Flashing or Steady Lights?

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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Cunobelin
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by Cunobelin »

tatanab wrote:
pwa wrote:My possibly unreliable memory tells me that the first flashing LED rear lights used this function to extend battery life. It could be that flashing red lights then came to mean "cyclist" to other road users.
The early "steady" lights (Vista lights) were also flashing, just too fast to be seen. This extended battery life as you say. I believe the noticeable flash is another import from the USA. In the early/mid 90s I was riding there and flashing lights were common, and even that long ago there were some strobe lights powerful enough for day use.


Ironically the RAC still badge and sell these very early "Vista lights" (Including the green LEDS for the front) as bicycle lights

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pwa
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by pwa »

The Vistas did one very important thing that bicycle lights had not done before, at least for me. They kept working.
Annoying Twit
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by Annoying Twit »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Both maybe


I haven't got the reference to hand, but I believe that I read somewhere that flashing lights are more easily noticed, while constant lights are better in allowing the driver to judge distance. Therefore, both at once give the best result in terms of safety.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

The utility cyclist wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:
The utility cyclist wrote:24 years ago when I started car commuting early mornings to the edge of London and latterly into/around London for work I fell into the daytime lights trap (after reading some stats/blurb in Scandinavia) and used to run them all the time, then I stopped about 4-5 years later after learning more and being rear ended sitting at a set of traffic lights.

Interesting. Could you explain a bit more about this rear ending? I can't see how being rear ended would have anything to do with your headlights, whether day or night, steady or flashing or whatever.

FWIW having lived in places with compulsory daytime headlights (for motor vehicles, not bicycles!*) I think they can be beneficial in some places due to a combination of the dominant driving style and the local topography with long, straight, flat roads and low-ish traffic density. They have no place in towns or on rural lanes, and the conditions I've just referred to are not found in any part of Britain I know (partly due to our move away from 3-lane highways).

*Though I do seem to recall hearing that DRLs are now compulsory on new bikes in Germany.

I said using lights in the daytime not headlights so the rears were on too, clearly it made jack all difference. IIRC even volvo's had the rear lights come on with their DRLs, I had a MKII Astra. The last time I was rear ended it was a kid on his mobile phone about 17 years ago and despite running with side lights in urban areas only no-one seems to have not noticed me.
More lights on cars/bikes = worse conditions/lower visibility and lower level of 'looking and seeing' IMHO

I think the old style DRLs on Volvos were simply sidelights wired into the ignition, so the rears were on simply because it was not possible to switch them separately. Modern DRLs are often/usually independent of other lights. The old Volvo perma-lights would not satisfy daytime headlight requirements, DRLs seem to. The safety effects (positive and negative) of DRLs are probably going to vary with conditions but I reckon they're to an extent a marketing ploy working in two ways: appealing to the human instinct for shiny things, and an element of market protection (US and Asian vehicles will have to make special European models to meet the requirements).
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tykeboy2003
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by tykeboy2003 »

De Sisti wrote:This topic comes up again and again. I didn't realise there was anything more left to say the subject. :roll:


Probably isn't, I keep repeating myself whenever it does.....
Ivor Tingting
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by Ivor Tingting »

Flashing bicycle lights front or rear should be banned as many are now high power and momentarily dazzle/blind you so you cannot see anything as they are aimed up into your eyes then they go out so you cannot even see the cyclist and back on blinding you again and so on. The lower power ones are at best a nuisance but the high power ones like head torches worn by cyclists are a menace. If one is in front blinding me I put my lights on full whether in my car, on my motorbike or on my bicycle.
"Zat is ze reel prowoking qwestion Mr Paxman." - Peer Steinbruck, German Finance Minister 31/03/2009.
ndmbike
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Re: Flashing or Steady Lights?

Post by ndmbike »

Ivor Tingting wrote:Flashing bicycle lights front or rear should be banned as many are now high power and momentarily dazzle/blind you so you cannot see anything as they are aimed up into your eyes then they go out so you cannot even see the cyclist and back on blinding you again and so on. The lower power ones are at best a nuisance but the high power ones like head torches worn by cyclists are a menace. If one is in front blinding me I put my lights on full whether in my car, on my motorbike or on my bicycle.


Oh dear...
I hope I don't meet you out on the road and get blinded by your intentional use of 'full' lights when you see a cyclist with flashing lights.
I use a combo of constant and flashing lights.
Having driven the road I ride on, and looked out for how visible cyclists lights are, I hope I have the right mix to be noticed and to be considerate to other road users.
I also try to ensure my lights don't point into other peoples eyes.
I feel that the flashing lights are much easier to spot and plan for than a constant light when driving on a fast road.
I also feel that the flashing lights are more noticeable when in heavy traffic - I nearly got taken out when cycling with a steady light. A flashing light might have helped the driver notice me...
Even if they might have thought it was a nuisance.
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