Originally Posted by
Moe Zhoost
Research supports this. While the intensity of a blinking light is perceived to be higher by observers so it is true that they are more conspicuous, but at a cost. Solid lights allowed for observers to better judge the important stuff. If you want a motorist to know that you are somewhere in their sight line, then strobe. If you want a motorist to know where you are as well as your travel vector, consider running solid lights. Improve on this by running 2 or more lights with some spread between them.
"Research supports this" but that research might not be relevant to the use being discussed.
The general case is where a vehicle is coming up to a cyclist from behind. The "travel vector" in that case is pretty-much a stationary object in front of them.
The idea of flashing lights is to be noticeable (conspicuous) from a longer distance. Flashing lights are much more noticeable than solid lights of similar size and power).
If the motorist can recognize the object as a cyclist, they can make reasonable estimates of speed and direction.
By the time they need to pass, the headlights should be letting the motorists deal with "travel vectors".