Why Do Cyclists Insist on Flashing Lights?

anotheruser

So lights have come a long way in the last few years.
Brighter, better and more visible than ever. But one feature I HATE is flashing.

Why do you need flashing lights?

They do not cause me to pay more attention, rather make me annoyed so likely to be concentrating on being annoyed rather than the cyclist.

Plus, in that moment that the light turns off, the cyclist is highly invisible. As they are travelling at speed, then for that second, their position has changed significantly.
This is a problem as the cyclist is no longer where they were last "reported" as per their light.

A constant light wouldn't have this problem.

So why do cyclists insist on flashing lights?

MEM62

I don't see that they serve any purpose over and above a constant light other than to frustrate other road users. A constant light is sufficiently visible.

Cash-Cows

Double battery life.

armyknife

anotheruser wrote: »

so lights have come a long way in the last few years.
Brighter, better and more visible than ever. But one feature i hate is flashing.

Why do you need flashing lights?

They do not cause me to pay more attention, rather make me annoyed so likely to be concentrating on being annoyed rather than the cyclist.

Plus, in that moment that the light turns off, the cyclist is highly invisible. As they are travelling at speed, then for that second, their position has changed significantly.
This is a problem as the cyclist is no longer where they were last "reported" as per their light.

A constant light wouldn't have this problem.

So why do some cyclists use flashing lights?

fyp.


.............

Retrogamer

The only ones that annoy me are the ones that flash either too brightly or too quickly and dazzle or confuse road users rather than help the rider be seen.

anotheruser wrote: »

So lights have come a long way in the last few years.
Brighter, better and more visible than ever. But one feature I HATE is flashing.

Why do you need flashing lights?

They do not cause me to pay more attention, rather make me annoyed so likely to be concentrating on being annoyed rather than the cyclist.

Plus, in that moment that the light turns off, the cyclist is highly invisible. As they are travelling at speed, then for that second, their position has changed significantly.
This is a problem as the cyclist is no longer where they were last "reported" as per their light.

A constant light wouldn't have this problem.

So why do cyclists insist on flashing lights?

Just because some cyclist use them it doesn't mean they or other cyclists insist on them.
Why do you insist cyclists insist on using them?

MEM62 wrote: »

I don't see that they serve any purpose over and above a constant light other than to frustrate other road users. A constant light is sufficiently visible.

As below, battery life.

Cash-Cows wrote: »

Double battery life.

This is a good reason and a conservative one.

If my rear light (Cateye Rapid 3) is on constant i get approx 3 hours out of it.
If it's on flashing i get approx 80 hours

http://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/TL-LD630-R/moreinfo/


As for the discussion i'm a driver as well as a cyclist.
I use a bright front light normally on all the time with a less bright flashing light to work with it.
The idea is that the flashing light attracts their attention and the solid bright light allows them to judge my position and speed on the road easier.

For my rear i use a mix of flashing / fixed depending on circumstances.
So if in a well lit town area with street lights or if it's dusk during day or raining during the day with reduced visibility then i'll use the rear flashing.
If it's at night on an unlit road, or NSL road then i'll use it on fixed.

theEnd

I've always used flashing lights. I'm sure they're more visible. They're only off for a fraction of a second.

JP08

Now that bright LED lights are on the market the "flashing to attract attention" is less necessary, true - in the early days of them they were so dim (almost as bad as the old 6v lightbulbs, let alone the feeble dynamo efforts that went dark when you stopped at a junction) that flashing really did help with visibility.

However, battery life is still a real issue with any portable lights - especially those that have to be small to be sensibly portable as they cannot be left on the bike due to thieving little oiks. And flashing does almost double battery life.

The distance travelled thing is a bit of a rose tinted preserved fish to be honest. In the quarter of a second of darkness, assuming two flashes a second, a cyclist travelling 20mph - ie getting a fair lick on - just about covers a bike length. 1mph = 0.45 m/s

What can be more of an issue with modern bike lights is poor alignment - those suckers are BRIGHT if you get them full beam full face.

myhooose

In heavy traffic situations, particularly on dark and wet nights I think a flashing light is particularly useful in helping the cyclist stand out from the sea of other lights.

As a cyclist who can feel vulnerable at times I prefer to use a fixed and flashing light to help to relive some of my fears of being mown down.

Generali

Me too. I use a fixed and a flashing on the rear and a helmet light with a handlebar light on the front.

skintpaul

A static light along may not be recognised as being on a bike, straight away, in a busy area, pedestrians etc.

I have two rear ones- one 'still' on bike, and one slow flashing on backpack, or clipped to coat hood.

Tobster86

There's also the question of "At what point after being seen do I want to be distinguished as a cyclist?" with many merits to weight up either way.

There's also the question of light levels.

My configuration is thus:
Very bright front headlight on constant. In the dark, this makes me hard to distinguish between a bicycle and a moped; and may discourage "It's only a slow cyclist, I don't care that they have right of way" gap charging. I also put this on whilst filtering during the day to capture attention in people's mirrors.

Two rear lights, a very bright flashing one and a less bright (and lower power consumption) constant one; when it's dark or low light. The flashing one identifies me as a cyclist very quickly and the constant one sort of 'conforms' to everyone else and provides redundancy.

I think it's beneficial to be identified as a cyclist as soon as possible from behind so people don't overestimate your speed, but from the front you are just 'another road user' with the same rules concerning who has right of way for a given situation.

I also think it's important to have an extra light on the back as redundancy in case one fails which you won't notice soon enough.