Plenty of countries worldwide have started requiring front and rear lights for bikers. Despite this, there are still lots of cyclists who will ditch one for the other. They would have a front light without a rear light or vice versa. Worse, some cyclists don't have bike lights at all. 

Front lights and rear light: do you need both?

Germany is one of the countries that included cyclists' requirements in their road regulations. In their guidelines, each biker must have a white front light and red rear light. And not just that, the guidelines even specified features that should be present on the said lights.

Since then, various states worldwide have also required the use of front and rear bike lights. This rule has significantly reduced the number of road crashes involving cyclists. It's so effective that it became one of the guidelines in producing bike lights worldwide. 

So why is it important to have two lights instead of one? Because cyclists need to be seen as much as they need to see.

Front lights aren't just used to allow cyclists to see the road ahead of them. They should also be bright enough to be seen by other road users. This way, drivers won't be surprised if cyclists go through the tight spaces between vehicles. 

However, while the front lights should be bright, they shouldn't be too bright. 

The StVZO guidelines on bike lights which are adapted from German Road Traffic Licensing Regulation  introduces the cut-off line. It’s an optics technology that regulates the brightness and projection of front lights. This reduces the use of excessively bright lights that can cause blindness to other road users.

On the other hand, rear lights are used to notify the drivers behind bikers about their location on the road and the direction where they will be heading. According to research, its effectiveness is undebatable because a visible rear light reduces cyclist-related road accidents by 72%.

Do you need the same brand of front lights and rear lights?

Ever wondered why the lights on a plane are always in sync? How noticeable the synced lights are at night. Well, as you can imagine, this has been purposely thought out and implemented by design to attract the attention of other airplanes as part of their anti-collision system.

You can also apply this kind of engineering and technology to bike lights.

While you don't need to have front and rear lights from the same brand, it would be beneficial to sync the two lights. It's best to look for bike lights with a fully adjustable light setup.

Lucky for you, there are already many smart bike lights in the market today that can be customized and synced with your smartphone. 

One of the leading smartphone apps for bike lights is the Rayo app. With this app, cyclists can adjust the level of brightness, flashing, pattern, and pretty much everything about their bike lights, as long as they're compatible with the Rayo app. 

Furthermore, most of these smart bike lights come with the same motion-sensing technology, dependent on inertia rather than acceleration. They will simultaneously light up when you slow down and not when you come to a complete stop. This means you can avoid road collisions as the drivers around you know beforehand whenever you're coming to a halt. 

These features aren't even the best ones yet when synchronizing with smart bike lights–you can synchronize with other bikers.

As long as your bike lights are synced with the Rayo app, you can synchronize your bike lights' brightness level and flashing patterns. This can boost your group's road visibility by 42%. This is especially important as cyclists groups have been experiencing increasing road accidents every year. 

The simple feature of light synchronization will not just keep you and your cyclists' friends safe on the road. It will also ensure a fun ride free from any road problems.

While brightness and durability are still some of the top bike lights features, it's best to consider other innovative features such as smartphone connectivity and synchronization. After all, they're made to improve the riding experience of cyclists worldwide–including you.