The most common cause of accidents and death for motorcyclists is a motorist turning left and across the pathway of the biker traveling in the inside lane. Other common accidents are at intersections and rear end collisions. The techniques herein are designed to improve your day and night presence and help other motorist see you.
Steps
1. Wear bright clothing. Those black leather jackets look good in the day, but for the night, you might want to consider wearing something that reflects light. Consider adding a fluorescent highlights on the back of your jacket, a smart message maybe. Your helmet is also a nice place for the same.
2. Motorcycle Lighting: Good lighting is a crucial factor in your safety. In the quest for stylish lighting, many manufacturers use undersized brake lighting and most will aim the headlight lower to the street than the legal angle allows. Your first step is to examine your front and rear lighting. If you have a tiny brake light, consider replacing the light with a larger model. If this is not possible, J.C. Whitney sells a halogen brake lamp for about $10.00 that is 30% brighter than stock bulbs. You can also buy super bright LED lighting that is much brighter than the typical automotive bulb. However, this lighting should be purchased from a specialty company and not the "garden variety" LED arrays you can find at some stores for $15.00 or less. Ultra Bright LED's are expensive when using true Ultra bight LED (light emitting diodes). Expect to pay more if you want a truly bright LED system. Custom Dynamics is one such supplier of premium LED lighting.
3. Check your headlight aiming angle. Check your state regulation on aiming. Raise the beam to the maximum angle allowed by your state. You can do this without special tools by up righting your bike and casting the headlight on the wall of your garage. Measure from the ground to the exact center of your headlight, then adjust the beam projected on the wall (high beam). A rule of thumb is to drop 2" for every 10 feet (5 cm every 3 meters), but you should check with your state to conform with their regulations.
4. Ride with your high beam on always during the day!
5. Add dual running headlights to your motorcycle. Three properly aimed headlights are much more noticeable than a single headlight.
6. Consider replacing your headlamp bulb with a super bright DOT approved model. Some bikers have been known to replace their headlight bulb with a non-DOT approved off-road lamp which is 40-50% brighter than the brightest legal lamp.
7. Add reflective tape to your bike. You can also purchase reflective decals and add reflective flame decals to your helmet.
Consider your driving technique: Are you speeding so fast you will not be able to stop in time? Are you driving between vehicles waiting at a red light to get in front of the traffic? Are you racing with other motorcyclist? Are you trying to show off in front of a large group of people?
How to Improve Night Visibility of Your Motorcycle.
Other than additional lighting, there are materials available that you can apply to your motorcycle, bike or boat to make it retro reflective at night. Also available is a new product called "invisible reflective tape" which can be installed on a motorcycle or bicycle frame to improve conspicuity.
Steps
1. Add additional graphic elements to your vehicle to make it reflective to oncoming or nearby vehicles. Conspicuity is very important to the night rider of motorcycles, bicycles and boats. By selecting reflective products that are also style enhancers, you can add a great deal of safety in a product that actually accents the vehicle. There are a large selection of reflective graphics available to accent nearly any kind of vehicle. For boaters, you can use reflective boat name lettering and reflective boat graphics to accent the watercraft both in the day and night.
2. Most adhesive reflective products are made from large bulk rolls of reflective sheeting. There are a number of internet based and local fabricators that can cut-plot reflective material into a variety of shapes and designs for your specific needs. If you would rather take the easy route, simply search the internet for "reflective graphics" and you'll find a large number of items that might work well on your motorcycle, boat, car or bicycle.
3. You can also visit a local vinyl sheeting fabricator to view and select from any number of reflective sheeting colors and have a custom idea made into the ideal reflective product for your needs. However, this can be an expensive way to make a set of reflective flames when they are easily available ready to ship.
Shop for a variety of different products you can use on your boat, motorcycle or bicycle to improve conspicuity. They include but are not limited to: Reflective Tape, Reflective Pinstripe, Reflective Motorcycle Decals, Reflective Motorcycle Kits, and Reflective boat lettering. Be sure to check the grade of material being purchased. Engineer grade is the highest quality material for lasting outdoor durability. Commercial Grade is also a good material but will last about half as long as Engineer grade. Of course, you can also visit your local sign shop and have nearly any type of idea fabricated from sheeting but this can be very expensive in low quantities.
Tips
• Stay near the center of the lane when practical. This is where you are best seen. Riding on the edge of the road causes you to blend in with street lighting. Riding on the center of the lane is also dangerous, as this usually is the dirtiest and most slippery part of the road. However always give yourself plenty of room when passing other vehicles traveling in the next lane in case they decide to change lanes while you're passing. This will give you more time to react. And never stay in their blind spot.
• If you don't like the idea of covering your $25,000 Pearl Grey Harley Davidson with bright reflective yellow tape, consider adding "invisible reflective tape" which is nothing more than highly reflective black tape - a super bright reflective black tape. This reflective black tape blends almost perfectly to the natural black frames of most motorcycles and other black framed vehicles. Entire motorcycle frames can be covered with this shiny dark black tape and nobody will ever know... at least not until you are in the eyesight of an oncoming motorist at night. Not all reflective black tape qualifies as "super bright" Be sure the product you are buying is a super bright black. The raw material is made by 3M and it will defy all logic when it illuminates’ white from a totally black surface. While black tape is not as reflective and safe as other colors, it is better than not using tape.
Warning: Reflective materials are not a "cure all" for night safety. Reflective items should be used in addition to electrically powered conspicuity devices as well, especially for bicycle riders at night. There are circumstances whereby a reflective item may not be illuminated in time to avoid an accident. A bicycle on the inside of a curve might not be in proper alignment with a motorist at night even 10 feet behind the bicycle.
