Bike DRLs - what colour

[Archer]

Looking to add some DRLs to the hand gaurds on my motorbike to be more visible and I'm trying to figure out what colour to go for.

Do I go for white LEDs and try get ones with a more bluish look (like 5500K, similar to Audi DRLs), or do I go for orange ones and possibly integrate my turn signals into them as well? I think I'm also going to try something I saw elsewhere - running the lights at a certain frequency so that in your peripheral vision they flicker slightly but head on they are steady.

 

[garyc]

The law states that these should be white in appearance. This may seem like a minor technical detail, but if you are in an accident you do not want your insurance to refuse payment due to the bike being unroadworthy.

I tried integrated turn signals on a bike once. They proved less obvious to other road users so I gave up on them as a potential hazard.

In the end make sure that your headlamp is good in order to get maximum visibility. This is a lot brighter than the DRLs.

 

[Archer]

According to Regulation 181 of the National Road Traffic Act the law states forward facing lights of the same class must be either white, amber or yellow. If you know otherwise I'm all ears, but its pretty clear according to the act. And brightness is a balancing act - too little nobody notices, too much and you're a ball of light. I see some people with brights on during dusk/dawn and I struggle to judge their distance (nevermind the irritation it must cause other drivers)

My question is more about what will be more visible to other people on the road (so mostly cars) - white DRLs with a bluish tint, or plain orange. Yes I've already got an orange cover, but if I'm riding at night the cover comes off, so I need to consider riding during those times as well

 

[garyc]

That act states that all of these lights need to be of the same colour. I see that you are using an orange cover, so the orange DRLs will be OK if you have a switch to turn them off when you remove the cover at night.

Do you have a specific scenario under which you want to improve visibility (lane splitting, approaching intersections, etc.), or is this for general visibility?

 

[M3mPh1z]

White DRL's with an orange cover like your headlight?

 

[Archer]

I dont think DRLs are in the same class as main beam. I did find out though, technically DRLs must automatically go off if your headlamps are on (dont car DRLs stay on all the time? haha). But outline marker lamps can be on all the time (and would be installed in the same position more or less). Methinks the act doesnt make for an easy understanding of whats allowed

This is for general visibility, ie every scenario. I am also thinking of adding auxiliary LED headlamps, it would probably achieve the same thing (and have the advantage of better lighting at night). Maybe I should stick to that for now, and only add in the hand guard lights if I feel its warranted. Its the cost difference that led me to the DRLs, I can do that for R100 or less, while decent LED spots would be R1k for the pair