Originally Posted by
msalvetti
So this is an interesting discussion, I don't think my blinking light is blinding during the day, but I never considered it might be. At night on the MUP I generally angle the headlight to the side when someone is coming from the other direction because I know it is bright (even though it is pointed down towards the road maybe 10 feet ahead). I'll need to think about doing that with the strobe too.
The MUP I ride is about 9 miles long, and it has 26 road crossings. So I use the strobe during the day to be a bit more visible at these streets. There are also many families walking with little kids, and I like it when they see me coming from a distance because it gives them more time to get the kids under control (rather than running left and right across the path).
Mark
Blink rate is key. A fairly slow blink rate is definitely enough to make it conspicuous without triggering that whole "too fast for the pupils" issue. Strobing, which I think is anything more than 1 flash per 2 seconds, really makes it hard for oncoming cyclists to locate exactly where you or the people you are next to are on the path.
The combined closing speed of bikes approaching each other is probably somewhere between 25 and 40 mph and the inverse square law means that the blinding effect is incredibly strong right as you are closing.
You really can't tell whether it's bugging other people because you likely have never been approached by your own moving bike. I've had several people be surprised when I've asked them to turn it off, they really had no idea.
BTW, on a MUP, the best way I've found to give parents more time is to slow down as soon as I see there are kids. This works fine. From experience, it's also the only effective protection of the little kid on the bike drawn to you by target fixation. All the warning in the world won't stop a parent from being surprised by that.