To flash or not to flash

[KnackeredBike]

Having your front light set to dazzle on coming road users strikes me as a non sensible idea.

Not directly at traffic but I aim it so I had a decent reflection off roadsigns - which ultimately dipped car headlights do too. Otherwise oncoming traffic doesn't dip their lights.

 

[jefmcg]

Not directly at traffic but I aim it so I had a decent reflection off roadsigns - which ultimately dipped car headlights do too.

but angled so it dazzles oncoming traffic a little, and rear on strobe. Quite simply with that combination I get almost no close passes perhaps because drivers have to slow down

I am with @Tim Hall. What you are describing here is illegal, unethical and dangerous. Low beam lights from oncoming cars don't dazzle drivers nor force them to slow down.

You'll be fine, because if you cause an accident you probably won't be involved in it, and no one will be able to describe you to the police afterwards.

If you aren't dazzling oncoming drivers and forcing them to slow down, then please edit your post so you don't suggest this idea to other riders.

 

[KnackeredBike]

I am with @Tim Hall. What you are describing here is illegal, unethical and dangerous. Low beam lights from oncoming cars don't dazzle drivers nor force them to slow down.

You'll be fine, because if you cause an accident you probably won't be involved in it, and no one will be able to describe you to the police afterwards.

If you aren't dazzling oncoming drivers and forcing them to slow down, then please edit your post so you don't suggest this idea to other riders.

My cycle lights are 0.55W
Halogen car headlights are normally 110W - two hundred times more powerful.

You cannot dazzle a driver in my meaningful sense, but a car can definitely dazzle you if they don't dip their lights.

I have said before motorcyclists, who have a similar vulnerability, would be laughing at us stressing because we might "dazzle" someone with a tiny light when they make every effort to be an annoying and loud as possible in the name of visibility.

 

[jefmcg]

My cycle lights are 0.55W
Halogen car headlights are normally 110W - two hundred times more powerful.

You cannot dazzle a driver in my meaningful sense, but a car can definitely dazzle you if they don't dip their lights.

I have said before motorcyclists, who have a similar vulnerability, would be laughing at us stressing because we might "dazzle" someone with a tiny light when they make every effort to be an annoying and loud as possible in the name of visibility.

You are the one who chose the word "dazzle"

 

[KnackeredBike]

You are the one who chose the word "dazzle"

 

[fossyant]

PS always worth having two lights for back up. And no matter how many and how bright they are, drivers still don't look properly.

 

[MichaelW2]

If you use 2 rear lights on flash mode, they are never in sync and usually drift in and out of phase in a most disconcerting and confusing manner to anyone watching from behind.

 

[mjr]

In town/where there are other cyclists around flashing front and rear.

What's your thinking there? Beggar thy neighbour? All the attention for you and fark anyone else?

rear on strobe.

Others have complained about the intent to dazzle, but strobing is also anti-social IMO and illegal.

Quite simply with that combination I get almost no close passes perhaps because drivers have to slow down to judge an overtake.

If it annoys people but I don't get run over from behind at 60mph then I think it is job done.

Yeah, job done right up until the point where a driver misjudges your distance and runs you over from behind.

I opt for the mode that's most likely to be seen (flashing).

Flashing is not most likely to be seen. It's off some of the time and then it is actually invisible, rather than the mythical cyclist-invisible which daft people talk about. If flashing was better, don't you think motorists would have to use them for primary things like tail lights and not optional/occasional frippery like indicating?

My cycle lights are 0.55W
Halogen car headlights are normally 110W - two hundred times more powerful.

You cannot dazzle a driver in my meaningful sense, but a car can definitely dazzle you if they don't dip their lights.

It's not about power. Watts are almost as useless a measure of lighting as emitted lumens. It's about intensity. The illuminated surface of car headlights is much larger than that of most cycle lights. http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/chris-juden/bobby-dazzlers explains it thus: "A smaller lamp is more dazzling because each little bit of the lamp’s surface will then be sending more photons into the corresponding rod or cone of the observer’s eye. Once that receptor has been saturated with light, more does nothing useful, only hurts and bounces around inside the eye making everything else look fuzzy. So dazzling is also a complete waste of energy. Now imagine the same amount of light coming from a larger emitting surface. The image of this larger lamp covers more of the observer’s retina, so each rod or cone is bombarded by fewer photons and does not saturate."

If you use 2 rear lights on flash mode, they are never in sync and usually drift in and out of phase in a most disconcerting and confusing manner to anyone watching from behind.

Because confusing other road users isn't going to distract them at all, putting everyone near them at risk?

 

[MichaelW2]

Flashing is not most likely to be seen. It's off some of the time and then it is actually invisible,

Some blinkies have a really long dark gap in which bad things can happen.
Does the weird illusion of Chronostasis affect our perception of the gaps between flashes?

 

[KnackeredBike]

@mjr I have been cycling for long enough to test and refine exactly what is most effective at getting people to pass me with space and consideration and not to pull out in front of me at junctions.

Beyond that I really do not care if it is annoying and inconsiderate, because every light is on that spectrum somewhere. After all it is very discreet and non-dazzling to have no lights at all. What I care about is not getting injured or killed. And even with that lighting and reflective clothing I still get SMIDSYs.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I really do not care if it is annoying and inconsiderate

That's an unhelpful attitude to road safety.

And even with that lighting and reflective clothing I still get SMIDSYs.

So why do you think there's any benefit in dazzling others?

 

[KnackeredBike]

That's an unhelpful attitude to road safety.



So why do you think there's any benefit in dazzling others?

This is a somewhat circular argument.

I feel from experience my lights are the safest way of cycling.

You either think yours are safer or you prioritise other things.

I'm obviously not going to change a safe setup to avoid causing a fleeting inconvenience to a motorist.

Apart from anything else if they objected you would think they would flash their lights as you would at a car that dazzles you. As they don't they either appreciate the bright light or don't care.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Apart from anything else if they objected you would think they would flash their lights as you would at a car that dazzles you. As they don't they either appreciate the bright light or don't care.

Or, like me, they shield their eyes from your lights and avoid flashing full beam as they don't want to dazzle the many other road users travelling on the commute.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Or, like me, they shield their eyes from your lights and avoid flashing full beam as they don't want to dazzle the many other road users travelling on the commute.

Thanks, if you have any more advice about cycling on roads you don't know surrounded by motorists who you don't know (think very inbred) please let me know.

 

[hopless500]

My rear cateye has two rows so I have one on steady and one on flash.