Old 07-31-20, 03:18 PM
  #70  
njkayaker
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Far beyond the pale horizon.
Posts: 14,240
Mentioned: 31 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4221 Post(s)
Liked 1,321 Times in 916 Posts
Originally Posted by john m flores
Regarding blinking, blinking or modulating headlights on motorcycles came into fashion about 10-15 years ago. Anecdotally, they are much more visible. I lead motorcycle tours from time to time and have to keep track of a dozen or more motorcyles in my rear view mirror while I'm riding through traffic. The motorcycles with "modulating" lights are much easier to spot in my mirrors.
I wonder if a single static light might be unconsciously ignored as being something like a reflection. If it changes, it looks very different than a reflection. The double lights of a car are pretty unique (it's not likely they will be confused with a reflection).

Originally Posted by john m flores
If everyone had modulating headlights, then it might be chaos, but I'd hazard a guess that fewer than 5% of motorcycles have modulating headlights, so they benefit from being different.
I suspect one reason flashing rear lights are illegal in Germany is because of the chaos/confusion that would result if there were lots of cyclists with flashing lights.

In the US, cyclists (outside of cities) are rare.

Originally Posted by john m flores
Personally, I do run blinking headlights in the daytime on roads. I try to make sure that it's pointed downward though. Is it legal in my state? I'm not sure. But I ride through some busy places with lots of parallel parking and I need all the help I can get and am willing to risk a ticket in order to be safe.
It doesn't seem flashing front or rear lights bother cops. I think the legality is moot.

Originally Posted by john m flores
Based on the NHTSA study, I may look for fork mounted auxiliary lights to add to my kit.
The NHTSA study seem to show that modulating headlights added the same benefit as low-mounted auxiliary lights. I wonder if having two lights works by making the thing more "odd" looking.

Originally Posted by john m flores
Lastly, if blinking has no effect on conspicuity, why do automobile turn signals blink?
More support for flashing being more conspicuous.
njkayaker is offline