Originally Posted by
TimothyH
Please don't turn this into a complain thread.
I'd simply like to ask those of you who use high powered strobe lights on the rail trails to please stop.
I'm not talking about crowded, meandering inner-city MUPs where crowds of pedestrians might make a flasher appropriate. I'm talking about high powered stobes out on long rail trails in the middle of nowhere where there are only cyclists.
I'm also not talking about the little diode on the front of your GPS or some other very low powered light but high powered LED lights on strobe setting.
They are simply not needed. Beyond that, they also interrupt the vision of cyclists coming the other way.
As a courtesy to other cyclists please turn your high powered strobes when you get to the trail. Thanks.
-Tim-
I cannot like this post enough!!!!
A light does not need to turn into a disco and if you think you are being seen, blinding someone isn't being seen. I have to block my eyes making it harder to see things or my vision is impaired for a bit after encountering it. I can understand if you are trying to signal someone in an emergency but then you should probably also say something like "help, help!"
If you have issues riding on a multi use path where you feel you need to turn on a disco strobe light then maybe don't ride there because nobody else feels the need to be blinded.