From my stand point I see the cyclist before I notice the their Front or back light. That is during the day.

@kingston; Thanks for the video. That help clear up my lack of understanding from your previous post. I've seen the rear flashers on motorcycles before but I've never seen the headlight version till now.

Videos usually can't demonstrate the effects of flashing lights as seen in the real world so people need to understand that the motorcycle headlight ( in the video ) in the real world would have looked much brighter. Regardless, the video did an excellent job of showing the effect of an on-coming flashing light vs. a steady light. Summing up, if it works for the motorcyclist it will work for us. Of course not too many cyclists are going to run out and start using a bright flashing headlamp during the day.

That might be because most cyclist don't use lights in the day...and when they do they usually aren't that bright. I've noticed the lights on cyclist before without actually knowing it was a cyclist ( during the day ) but it is extremely rare. Usually when this happens the cyclist is using a very bright ( flashing ) rear light or flashing front light and is a good distance away. I generally don't use a flashing light when riding in full daylight but if I'm riding down a road with a lot of shade I might use the front flasher.

Every time I see someone write or say something like this it always leaves me mystified. "I overwhelmingly see obnoxious lights"?? What world are you living on? I rarely see a cyclist use a lamp that I would even call "bright" on the road and I drive for a living and see cyclists all the time. The only lights that I've ever seen that I would even begin to call, "obnoxious" has been on certain Police vehicles. ( Okay, on some cars and Pick-ups as well with super bright headlights but I've gotten used to those ) It's such an oddity to even see a cyclist riding at night ( or day ) with a good ( very bright ) lamp that I'm amazed that someone would even say something like what you did. That said, "I"... overwhelmingly see cyclists using crap low-output lamps on the road or no lamp at all", so from my point of view I figure we must be living on different worlds.

I live in central Seattle, land of disposable income and people that boast that blinking, blinding lights make people safer. It certainly does feel like a different world at times, but it's possible I'm more light-sensitive than others.

Okay, if this is on paved multi-user trails or someone using overly bright lights on a group ride I could understand. On the other hand if this is about observing a cyclist as he rides down the road from a car or other motorized vehicle I would have a hard time understanding. BTW my eyes are astigmatic and tend to gather more light than needed. I guess this why I have good night vision but yes overly bright lights bother me too. Generally when I encounter bright lights I try to look away. When driving at night most of the overly bright lights I encounter are from cars and pick-up trucks. I just deal with it because it's not worth getting into a huff over. I only ever encountered a bike with overly bright lights once. The guy was in an urban area and riding on the side walk and was facing road traffic. He was using two cheap Chinese Magicshine type lamps on the bars so maybe 1400 lumen tops. While I noticed him it was just because the bright light and the two lamps drew my attention ( and I am into night riding ). He was far enough off the road not to blind me so really I paid it little mind. I made a mental note of it though but only because it was the first time I ever saw someone with bright lights riding on ( or near ) a road. If he had been riding "with the traffic" I doubt I would have even noticed him since he was on a sidewalk.