iacula said:
There seems to be a consensus that a flashing light , at least on it's own, makes it harder for approaching vehicles to judge your and distance & speed. The assumption is that this is bad, but may it also be safer? Will not other road users give you a wider berth when passing you because they are not quite sure where you are?
I am regularly overtaken far to closely and quickly by motorists who are too confident about where I am, fortuneatly to date they have been right, but it scares the sh*t out of me!
I'd rather the odd driver is disorintated and therefore slows down than that I'm dead.
Well one problem is you're working in a fail dangerous scenario. You're relying on the normal reaction of "
I duno what's going on I'll be more cautious", not everyone follows that. Some time ago the highways agency/local council put up some 6' fencing on the approach to A505/M11 roundabout at Duxford, most drivers slowed down because they couldn't see, however there was a significant minority of drivers who charged down there with complete disregard for the fact they couldn't see traffic on the roundabout it's self. As a result I saw some rather nasty pieces of braking from cars as suddenly a car doing high speed would come into view. Now I'm sure there was never an accident there, as most people drove sensibly, but what would have happened if you had 2 people driving quickly & arrive at just the wrong time?
The other big problem is some times you fool the other road user into thinking that one scenario is going on but actually it's something different*. Every time you cause confusion on the road you
increase thinking times & typically reaction times also increase as people are having to do more thinking just to make normal progress. Another thing is why have you got the right to deprive other road users of my attention while I spend far longer working out where you are, the direction you're travelling in & your speed?
Yes flashing lights are nice, they grab attention & get you noticed but please, for your & other road users
safety add a solid light into the mix.
BM: I have no problem with a flashing light as long as there's a second solid light source. I don't even care
which light is flashing, primary or backup, as long as there's a constant light to judge speed, distance & direction by.
*eg. me missing that cyclist, he was riding on the wrong side of the road so I thought he was on the other side of the trees as I couldn't work out exactly where he was. Yes I was cautious & just stopped part way across the road letting him through but had I pulled out quickly I could have easily taken the guy out before I knew what had happened.
