Originally Posted by
Jaackil
First of all there is mountains of evidence. In 2012 there was a study in Denmark there have been other studies in the U.K. and Germany that show a significant reduction in accidents with the use of day time lights. There is also another study done by the US dept of transportation that shows a reduction of daytime accidents between cars and motorcycles that use daytime lights specifically flashing lights. Motorcycles are bigger and louder this more visable to begin with than bicycles so it doesn’t take much to extrapolate that they would increase safety of cyclists. Your own statement that they are annoying is proof also? If they annoy you you obviously notice them and that is the point. To each their own as far as if you choose to use them or not but you can not ignore the fact that they will in fact help make a rider safer
There is literally no evidence to support your claim. The choice to run DRL’s on a bicycle is emotional not logical, but I’ll try to present some facts anyway. I've read most of the studies you mention, and the closest one is the Danish study, which is actually a study of permanent running lights vs no lights, not DRL’s specifically. I remember reading the study when it came out and most of the measured benefit IIRC was from night-time collisions in the control group, so not really any evidence for a safety benefit of DRL's. I’ve also read much of the British and German research, and while there is plenty of evidence to support the benefit of night-time bicycle lights, I still haven’t seen anything on DRL’s. I am genuinely interested in the topic, but just haven't come across anything that has convinced me there is any benefit to DRLs on a bicycle. Even theoretically, I can't imagine the type of accident that a blinking headlight (which is by far the most annoying type of bicycle light) would ever prevent. If DRL’s were as beneficial as some of you claim, it doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to measure a benefit, yet it has never been done as far as I know.
The best cycling safety research I have seen is coming out of the UK. From the British research, by far the biggest danger to cyclists is a left hook (right hook in the US), which is easily avoidable by the cyclist who knows not to pass trucks and busses on the right at intersections. Head on collisions basically never happen unless the cyclist is drunk and rear-end collisions where a car runs into a bicycle travelling the same direction are almost non-existent in the data. As mentioned above, a high-vis vest (which I frequently wear) is the most visible to drivers, so I just don't see the benefit of a blinking tail light that attracts drivers' attention from a mile away that has become so common for cyclists in the US.
I also ride motorcycles and have read some of the safety research on that topic. The most common accident there is cars pulling out in front of motorcycles where the driver is not able to judge the distance and/or speed of the oncoming motorcycle, and the rider doesn't have enough distance to slow the motorcycle enough to avoid a collision. Daytime headlights provide some safety benefit for that type of accident, but rider awareness, training, and speed have a much larger effect on safety. Obviously, this type of accident just doesn't happen on a bicycle where speeds and stopping distances are much lower.