Originally Posted by
kingston
A head-on collision between a car and a bike is an extremely rare event so annoying the rest of the world by constantly running a strobe light in front is the illusion of insulating yourself from a nonexistent risk. It's your job to avoid crashing head-on into things or getting hooked. If I were in charge flashing lights would be illegal.
Front lights are not for preventing head-on collisions. They are for preventing cars pulling out (or backing out) on to your street, and for cars taking right turns where there may be a bike stopped at the same light.
I have had many cases of all the above categories where I was glad I was running my front blinker. Controlled studies have also been done which show they reduce car-bike accidents.
EDIT: I remembered the study, it was done in Denmark. Front and rear blinkers in a controlled study. 19% reduction in accidents.
https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/27454881...r_bicycles.pdf