Motu hits a big one....

[Wolf]

It always worries me when you dip your lights for an oncoming car at night,and all of a sudden you are driving/riding blind at speed.

That's one of the things I hate about night riding/driving. You go from good visibility (if you have decent headlights) to crap visibility even on the straight - one moment you can see a fair way up the road then a vehicle rounds a corner up the road a way, you dip your lights and suddenly you can't see far at all and there's a sea of darkness between your pool of light and the distant car. You can't increase your viewing distance until the bugger has passed by (and 9 times out of 10 he's doing 90km/h and so has thirty cars up his arse, none of whom can pass him while you're on the road, so you've got to tootle along on dip until they're all gone.)

Add to this corners, rain on your visor and on the road and the glare of oncoming lights and your visibility is severely compromised.

[Ixion]

CArdboard boxes don't count unless Mr Kickaha is living in it.

Though, seriously, that is the point that Mr Motu made. He was (is) concerned that he was not able to avoid colliding with it. And , very sensibly, reviews his driving technique and practice in light of the discovered weakness. It is thus that we learn.And , no matter how much experience we have, we keep learning, there is always a new gotcha lurking in wait.

[Motu]

Isn't it Motu and Ixion that always tell us that ALL accidents are avoidable?

See first post...second line....

[Ixion]

That's one of the things I hate about night riding/driving. You go from good visibility (if you have decent headlights) to crap visibility even on the straight - one moment you can see a fair way up the road then a vehicle rounds a corner up the road a way, you dip your lights and suddenly you can't see far at all and there's a sea of darkness between your pool of light and the distant car.,,.

Von Klunken has a 100 watt dipped beam and an (illegal) driving light set up as an auxiliary dipped beam (only illegal because it is not actually a dipped beam lamp, the light pattern is wrong, but I have it angled into the side of the road , and downwards). So I have 200 wats of low beam. If I could source some suitable dual filiment units I would do what Mr Motu has done. So even on dip it is not bad. And I tend to hold off dipping if the oncoming vehicle is far off, you will not dazzle him until he is closer.

[Pixie]

Not much chance of a kid being in it considering where it was - but that's the sort of asumption that ends up in things going wrong in a big way.Maybe I recalled Marty's case subconciously.

What concerns me is why I didn't see it until it was too late - my lights are excellent even on dip,230 watts should be enough.I'd like to think I'm not outdriving my lights,so one night when no one is around I might do a panic stop from 100kph at max range on dip.It always worries me when you dip your lights for an oncoming car at night,and all of a sudden you are driving/riding blind at speed.Maybe our two opposing beams somehow cannelled it out,hidding it from view.I think I also look somewhere else with an approaching vehicle at night,as you are supposed to - so I either look to the side of the road,or even further ahead past my headlight beams.As always,a series of events leading up to a potential problem....there is usualy never only one factor involved.

If I was in the van I've been using the last couple of weeks or in a car,the box might of gone underneath and made me lose control - makes me feel better about using the Pajero,ready for any situation....except going fast.

The visual system is very complex.It could be that you didn't see it because you weren't looking for boxes.

In a famous experiment,an audience was asked to count how many passes were made at a basketball practice.
At a point in the game, a man in a gorilla suit walked through the group of athletes,stopped, danced a gig, and walked off.
Only something like 30% of the audience saw the gorilla and the ones that didn't, would not believe the researchers until they were shown video tape of the gorilla on the court.

[The_Dover]

I don't really want to give the wise old buggers shit, I do have a modicum of respect, but did you edit that post since I first read it??

[Wolf]

Von Klunken has a 100 watt dipped beam and an (illegal) driving light set up as an auxiliary dipped beam (only illegal because it is not actually a dipped beam lamp, the light pattern is wrong, but I have it angled into the side of the road , and downwards). So I have 200 wats of low beam. If I could source some suitable dual filiment units I would do what Mr Motu has done. So even on dip it is not bad. And I tend to hold off dipping if the oncoming vehicle is far off, you will not dazzle him until he is closer.

Trouble is not the amount of light, per se, but where it's aimed. You go from having your headlamp light up enough road for you to stop safely to it lighting up a tiny patch of road in which you cannot stop from the speed you're doing.

How many drivers/riders actually drop speed when switching to dipped lights?

[Motu]

The visual system is very complex.It could be that you didn't see it because you weren't looking for boxes.

I don't think so - I just plain wasn't looking in the right place when I needed to.As the car came close I shifted my gaze out of the area directly ahead...to save my night vision for when he went past,only a matter of a second.We do it all the time - check mirrors,look to the sides,check speedos,temp gauges,all the things we need to do to control a car or bike.Just that 1 in a 100,000 chance when something moved into the area of inattention,my fortune it was only a bloody big empty cardboard box.We make our own luck - I'm just happy that whoever is in control of these things just happened to be out of cows that night....

[sunhuntin]

Trouble is not the amount of light, per se, but where it's aimed. You go from having your headlamp light up enough road for you to stop safely to it lighting up a tiny patch of road in which you cannot stop from the speed you're doing.

How many drivers/riders actually drop speed when switching to dipped lights?

i do....because i cant see and am scared shitless of making the wrong move and plowing into either the car or a fence [fixation] i slow to a virtual crawl...if looks could kill, the cagers that get stuck behind me would have me 6 feet under 100 times by now. i hate night riding in the country and avoid it when i can....in town its fine cos theres street lights to combat it.

[Motu]

I did my brake test tonight - seeing something just appearing in my dipped beam (I used some roadworks) soon as I saw the line of gravel appear I hit the brakes.I can stop easily within the range of my dipped beam.Unless this box dropped out of the sky (it did,it did!!) obviously I was just not looking at the right spot at the right time.Wake up call take on board....

[Wolf]

(it did,it did!!)

I'm trying hard not to hoot out loud and wake my daughter.

I'll have to try a similar test with my bike and reassure myself that I can stop within the range of my dipped lights (or give myself fair warning that I can't and I should slow down when dipping my lights).

I think I might use a marker on the side of the road as a trigger, rather than risk ploughing into some gravel with my front brake on hard...

[Macktheknife]

I did my brake test tonight - seeing something just appearing in my dipped beam (I used some roadworks) soon as I saw the line of gravel appear I hit the brakes.I can stop easily within the range of my dipped beam.Unless this box dropped out of the sky (it did,it did!!) obviously I was just not looking at the right spot at the right time.Wake up call take on board....

Damn Motu, if this can happen to you the rest of us are pretty screwed huh? Glad the box was empty anyway, no harm done but important potential weakness spotted.
Any chance the other vehicle pushed it into your lane? wind blowing strong? any other confounding factors that you didnt mention?
I was in a friends 4x4 years ago when he came around a corner and smashed straight into a TV set at 110kmh! BIG old and heavy it did an almighty amount of damage to the 4x4 and nearly caused the next person coming around corner to slam into us too. Very scary. If that had been on a bike we would likely have died.

[Motu]

After the disection - what I think we can take from this is....when vehicles cross,for whatever reason (occult forces,or subconsious minds matching speeds) very often they pass at a hazzard.So when approaching an oncoming vehicle at night on a lonely road,take extra care at the crossover,it's very possible there could be a hazzard hidden in the dazzle.

[SPman]

CArdboard boxes don't count unless Mr Kickaha is living in it.

No chance - 'e was evicted from 'is cardboard box.........