Bright flashing front bike light in daylight - why?

[Smurfy]

I had someone behind me last week on my cycle commute with a bright front light on strobe setting. I spotted him from a hundred yards back when I did a shoulder check for changing lanes. It was bad enough in broad daylight, goodness knows how awful it must be for other road users in darkness.

 

[stu9000]

Got any evidence to support that assertion?

While I agree that its good to get people to back up there assertions rather than just quote common sense, this isnt the Lancet.

Flashing lights attract the eye. Thats why they have them on Emergency vehicles, navigation boeys etc.

As the weather has got better I have paradoxically felt a bit less visible as i tootle through shaded lanes.
I did initially feel a bit of a prat putting my light on, but im not hurting anyone and Im sure I am more likely to be seen.

It amazes me the things some cyclists will take umbridge at on this forum.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I've recently seen one or two cyclists with glaring front lights on during the day. Safety conscious? I wouldn't say so as none of them were wearing high viz or helmets!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Flashing lights attract the eye. Thats why they have them on Emergency vehicles, navigation boeys etc.

It isn't about taking umbrage.

This thread, like many others, is trying to impart safety advice to other cyclists. And this thread will be read by others long after we have finished posting to it. If I asserted, on the basis of anecdata and pleas to "common sense", that my St Christopher Medal makes me 1% safer I'd expect to be challenged.

People make assertions in here, over and over, like "flashing lights attract the eye, Thats (sic) why they have them on Emergency vehicles" and I'm interested in understanding the science behind those assertions, given that, for instance, flashing blue lights were introduced with, so far as I can tell, no scientific basis for their design and no consistency globally over colour choice, intensity and flash frequency. Some evidence exists that flashing lights may be effective in attracting attention particularly when they are located in the periphery of vision but the results are not entirely consistent nor conclusive and very little research has been done about the use of such lights on motor vehicles and even less on bicycles.

Yet people make assertions about flashing lights improving rider safety and thousands of cyclists have started using them. Along with St Christopher's?

 

[snorri]

Flashing lights attract the eye. Thats why they have them on Emergency vehicles, navigation boeys etc.
It amazes me the things some cyclists will take umbridge at on this forum.

Where does it all end? Bicycles with flashing lights, cycle riders clothed like a pyschedelic vomit.

 

[Dan B]

People make assertions in here, over and over, like "flashing lights attract the eye, Thats (sic) why they have them on Emergency vehicles" and I'm interested in understanding the science behind those assertions

My hypothesis is that flashing blue lights on a bicycle make drivers take notice because drivers are used to looking out for police vehicles. Most people driving cars[*] will only pay attention to threats, not to other road users who they may themsleve be a threat to.

[*] probably "driving cars" is redundant here

 

[GrumpyGregry]

My hypothesis is that flashing blue lights on a bicycle make drivers take notice because drivers are used to looking out for police vehicles. Most people driving cars[*] will only pay attention to threats, not to other road users who they may themsleve be a threat to.

[*] probably "driving cars" is redundant here

My hypothesis is that drivers who look and see will see you regardless of your lights or lack thereof, and then may drive accordingly, or not as some are nobbers even though they are seeing nobbers, whilst drivers who look but don't see you will drive in complete ignorance of your existence with potentially catastrophic consequences. And why they look but don't see is, at least in significant part, about threat detection and expectation.

Someother interesting themes are emerging....

And as to "I can been seen from nnn hundred metres in daylight", so what? The car driven by the look see-er isn't a threat 400m or 4m away and by the time the gap has closed to 4m the look-no-see driver, who didn't see you at 400m, will probably be re-tuning their radio or changing tracks on their CD player, lighting a fag, drinking their coffee, eating a sandwich, or scratching their balls, any of which tasks appear to be of a higher priority for many than driving with due care and attention.

"I can be seen whilst heading into the setting sun" is superficially appealing it falls flat on its face if we start to consider why it is thought necessary to defend ourselves against the moronic driver, driving towards the setting sun and being dazzled by it, driving at a speed and in a manner at odds with protecting the safety of other people.

The onus is not on cycling folk to make themselves visible to motorists in broad daylight. That leads us to victim-blaming. The onus is on drivers to slow the feck down when they can't see for any reason and to pay more attention to others when they are driving. But apparently that is an unreasonable or unrealistic expectation. As motorists appear to own the roads.

 

[BSRU]

"I can be seen whilst heading into the setting sun" is superficially appealing it falls flat on its face if we start to consider why it is though necessary to defend ourselves against the moronic driver, driving towards the setting sun and being dazzled by it, driving at a speed and in a manner at odds with protecting the safety of other people.

Drivers have used this excuse for getting away with killing a cyclist.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Drivers have used this excuse for getting away with killing a cyclist.

More properly, that juries have sometimes, though not always, accepted this "excuse" shows how embedded our motor-centric view of rights and responsibilities on the road have become. That motor-centrism is what we need to challenge.

 

[BSRU]

More properly, that juries have sometimes, though not always, accepted this "excuse" shows how embedded our motor-centric view of rights and responsibilities on the road have become. That motor-centrism is what we need to challenge.

Not just juries, some judges as well.

 

[MrWill]

A flashing light during is going to increase the chances of you being seen. Impossible to distinguish by how much, because every situation would be different.

But just look at part of a post I made previously about why things are seen.

A light will add OR enhance one of the following, thus increasing the chance of being seen.

• Shape
• Shadow
• Silhouette
• Movement
• Spacing
• Position
• Texture
• Colour
• Noise
• Shine

It's very bloody simple.

As an ex , an expert on why things are seen, trust me on this.

I don't get why anyone thinks otherwise, is it a lack of intelligence, or that people just like to argue on cycling forums or what?

 

[BSRU]

I don't get why anyone thinks otherwise, is it a lack of intelligence, or that people just like to argue on cycling forums or what?

The second one usually.

 

[snorri]

I don't get why anyone thinks otherwise, is it a lack of intelligence, or that people just like to argue on cycling forums or what?

Most of the contributors to the thread are simply expressing their points of view. You are the one upping the anti with use of a swear word and questioning the intelligence of others.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

A flashing light during is going to increase the chances of you being seen. Impossible to distinguish by how much, because every situation would be different.

But just look at part of a post I made previously about why things are seen.

A light will add OR enhance one of the following, thus increasing the chance of being seen.

• Shape
• Shadow
• Silhouette
• Movement
• Spacing
• Position
• Texture
• Colour
• Noise
• Shine

It's very bloody simple.

As an ex , an expert on why things are seen, trust me on this.

I don't get why anyone thinks otherwise, is it a lack of intelligence, or that people just like to argue on cycling forums or what?

Your list of factors is interesting, and useful to someone whose primary objective is to pick out a target. Sadly, many drivers are not ex-snipers and can't be arsed to scan the field of view from their vehicle with the same level of scrutiny. I'd go further and suggest that a flashing front light only weakens safety by confirming your status as 'only a cyclist' and the average driver will SMIDGAF you.

GC

 

[numbnuts]

I've just come back from a 28 mile ride using a front flashing light for the first time, on the country lanes all drivers pulled over to let me pass, this is quite unusual, most would force me to stop.
In the town I had one driver that hesitated and then stopped to let me go by, so flashing lights may work, but I think it needs more testing.