain of a viewer at least partially block out that sector of said viewer's vision once you get up close ie, where you are most ast risk of a collision - so that other driver who blindly pulled out in front of you may well have been unable to 'see' you BECAUSE of all your bright lights, rather than 'despite' them!! :shocked:

The technique of weaving a bit in your lane & so continually changing your 'range & bearing' in their field of vision, so that you don't just appear as a 'gradually increasing in size object' that could be mistaken for a car further away than you as a rider actually are has been proven to work in a wide range of conditions/circumstances at increasing how soon & how close other drivers really do get to 'notice' you enough to warrant avoiding; so given the earlier info about lights & how bright they are, even if you do ryde with your lights on high during daylight hours (like me) or if you have extra bright lights/wear hi-vis colors etc, you really might want to include that 'weaving a bit in your lane' thing as you approach other vehicles/intersections etc just to be sure to be sure! :thumbup:
 
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Well then I'll just have to get the wiggling modulators for the Spyder. My head is on a swivel-- even in the 4 wheeled cage. It's the folks on cell phones and the ones eating/drinking that are distracted to the point of killing us.

Lew L
 
Thanks for all the discussion guys, I think this is a habit I need to get into, especially with all the transplants, tourists and distracted drivers running around here.
 
We run brights/high beam during daylight hours. Yes, they are brighter and they're on all the time. The statements that motorcyclists ride like everyone is a pd assasin is valid.

Being on full time, they will likely burn out first, leaving low beams for reserve and night time riding.
 
We run brights/high beam during daylight hours. Yes, they are brighter and they're on all the time. The statements that motorcyclists ride like everyone is a pd assasin is valid.

Being on full time, they will likely burn out first, leaving low beams for reserve and night time riding.

So the F3's are not like the RT with a two single headlights and a shutter the drops in the beam for low beam??????
 
Rather than daytime high beams, I decided to go all LED up front: headlights, foglights, Lamonster Bright Ryder, and Double Vision Daytime Running lights on the top and bottom A-arms. Moving to the rear next, then the sides.
 
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