this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2024
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I say this as a fellow cyclist so please don't misunderstand me:
If your bike blinks, I hate you. You're not more visible, because I have to look away or feel like I'm being attacked by an industrial grade strobe-light. Your lights are too bright, it's pointed directly into my eyes. The blinking only irritates my eyes further.
If you want to be visible, use an excessive amount of retroreflective tape because that only makes you bright to the source emitter and it makes you far brighter than your 3000 lumen rear LEDs do.
I second this. Blinking lights make it more difficult to gauge your position, speeds,or even Tell if you're stationary or moving.
Also at an intersection if I look your way in the split second your light blinks, you're invisible.
Whem i cycle i always use solid lights, and only if i have more than one rear light I'll make it blink.
Think, if blinking lights are safer, why aren't they installed factory default on cars and airplanes? They are in fact less safe.
Counterpoint: blinking lights are in fact installed on airplanes both large and small. Red beacon lights blink, and so do high intensity white strobe lights. The variation helps identify the source of lights against a busy city skyline at night (that must be an aircraft we're looking at) and serves to call attention against a sea of steady lights in the background. It's very easy for the airplane to blend in otherwise. Even some racecars pulse their brakelights automatically to draw the attention of fellow racers. Finally, as a driver in sometimes poorly lit areas compounded with a rather avid local bicycling culture, I have found that bicycles equipped with rear-facing red blinking LEDs really help distinguish the bike against the background. The best setups had a light on the back of their helmets as well, which does the most to aid depth perception.
I'd agree: more lighting is better, and an easily recognisable arrangement of constant lights would help with depth perception. The farther apart from each other, the better. Defending the use of blinking lights as a very important addition is my aim here.