busb wrote:A few years back, I was stationary at a T junction waiting to turn right onto an A road, A van coming towards me from my left was turning across me & missed me by an inch. My front light was flashing probably once a second. I did wonder if this was a contributing factor of nearly being hit by a vehicle travelling roughly 20mph. The junction was well-lit so the driver should have seen me even if I had no lights (like half the cyclists I encounter in Reading), the driver should have seen me.
My view is that flashing only lights should not be sold - no front light IMO should be completely off at any point until switch off. I currently use a pulsed continuous mode of about 100Lm with 1' repeat of a pretty bright short duration pulse.
As for banning flashing front lights, I'd be happy to see any front light, I am not kidding when I estimate that 50% of cyclists don't in Reading.
I agree about slow-flashing lights - I've posted elsewhere about the time I almost missed seeing a jogger at a corner because his light was off when I came around.
I think flashing lights were great when most LED lights were the pathetic things Kwackers described - the same ones that were green before about 1999. I remember my Dad (who, unlike me, drove a car at the time) commenting on how much more attention-grabbing the flashers were, which was a good thing when they were compared to something that could be mistaken for a candle in a nearby house. Nowadays I've gone off them, preferring trackable, steady lights lights front and back.
Around here it's common to see tractors or quads being driven around with yellow flashers/chasers on top (plus the usual lights of course). On a dark night it gives a hint that there's something unusual coming up, as well as some idea of scale which is helpful when the only other visible parts of the vehicle are a pair of lights that turn out to be an unusual size/brightness. I sometimes wonder if flashing yellow head or shoulder lights would be a good idea for rural rides.
Everyone's ghast should get a good flabbering now and then.
--Ole Boot