Originally Posted by supcom
I have an old VW beetle that has white turn signal lenses that blink very quickly. They blink faster than a blinkie light.
One of my dad's first VW buses (a '59, IIRC) had white front turn signals; it blinked just a bit faster than a typical turn signal. Perhaps yours blinks at the rate it does because it has the wrong flasher module (maybe it's a 6V car, as many old VW's were, with a 12V flasher button, or vice-versa). In any event, in most states, a vehicle of that age is not street legal for registration with "regular" plates, and can only be driven with a "collector" plate. So yes, theoretically it's possible that an approaching white blinking light
might be a car's turn signal, but I'd bet a nickel that there are more bicycles routinely ridden at night within a ten-minute walk of where I'm sitting than there are remaining motor vehicles with white turn signals in the entire country.
Moreover, in the dark, with a steady bright light pointed at you, I can see where it would be easy to mistake an oncoming bike for a motorcycle with a turn signal or even a car with one headlight out signalling a turn. In fact, the relatively low intensity of a bike headlight could be misinterpreted to be another vehicle at a greater distance if the intersection does not have street lights.
Albeit legal, I would consider it dangerous to pull in front of a car with only one headlight, even with a turn signal on. Anyone irresponsible enough to drive with just one headlight can't be trusted wrt. signals. But that's getting too much into the other driver's head, and isn't really germane.
I think the best strategy is not to use a white blinker up front. Better to use a steady lamp and save the blinkers for the rear. Remember, like it or not, automobile drivers are not expecting to see cyclists, especially at night, and it is best to present to them with something they are more likely to recognize.
Other threads here have posts describing how drivers routinely "see" bicycles with steady headlights, but go on as if they're not there. The poster goes on to describe how much more attention (and compliance with yielding ROW) s/he gets after
adding a white blinkie. It's best to present automobile drivers with something that will get their attention.
Probably the best thing is a steady light accompanied by a blinking light directly above or below the steady. That way, it can't possibly be misinterpreted as a turn signal, since it's not left or right relative to the steady light. I've got both on my commuter bike, and thinking it through, I think I'll do some re-mounting to this effect.
For that matter, in the incident described in the original post, how could the car driver have assumed that the signal was for a
right turn? If the bicyclist had
only the blinking light, then it couldn't have been interpreted as being left or right relative to another light. Even if it were considered a turn signal, the car driver's interpretation of it being a right signal was pure fabrication; if it were a left signal, s/he should have stayed put.