Ad Man and former Gotham Teammate Robbie Felder @RobbieFeld raises an important ethical dilemma that city cyclists face regularly: leave it or turn it off?  What do you say?

We’ve all been there. You come out of the grocery store after spending way too much time deciding whether or not to buy that free sample of cheese you tasted, and your bike light is still on. It’s a busy bike rack, with people locking up and moving on as fast as they are gobbling up delicious curds of Wisconsin Cheddar, and no one bothered to lend a hand.

It’s a thankless deed, but those precious minutes of battery life could mean the difference between riding home with your path comfortably lit, or a dark and hazardous ride, while your recently purchased eggs get broken like hearts on American Idol as you hit pothole after pothole.

The other day I posed this question on Twitter: “If you see a locked up bike with its light on, do you turn it off? #bikekarma.” Of course, no one wants to come out of a store to see someone tampering with their bike, especially if you have an easily removable light. However, I am always happy when someone tells me that my fly is down, or that I have something stuck in my teeth. While these situations rarely involve someone lending a helping hand, I appreciate the fact that they go out of their way to prevent me from looking like an idiot.

Turning off a bike light usually requires a simple touch of a button. Unfortunately, steeling a bike light is basically just as easy. Of course with a Defender Bike Light, you won’t have to worry about people ripping you off. If you do find someone fondling your light, hopefully they’re just trying to help you get home safe, with a random act of kindness.

So what do you say? Be a good samaritan and turn off the light but risk looking like a creep? Or play it safe, leave it on and risk drained batteries?