Originally Posted by
RapidRobert
Do everyone on the road a favor. Forget the strobe. Strobe lights are distracting, and overly dangerous to all those who see them. You're reacting to marketing hacks using the ability of LED sources to modulate efficiently to add just another "feature" to their products, despite absolutely NO evidence that it's necessary, a good idea or productive.
What makes you think drivers coming toward you don't see you? With all the death and injury to motorcyclists and scooter riders over the years from drivers turning in front of them, why is it only "The Cyclists" who feel the need to strobe their headlights? I propose it's because "The Cyclists" are typically knee shakingly paranoid of falling off their bikes. The unthinking adoption of, and dependance on helmets. Riding on the sidewalk. Riding against traffic. Helmet mounted lights. All evidence of excessive reaction to fear mongering by marketing hacks and bike club nannies.
I base our observations on experience... having worked as a messenger and being a full time 16,000 km a year cyclist I put down a lot of miles at high speed and there is nowhere I will not ride my ride.
The reason I know that drivers fail to notice me is because I have been cut off in intersections more times than I can count but the incidence of that dropped to almost zero when I adopted the habit of running a daytime blinking light. It would seem that a solid light gets ignored while a blinking light get's driver's attention.
I am not afraid of falling off my bike although this is a really uncommon experience unless I am mountain biking where crashing is part and parcel of the activity or winter cycling... I have fallen off my bike twice in the last 4 years when conditions were not fit for man or beast.
The wearing of a helmet is something I do because I have worked with too many brain injured clients, many who were injured because of cycling accidents while they were not wearing a helmet... if a car hits me at 30 mph or I get run over by a bus the helmet probably isn't going to save me but in a low speed crash it might be the difference between walking away or spending the rest of my life being fed by others.
I also run helmet mounted lights front and rear as this brings the light source higher and increases visibility and while riding through dense traffic makes me more visible to motorists.
I don't ride on the sidewalk or against traffic because I am traffic and know the things I do to make myself as visible as possible have kept me from becoming road kill.
I have had motorists make positive comments on the helmet mounted lights saying that these really helped them see me... I do not run the seizure inducing strobe light at night because that is dangerous for everyone but still use secondary blinkies.
That 2 watt strobe is great when you are coming down the street at 20 plus miles an hour as it really gets the attention of motorists who might cut in front of you in intersections... this happens more often with cyclists who are fast as most drivers have trouble judging the approach speed of a bicycle as they just don;t expect them to be moving as quickly as other traffic.
Putting myself in the middle of the lane also helps because I don't want to blend in with the curb because motorists don't look there either.
Can I help you with anything else ?