Visibility and colour

[andrew34ruby]

 ...... I really do believe the standard on the roads today is getting worse by the day.

From 40 years ago till 20 years ago I had a job where I was driving every hour of every day. Agreed driving standards are not good now, but were they ever? One nuisance we don't seem to get anymore is the fast brigade who used to always drive in the third lane at 90 and headlight flashing was very frequent.

[Dave Mann]

I'm not surprised that some owners feel vulnerable in their Sevens, prior to 1994 our sevens had the usual extra lights mounted on the rear number plate brackets for stop and indicator functions for which I had a stock of spare lenses to replace those broken by dozy drivers. Something had to be done after I was nearly wiped out by an HGV whilst stopped at a pelican crossing on the 30 mph limit A6 in Stockport. That's when I realised that the HGV driver's eye's were 12' above the road and my rear lights were 12” above the road. The something was to remove the lights from the number plate supports and mount them on a white painted board clamped to the spare wheel. It's doesn't look pretty but it served it's purpose I wasn't prepared for the result close encounters of a modern kind were a thing of the past. The light board is fed by a standard trailer plug and can be removed in seconds leaving the rear of the car as built.
I once attended the funeral of a club member in a town I didn't know and after the funeral a Ruby owner offered to lead me to the gathering afterwards. Yes the Ruby had indicators mounted on the bumper in front of the stop lights and were invisible until he started to turn.
There is a clip on You Tube of 3 open Sevens entering a roundabout from the nearside lane of 3 lanes which is clearly marked for the first exit, do they indicate their intentions no and proceed to take the second exit. The last one was close to being wiped out but for the prompt action of a modern already on the roundabout.
The Rist horns are very nice but reside in a drawer in my workshop and our cars have twin trumpet air horns which can compete with those on HGVs, one blast of them usually scares the miscreate to death.
It all depends on the A road, I regularly use the A6 from Stockport to Whaley Bridge and most times I'm trailing along at 20/25 mph behind a load of moderns. While the A6 south of Buxton is a 50 mph single carriageway apart from a short dual carriageway at Taddington where I was making a  steady 30 mph up hill when an SUV flew past me. I continued on my way to Buxton doing a steady 40 mph up Ashwood Dale and soon caught the SUV up maintaining 30 mph.

[frequentflyer]

We have some reflective bands Amy made around the spare wheels. You can buy the material in strip form on line. Stands out much better on murky days. We also carry a flashing bike light as per the other Hugh's suggestion. It can be fitted if the visibility gets really poor and have used it once on the early road sections of the John Harris trial where we had freezing fog and sleet.

[Hugh Barnes]

Picking up on another comment here about heights of lights, this is where mine lives on the Cabriolet. The lamp itself is a Lezyne Zecto. It has multiple flash formats. The one I use is 2 or 3 fairly reduced flashes followed by a short sharp bright flash, it certainly gets the attention of following vehicles. Examples of it can be found on YouTube 

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[Andy Bennett]

The only thing that worries me about flashing lights is that they are of course very bright and very eye catching, much more so than a poor old blinking indicator trying to tell someone coming up behind you that you are about to turn right, so please don't overtake me.

[Ivor Hawkins]

Regarding that flashing red light, I think Rekkers might be along shortly, to quote Construction and Uses!

[Stumpi]

A rear Red flashing light is only allowed on emergency vehicles according to revised regulations published last year,
I have used a single red led fog light on night trials when using A roads,

[Hugh Barnes]

In my defence, I fitted the cycle light when I went north to Guildtown a few years ago. The route I planned was mainly on ‘lesser roads’. The lamp was used when there was no alternative to using the A1. It isn’t used all the time. I think if anyone in authority had stopped me to complain, I would have suggested that me having a flashing red light was better than me having to be swept up after being hit from the rear by someone not having realised the speed I was doing. I have subsequently fitted leds and will also use them when appropriate

[Steve Bryant]

Since the discussion made suggestions of lights, lighting and position of same I thought I would share my plans for my van once it is completed.
 
I intend to use LEDs for lighting and will install signal lamps as the car doesn't have any. At the rear I  will be using a lighting board that goes across the top above the two doors. This will carry the brake, side and signal lights. My intent is to make the board removable for shows etc. with the wiring using a concealed plug and receptacle.  This way I can have large easily seen lamps on the rear of the car at a height that is in line with most peoples line of sight as it will be about six feet above the road, but not on the car when I want to display it.  

The trick will be to try to make the light board look as period as it can be so as it doesn't stick out like sore thumb.
Stephen

[JonE]

I had been thinking about the tractors on A roads... and having orange flashing lights up high. As a cyclist using intermittent flashing red at the rear anyway and quite content with that (is it legal for bikes, as everyone sells them?) what about using amber flashers? I have a bike one, and not sure what it was intended for - perhaps for atop a helmet on a band...

I'm not terribly bothered by law here. Being alive better, and there aren't many police around.