It should be Glaringly Obvious....

With the recent time change come some different lighting conditions.  Depending on the timing of your morning commute, you are likely to encounter some early morning low angle sun.  This makes those Nevada pitted windshield really hard to see through.  So be alert to the fact that drivers have an extra excuse "not to see you" on the road. Other than that....enjoy the beautiful morning commute!

Low angle morning sun and visability.

It's that time of year again....low angle sunshine in the morning.  Add a fogged or dirty windshield and drivers just can't see that well.  Unfortunately, most of them don't correlate not being able to see with slowing down!!  So keep a wary eye out at these times of day!

A little dangerous perhaps...but still beautiful!

Glare, glare, everywhere.

Good Morning Sunshine....aka....Low Angle Sun!

Mill St. with a bit of glare!

That's right, it's that time of year.  The air has a nice nip on the ride in and you're experimenting with layering techniques that keep you warm, but not too warm on the ride.  It's also the time of year when the sun is on it's way up as you ride in, and creates that nice low angle glare.  Your helmet visor and sunglasses might take care of it, but it often blinds drivers to the point they can't see (you).

Now if this happens to you on a bike you'd probably slow down so you don't die (or hit something)....but remember, drivers don't think this way.  They fight with the visor or just hold their hand up and squint until they can see.  Hitting the breaks is not the normal response to not being able to see while driving a car!

The problem is that during this time of visual (and apparently cerebral) impairment, they may use the bike lane as their lane, run stop signs and lights, or impact you and your bike for a variety of other reasons.  The second problem is when the police come to deal with this type of collision, the driver will simply state, "I couldn't see them....the sun was in my eyes.".  The officer will accept this as a reasonable excuse for injuring or killing a pedestrian or cyclist and the driver will likely not even get a ticket! 

So heads up, the next few weeks you want to be extra vigilant (and defensive) while riding in the mornings!