u/soundioo

A few years ago I only used lights for night rides or bad weather.

Now I pretty much leave a front and rear light on during every ride, even in the middle of the day. Traffic around here feels noticeably more distracted lately and I’ve had a couple close passes that definitely got my attention.

The weird thing is I used to think brighter was always better, but now I care more about being noticeable from different angles than just having the highest output possible.

Also started appreciating smaller and lighter lights way more. Once you spend a few hours on the bike, heavy stuff hanging off the bars gets annoying fast.

Curious if anyone else changed their habits recently or if I’m just getting paranoid with age.

I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but riding in traffic lately feels noticeably worse than it used to.

I’ve had more close passes this year alone than I remember having a few years back. Half the time you pull up next to a car at a light and the driver is staring straight down at their phone.

Because of that, I started running daytime lights almost full time now, even on short rides around town.

What surprised me is how much I ended up preferring smaller lights over the giant high-output ones. If a light is too bulky or heavy, I eventually stop bringing it unless I’m doing a dedicated night ride.

Now I mostly care about:

* being noticeable in daylight

* side visibility at intersections

* quick mounting

* low weight

Way more than raw brightness numbers.

Feels like visibility and driver awareness matter more than ever now.