For the rear light, your speed effectively detracts (reduces) the speed of the vehicles coming from behind. And you are usually right in front of them. So a blinking light is likely to have enough time to be seen and noticed (both important factors, similar, not the same).

For the front - your speed is added to the speed of any oncoming vehicles. That can leave very little time. I've had a car pull out in front of me, not having seen my blinking front light. No accident. The driver felt the need to stop and complain I hadn't turned my light on. The truth is that probably the split-second they had me in their field of vision was when the light was in the off mode. A split-second, but enough to be missed.

So for a front light, I think that a steady beam is a must, and one can add a blinking lite to match it.

Lights that are too strong, blinding, either front or rear are highly questionable. Do you want drivers coming near you (from either direction) to be blinded? Is that outweighed by any benefits compared to having just "normal" good lights that aren't blinding?

I've switched to a dynamo hub to never look back - but before I did that, I just ran the front light in full-on mode and charged the batteries more often.