Night Riding
by Daniel Butson (CVAM)

For those of us who tend to ride just for pleasure during the summer months, the thought of taking the bike out at night is probably less appealing. However, plenty of people use their bikes all year round, which means at some point they are going to be faced with riding in the dark. The most obvious issue to contend with is the lack of visibility, although it’s not always clear as to the best way to deal with it. The following tips hopefully highlight the key things to remember when riding at night.

Improving your chances of being seen
This is really where hi-visibility clothing will add most benefit. A bike has a relatively small profile particularly from the rear. Wearing hi-visibility clothing will help create a visible outline of the rider and reduce the likelihood of other drivers confusing the lights as part of the vehicle in front. If you are two up it is most important for the pillion to wear hi-visibility clothing, as it provides most benefit from behind. You should also consider how luggage such as top boxes and rucksacks might reduce the effectiveness. The addition of reflective decals to panniers and top boxes is a good idea.

Hi-visibility sticky strips can help. Subject to limited numbers, CVAM is currently offering free Hi-vis rucksack covers to members, courtesy of Somerset Road Safety Partnership. Reflective Vests, Stickers, Bike Decals etc (external link)
 

When following other vehicles it may be preferable to ride clear of the leading vehicle’s taillights. By taking a central position or varying your position in your lane, this will help to separate you visually from other traffic. Hazards in the road create a different problem. As your headlight range is likely to be poor, by the time you have perceived a need to take avoiding action for something in the road, it can be too late. Travelling in the tyre tracks of the vehicle ahead can put your mind at rest, but returns you to the mixing in problem above.

Improving your ability to see
Making sure that all your lights work properly and are clean enough to maximise their benefit is a must before setting off in the dark. If you think the headlights on your bike are particularly weak you may want to experiment with brighter bulbs, some claim to be up to 50% brighter. If you go to a bike dealer, he probably won’t carry high intensity bulbs, but will refer you to Halfords or similar. They don’t understand bikes in general and will give you misleading or poorly informed opinion. Know what your bike can take, your dealer or garage man will help you out. In general it is normally sufficient to ensure your headlights are clean, free from dust and have good quality standard bulbs.

At night, ride with main beam on all the time except when there is oncoming traffic. Although you will be able to see better, any approaching driver will be dazzled, making it difficult to judge your speed or identify how much of the road you are using. It is also likely that they will flip back to main beam to return the courtesy and this won’t help either of you get past each other safely. If you are dazzled by an un-dipped headlight, flash your own high beam briefly to alert the other driver but don’t retaliate by leaving your lights back on high beam.

When glare from oncoming traffic is a major problem, one way to combat this is to use the two-point scan. It consists of shifting your line of sight between two constantly changing points on the near side edge of the road; one directly in front of your bike and the other opposite the oncoming vehicle. Keep your eyes moving in this fashion until the offending vehicle passes by. This will keep you on course but will not tell you what is happening ahead, so slow down.

Remember to turn your lights on in accordance with the highway code, half an hour before sunset, turning them off again if you so desire half an hour after sun rise. I tend to ride with them on all the time that way you can’t forget and of course recently manufactured bikes have their headlight dip beam hardwired on in any case with no means of switching it off.

Unless your visor is new, it will have lots of tiny scratches which wont help you to see when faced with oncoming traffic, particularly if they don’t dip their main beam early. Add that to the cooler damper night-time air and increased condensation and you are going to find it pretty difficult to see at times. It can often be easier to flip your visor up momentarily, but if you are doing a lot of night riding you will need to replace your visors regularly. It goes without saying of course that wearing a tinted visor, or sunglasses at night is both pretty stupid and illegal. In colder weather a self adhesive insert such as a Fog City visor  insert will help a lot and some helmet manufacturers have a system such as the Pinlock visor insert system used by Shoei. These will help reduce the condensation/misting to a manageable level. Some riders consider inserts to be as much hindrance as help and prefer treating the inside of their visors with an anti-misting / anti fog coating, so make your own decision.

Adapting your riding
Even if you have a new visor and bike fitted with particularly good headlights, you will have to accept that visibility is reduced and this ultimately means you will need to adapt the way you ride. At this point it’s worth reiterating the riders mantra about being able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear. Night riding reduces both the distance and the quality of what you see, which ultimately means you will have to ride slower. It will be harder to identify road surface problems as well as the general direction of the road, which is particularly important on unlit country roads. Always be prepared to slow down or stop if you really can’t figure out which way the road is going – don’t guess what you can’t see!!
You will also need to be aware that since you are going slower there is greater chance of other vehicles catching you up. They may be incorrectly relying on your general direction and braking points to plan their own driving. If you simply roll off the throttle on the approach to a bend, a following vehicle may not notice you slow down. Here it can be useful to ‘show some brake lights’ to highlight the drop in speed.

A vehicle ahead illuminates the road well in front. You will see signs, bends, debris, in plenty of time. A driver even further ahead, or at the head of a queue, may dip his lights, signifying an opposing vehicle. Conversely, such a vehicle putting lights on main beam may signify that there's no oncoming vehicle. Scan for other vehicles, they can give you a wealth of information to put into your riding plan; the sharpness of a bend; a side road - when not to overtake or just simply to slow down. Textbook guidelines for road positioning for view are of less use at night. They rely on illumination and there is rarely sufficient for you to see far enough ahead. When cornering your lights typically won’t be pointing in the direction of travel, so it’s important to have plenty of lean in reserve. If for example the bend tightens or the road surface alters you may need to react quickly.The spacing of cat’s eyes will indicate the type of white line along the centre of the road, generally, the more white paint in the line the greater the number of cats eyes, the greater the hazard.

The effort required to focus and plan appropriately when riding at night is significantly greater, particularly when riding on dark country roads. You may even choose to avoid them altogether.

Physical issues
It is not advisable to ride when you are tired particularly at night. Night riding over long distances can easily leave a rider in auto pilot mode, where you may not react to hazards as quickly as you would during the day. This is particularly true for empty motorways that enable constant unhindered speed to be achieved. It is also worth remembering that it gets colder at night even in summer.

To helps us reduce fatigue
Varying your speed, taking regular breaks (coffe/tea stops;-) and ensuring you are comfortable (warm enough / cool enough) are really the only ways to combat this fatigue. If you have a long night time journey ahead and are unprepared for the cold, make regular coffee stops as this not only gives you a break, but helps you warm up.

Additional Hazards
Apart from watching out for other drivers who may also be suffering from tiredness or even under the influence of alcohol, you need to keep a look out for wild animals which are generally more active and a lot harder to see. Even in built up areas you have the risk of foxes and cats but you are most likely to encounter wildlife on a country road, the risk being even higher where you may be the first vehicle to pass by for some time. So to finish off, remember this: The hazards you face at night are pretty much the same ones you deal with in daylight..........but you can’t see them as well making the risks all the higher.

Ride safe!


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