A couple of times, riding in the dark, I have totally missed seeing cyclists coming from my left on the cross-street, despite their having their blinking lights on. Once I was turning right into traffic, and the cyclist passed me on the left, in the bike lane, as I was accelerating & moving into that bike lane. The other time, I was starting into an intersection and was still going slowly enough that I could brake for the cyclist who suddenly appeared in front of me - I had competely missed her when she was approaching from the left.

Must be something about flashing bike lights in city traffic. I usually take a second look at intersections before I do anything, but I was surprised that I totally missed seeing lit cyclists approaching from my left. As a result, I take extra precautions as I approach cars on my right waiting to either cross intersections or move into traffic, knowing how difficult I might be to see (despite the Urban 300 on the bars, usually on the solid light setting).

Also, cyclists approaching head-on in separated bike paths/MUPs with lights on solid often get confused with car traffic on the roadway. The bike lights make it look like a car much further away, and then I'm surprised to see the bike suddenly a lot closer. This confusion might account for peds being suddenly surprised that you are right on top of them when riding on MUPs in the dark. A flashing light is usually a better indicator that it's a bike, but usually MUPs are poorly lit & require the solid light setting.

Luis