??

no

no as long as you have front and rear flashing. i think you canny have one without the other. technically.

i would love to talk down the polisman who would stop a cyclist for this.

Used to be but not any more – IIRC however to ride on the road at night legally you need non flashing ones as well

From the highway code

At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights lit. It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85). White front reflectors and spoke reflectors will also help you to be seen. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.

HIGHWAY CODE STATES:
“At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights lit. It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85). White front reflectors and spoke reflectors will also help you to be seen. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.

[Law RVLR regs 13, 18 & 24)]”

TandemJeremy, your google-fu is stronger than my google-fu! by 16 seconds!! 😉

ooooooooo i see. when did it become non illegal

so none of my bikes are road legal then. No reflectors 😳

Interestingly tho RVLR regs

Save as provided in paragraph (2), no vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp which automatically emits a flashing light.

and I can find no mention of the excemption that allows flashing lights on a bicycle 😕

I am certain there is one tho or else the highway code would not allow for it. It also appears in the RVLR regs that lights must be bs marked which the vast majority are not.

Willy, I don’t think it ever was illegal 😕 , just a grey area that was cleared up. I bet most commuters on “proper” bikes don’t know they are illegal if not using amber pedal reflectors!! I certainly didnt till tonight 😳

CTC seem to have pulled it all together into one place – I would guess they have it right

Thanks to the enactment of Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 2559: on 23rd October 2005, it finally became legal to have a flashing light on a pedal cycle. Even better: it became possible for a flashing light to be approved, meaning no other light would be needed in that position. And since BS6102/3 does not yet cater for flashing (but is likely to be amended to do so quite soon), approval is for the time being, granted simply on the basis of brightness.

More legal sh1t from the government

had a chat with a copper about this very thing a while back (he’d stopped me because of the HID I was using). He was of the opinion that anything that made bikes more visible on the road was a good thing.

From a safety perspective, flashing lights can be seen from a mile away but make it difficult for moronic car drivers to judge your distance (like they care).

From a legal perspective, if you get in a crash the lawyers of the guy who tried to drive over you may bring up the fact that you had no steady light, only flashing ones. Buy an extra LED light to keep on all the time. They cost about 5 quid and you’ll need to buy batteries once a month, seems like a safe bet as far as getting sorted through the courts as far as I’m concerned.

It’s like a smoke alarm, seems like a waste of money most of the time but you’ll regret it when you don’t spend a couple of pints money on it.

why did he stop you because of the HID u were using? was it too bright? or too flashy?

Too bright. He’d pulled over to let what he thought was a car with a headlight out come through on a piece of single carriage way. he wasn’t too impressed when he realised I was a push bike… 😀

haha awesome what light was that?

I do believe that TJ is right that the lights must be Bs approved for use on the public highway and i am of the belief that no led’s or hid’s have been so approved and so i think you technically have to have a halogen light with a kitemark to be 100% legal if you were wanting to be a muppet…

but i think that the law also allows equivalence, so if a light is not BS approved but is DIN approved it is ok.

i am of the belief that no led’s or hid’s have been so approved and so i think you technically have to have a halogen light with a kitemark to be 100% legal if you were wanting to be a muppet…

Pleanty of LEDs are approved. I know the front one on my missues bike is for a start…. (Blackburn I think)
🙂

Lots of people will be riding with illegal front lights. The legal max is 5W, for a bike IIRC.

I doubt that many people have a fully legal bike – how many of you have pedal reflectors or a red rear reflector? Though, I do remember hearing about an exemption for bikes modified for racing?

Lots of people will be riding with illegal front lights. The legal max is 5W, for a bike IIRC.
With hindsight basing light output on wattage doesn’t seem so sensible now 🙂

I’m sure there’s a bit of legislation somewhere that says in you’re within a system of street lights not more than 186 yards apart, you don’t need lights. I can’t find it right now but I know it’s out there. I’ve only just got up so my google fu is weak right now.

With hindsight basing light output on wattage doesn’t seem so sensible now

🙂

The reason that flashing lights were initially illegal wasn’t because they were flashing, but because they didn’t have a filament bulb. Filament bulbs were required in law because people were using mining lamps on their bikes 🙂

people were using mining lamps on their bikes

I used to use an Oldham mining light on my bike/helmet, lead acid battery strapped to my waist. Superb light, 14 hour run time – and a filament bulb IIRC. I guess you mean the parafin & wick type.

I always thought the filament rule was to remove carbide lamps with the wee flame and reflector?

I don’t like flashing lights on the front of bikes, find them irritating when someone rides towards me with one. I’d prefer them not be used.

Anyone got a way round the Amber pedal reflectors? I have some reflective ankle bands, but technically not on the pedals

Anyone got a way round the Amber pedal reflectors?

Plastic backed orange reflective tape, zip tied round some Shimmy 520’s. Def not BS compliant, but its obvious you’ve made an effort. I think the signature up and down motion of two orange spots in your vision are about as clear a message of ‘bicycle ahead’ as it is possible to get.

Seems to stay put well enough, if you’re carefull where you put the zip ties, then you can get in and out of them completely normally. I hate singlesided pedals, they’re useless and there are no dual sided types with reflectors AFAIK.

Dont use the flashing blue led’s that Argos were selling at one point. My mate got stopped for that, although someone would have had to have been pretty daft to think they were getting chased by police with a blue led on the back of his bike!

I read the title as ‘is it illegal to flash your willy’ (had to do a double-take at the screen)!

Anyone got a way round the Amber pedal reflectors?

Shimano supply these with spd pedals on complete bikes IIRC. I have a set on my commute bike – they clip in as cleats on 1 side of the pedal (wind up the tension to keep them there), you clip in the other side as normal.

Highway code only recommends that a steady front light is used. Bike lights have always been a grey area.

Personally, I think it’s stupid to ride a bike, at night (or in the dark) with only a single, flashing front light regardless of whether you’re legally entitled to do so.

These eh Pickers? I find them a complete PITA …

Could some flashy lights cause an epileptic fit??

Known uncontrolled by medication epileptics are not allowed to drive mema. IIRC you have to be seizure free for 2 years or something before being allowed to take you test/reapply for your licence.

I’d rather increase my chances of being seen by 99.99999999% of drivers than risk encountering an undiagnosed, no previous history epileptic.

What about a passenger tho? I use flashy light to be seen, I just wondered.

These eh Pickers? I find them a complete PITA …

Yup they’re the ones. Pita is spot on TBH.

Could some flashy lights cause an epileptic fit??

probably, but then i used to run 2 cateye white flashers on the straps of my backpack and a Q5 torch (250lumen) on my bars, allong with a red cateye flasher and a blackburn mars flashing on my backpack, and a steady red cateye on my bike.

In twilight riding past stret signs cars would pull over as the flashes reflected off street signs making it look like an ambulance some way behind 🙂

What about a passenger tho? I use flashy light to be seen, I just wondered.

Yes they can, though not all epileptics get ‘grand mal’ seizures (the thrashy about ones), some simply get ‘absence’ seizures, which while disorientating and unsettling for the sufferer, basically means they just aren’t there for a moment or two.

Lights on emergancy services vehicles are far worse however. Most epileptics can notice the flashing lights and look away before any ill effects occur, or they get warned by the driver to shut their eyes for a bit 🙂

Even if they do go into a grand mal seizure, there are far worse places to be than stapped in a car seat, though the driver would need to keep calm …