I am debating on whether or not I should purchase two more rear lights for commuting. The current setup consists of one PB Superflash Turbo on my seat post, but I want two more lights on the seat stays. It's between the Radbot 1000 and the Bontrager Flare 3. Would that be overkill? I ride on the road at night quite a bit.

No. We need to be seen to be safe and more lights help.

A few years back I read an article somewhere that to impaired drivers a single steady flashing light can be hypnotic, thus having the opposite of the intended effect. At night and early morning there is greater chance of encountering an impared driver. Since then I have used at least two lights with different blinking speeds/patterns.

I see more then a few people with three lights on them when I drive/ride up a major north bike lane here in Portland. One on their helmet, one on their bag, one on the bike. So I don't think it's overkill at all. It's better to be safe then sorry.

I have a PDW Dangerzone for both my bikes and a third I put on my messenger bag or backpack when riding.

I currently have 4 rear lights and only one bike...

Indeed, mania is right. I'll spare the details, but if you can have multiple lights, then one needs to be on constantly, and the other needs to be blinking to get the best response from drivers. If you have 1, then a blinky is better. : )

I have one light, a Dinotte. It is better to have one really powerful light than several feeble ones.

We don't get many drunk drivers over here (although having a drink while driving is legal). Personally, I think an inattentive person will be inattentive regardless of the number and style of lights that one employs.

Therefore, I just follow the Straßenverkehrsordnung which stipulates one rear solid red light.

I don't think it would be too much, but it depends on the type of light. I have one Blackburn blinky on my rear rack and have been asked by some drivers what it was because it was so bright they could see me 1.5 miles back down the road and were wondering what all the flashing was about. They were surprised when they found it was just me on the bike. I think 2 rear lights would be perfect.

The more the merrier. I use 3 taillights, a very powerful Dinotte 140 coupled with a PB Superflash and a Radbot 1000. The Radbot is brighter than the Superflash but runs through batteries much faster. My Superflash will last for weeks without having to recharge its batteries, but the Radbot's batteries need recharging about every 10 days or so.

In my humble opinion too many flashers makes it difficult for car drivers to tell where you actually are. I'd go with at least one steady and others flashing. Same on the front.

+1

That's what I have.

Two is easy to justify; if the batteries on one go dead, you're covered by the second.

At three, you're falling into the "cycling is dangerous" mindset, and believing that it'll be your fault if you didn't forcefully wrench the attention of a drunk texting driver from dipping his french fries into ketchup. Don't go there!

i sold my dinotte 140R because i got tired of charging it multiple times a week. the cygolite hotshot is a blinding ~70 lumens and runs for many weeks on blink. its ~2-4x as bright as the lights mentioned by the op.

I'm running one on each chainstay - slightly angled outwards. It kills any possible blind spots and improves side visability. Those put out a couple watts and I don't personally feel the need for a third - but that's MY commute - not your's. If you think three will help - do it!

Keep adding lights until you get the Christmas tree you can see from outer space comments.

Overkill? I want lasers that can draw pictures in midair.

I prefer steady lights at night. I have this one:https://https://thetouringstore.com/BU...LER%20HOME.htm
I also have a SuperFlash which I have set to blink during the day but steady at night. I like the rack mounted one because of its size. On my wife's bike we have a Knog, they are super bright and recharge using USB. https://www.knog.com.au/gear-blinder-lights/

I run one steady and one blinking. The blinking grabs attention, and the steady gives a distance and velocity focus point. And as someone else mentioned, having two means if batteries run dead on one, you still have one other.

More than that might be better, but you are probably looking at diminishing returns at some point. Perhaps an additional one high up, ie. on the helmet, to be seen by cars farther back in a queue, etc.

It depends on your commute route too - traffic volume, speed, etc. I commute on 30 mph city streets, and honestly, with the two rear lights I am running, I've never had a conflict from the rear. All of the weird traffic behavior on my route tends to be turning vehicles and intersections. YMMV.

Cycling at night or twilight IS dangerous, and I don't care how unfashionable it may be, but my rule is that no amount of lighting or reflectivity is excessive.

Of course it's not overkill. Tail lights are the most over-analyzed subject on these forums. If you ask a question about tail lights it brings out dozens of amateur psychologists claiming certain configurations of blinking/solid lighting will draw drunk drivers toward you. Other "Pretend PHds" claim the opposite. We are all experts, and we all have "studies" in our back pocket ready to whip out. We all pretend to be Forester, or at the least Robert Hursts or (worse or better?) Grant Petersons.

Put as many lights back there as you want. The brighter the better. If you want them all blinking, then blink 'em. Experiment. Find out what makes cars steer clear and what doesn't. It's your bike, your city streets. Screw the psychoanalyzing, full speed ahead!!

I have 3 because I like the symmetry I was able to create.

Me too. I have a "milk crate" ziptied to my rack, and I have lights on each edge of the crate and on the seatpost. Very linear.

So I guess by putting six lights on your bike, you'd be tacitly assuming responsibility for vehicle crashes you weren't even involved in.

I had five lights on the rear of "The Rig" (may she rest in peace) and was directly responsible for an old Soviet satellite falling out of orbit and crashing into the Pacific. Serious.

I have 3 blinkies on my bike, but usually only use 1 or 2 of them. Am I overcompensating or in denial?