Studies have shown that a large proportion of motorcycle accidents involve another road user's failure to see an approaching motorcycle. At night some of these accidents are associated with the misinterpretation of the visual cues given hy motorcycles. These problems might be alleviated by the use of appropriate lighting displayed at the front of the motorcycle. Experiments have been conducted in darkness to discover what type of lighting-arrangements assist road users to see and make correct judgments about motorcycles in traffic conditions. Results showed that the detectability of motorcycles is related to the intensity and beam-pattern of the headlamp. Lighting which helped to define the form of the motorcycle, used in addition to the headlamp, aided identification in traffic. Although the use of daytime running lamps, in various forms, was found to be of no benefit at night it should not be inferred that specifications for improving lighting for day and night use are necessarily incompatible.