Originally Posted by
jsharr
If I was driving a car at night, and saw a flashing light 20 " from the right curb, I would assume a right turn is imminent from the vehicle ahead, not a left turn. I am also using the assumption that I am far enough back and it is dark enough for me not to realize that the vehicle ahead is a cyclist.
Ah, good point. My thoughts on the validity of the turn signals from the last thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...9&postcount=66
Anyway --
how to make them work?
Activating them would be the easy part. It's hardly worth a paragraph.
Auto-off would be nice, but I'm not sure how to make it sense when to turn off without getting triggered by other movements. The front wheel & handlebars don't rotate very much (not much more than during typical straight line wobbling), so maybe detecting the lean of the bike would be better. But, that could be thrown astray by mid-turn corrections, and may not sense when the bike's going straight again.
A manual switch off would be better, but would still rely on the rider remembering to turn it off. If they forget, they'll just be another vehicle with a flashing signal to confuse anyone nearby. The system would need at least a flashing indicator and maybe a "tin-ker-tin-ker" audible clicker.
I still don't think they're a good idea, but not because of technical reasons.