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Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 12:57pm
by PaulCumbria
Whether on front or rear, I find flashing bike lights intensely distracting. For that reason I have a top-notch dynamo lighting system fitted (no flashing options) - and that's it. Do as you would be done by.
Muppets using off-road spec front lights with no cut-off need vigorous, possibly violent re-education...
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 1:01pm
by De Sisti
PaulCumbria wrote:
Muppets using off-road spec front lights with no cut-off need vigorous, possibly violent re-education...
And they say car drivers advocate violence.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 4:26pm
by axel_knutt
tripwire wrote:Do you have a source for that marking requirement?
Nope.
It's about six years since I delved into all this, and I was typing from memory. I might have been confusing this with BS6102/3, which
definitley does require the BS no. to be "durably marked" (para. 11.1(c) according to my notes).
I can't be bothered wading through it all either, but I did a search for the word "mark" and it didn't turn up anything relevant. It's a bit inconsistent if the same doesn't apply to both specs, isn't it..........
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 4:53pm
by meic
I also believe it has to be marked on the lens and TC talking of a model of backlight having to be discontinued because it was marked on the body instead.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 5:37pm
by thirdcrank
meic wrote:I also believe it has to be marked on the lens and TC talking of a model of backlight having to be discontinued because it was marked on the body instead.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=67412&p=576510&hilit=Halfords#p576510
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 7:28pm
by ChrisButch
What appears to be a new dimension to this is that I'm finding a small but increasing number of riders using flashing front lights in daylight. Quite to what purpose is unclear to me.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 7:56pm
by thirdcrank
ChrisButch wrote:What appears to be a new dimension to this is that I'm finding a small but increasing number of riders using flashing front lights in daylight. Quite to what purpose is unclear to me.
Some LED torches are made with an option to flash SOS in morse code. Presumably, this allows Air Sea Rescue and the like to verify whether somebody really needs rescuing or is just messing with their torch on a cliff ledge/ miles out to sea in an inflatable / far from civilisation on a windswept moor.
For all I know, there may be other signals available, but like the majority of road users I can't read morse code.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 8:01pm
by meic
I certainly use my front light on flashing until it is dark enough for me to notice and be bothered by it, at that point I put it on constant.
The flashing light is to draw the motorists attention to you, simple as that. I only bother with the light if the daylight is dim because I dont think it is bright enough to be effective at other times of the day.
New cars have to be manufactured with day time lights, Volvos have had them for years as have many motorcycles, the same logic should apply even more so to cyclists as they are the slimmest (so easiest) things on the road to miss.
Where as here I am explaining why, it doesnt mean that I am very much in favour of these things and my flashing front light generally doesnt come on until the sun has gone down.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 9:07pm
by De Sisti
thirdcrank wrote:...., it would go to experts who could (forensic science lab or similar.)
I thought the government got rid of them.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 9:27pm
by thirdcrank
De Sisti wrote:... I thought the government got rid of them.
I think they were privatised, or at least, put on a more commercial footing.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 7 Nov 2012, 10:41pm
by LollyKat
These days all my night riding is done in town, with lots of streetlights, shop signs and of course other traffic. I have both front and real lights on flashing so that I am identified as a cyclist and show up as such among other traffic.
I think it helps on open roads, too. Steady but very bright modern lights can be perceived as belonging to a fast motorcycle in the distance rather than to a slow bike that is much closer.
Rear lights used to flash quite slowly and I found it difficult to judge how far away they were, but the modern fast ones don't cause me such problems. I use two lights both front and rear, with one set to constant, the other flashing.
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 8 Nov 2012, 11:33am
by Keith Bennett
The attention grabbing of flashing lights has been established for many years,The very reason that emergency vehicles are fitted with them (rotating beacons give the impression of flashing). After many years of driving emergency vehicles on country roads and motorways I have not come across any difficulty in estimating distance, but I was aware of the approximate location that I was attending
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 8 Nov 2012, 11:43am
by De Sisti
ChrisButch wrote:What appears to be a new dimension to this is that I'm finding a small but increasing number of riders using flashing front lights in daylight. Quite to what purpose is unclear to me.
Errr, to be seen?
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 8 Nov 2012, 11:44am
by De Sisti
LollyKat wrote:
Rear lights used to flash quite slowly and I found it difficult to judge how far away they were, but the modern fast ones don't cause me such problems. I use two lights both front and rear, with one set to constant, the other flashing.
How accurate does your judgement of the distance have to be? Just askin'?
Re: Flashing bike lights
Posted: 8 Nov 2012, 12:05pm
by BigG
LollyKat wrote:These days all my night riding is done in town, with lots of streetlights, shop signs and of course other traffic. I have both front and real lights on flashing so that I am identified as a cyclist and show up as such among other traffic.
I think it helps on open roads, too. Steady but very bright modern lights can be perceived as belonging to a fast motorcycle in the distance rather than to a slow bike that is much closer.
Rear lights used to flash quite slowly and I found it difficult to judge how far away they were, but the modern fast ones don't cause me such problems. I use two lights both front and rear, with one set to constant, the other flashing.
+1 to that. My constant lights are dynamo driven with standlights and my battery lights are used normally in flashing mode. The front one is angled down a little so that it does not dazzle and can be used as a backup continuous light in unlit areas when needed (as when travelling too slowly uphill for the dynamo to give full output).