Rode my bike down hwy 25 to Pinnacles National Park and back yesterday. The park is approximately 25 miles from civilization and the road has very light traffic. On my way back, I was passed slowly in a construction zone by a highway patrol. Before she reached me, she got on her loudspeaker and said something which I couldn't fully understand. What I heard was " Your blank is blank blank to motorists". Then she went on by.

I'm thinking, what was she saying? Then realized it must be something about my tailight, which is the cygolite hot shot pro 200. Then I thought maybe she was telling me that it was blinding to motorists or perhaps just that it was highly visible to motorists. Either way, I figured it was good.

Riding on rural highways with little to no shoulder, you want people to see you from as far away as possible.

How nice of her to stop and give you her thoughts so that you could actually hear what she was saying

I'm sure to her she just performed a valuable public service. Serve and protect.😒

200 lumen taillight can be anoyingly bright, so my money's on it being a warning.

Always amazed at how universally pathetic police PA systems are. You would think that, with such an import role, agencies could outfit their cars with products from Marshall or Klipsch etc.
....as for flash, lord knows the flashy lights on their interceptors certainly are very bright!

i'd rather have motorists blinded by my rear light(s) than effectively blinded by their phones.

really really need to get back up to the hollister/pinnacles np area this spring.

they should have classes about how to use a mobile PA system

Clear case of flash envy.

I always assume that unintelligible yelling from someone passing by in a car are positive and uplifting words!

I don't know anything about your taillight. I have seen some headlights on bikes that were so bright they cause me to see spots. That's too bright and in fact a safety detriment. Have you ever seen your taillight from behind? It may have focus characteristics that make it so bright that motorists have to look away. Just a thought.

Yes. I have looked at it and if you are really directly looking at it, it is quite bright and for daytime use, that is what I want. As you get off angle, it is much less bright and I have a hard time seeing how it would blind anyone or cause them to avert their eyes to keep from being blinded.

For the record, I've never used this light at night and do not see a reason to have anything that bright except for daytime use.

Agree totally. Frankly, unless you're riding at night I'm not really sold on the importance of a front light. But I really want people on their cell phones bearing down on me from behind to see me....even if it irritates them for a few seconds while they do so.

It happens with frightening regularity. Motorists run into emergency vehicles with their flashing lights energized. Why? Is there a lesson we can apply to our irritating or annoying lights?

She said, hey good looking, we'll be back later to pick you up later.

Nothing wrong with a flashing light in terms of safety..however, we all know that irritated drivers are totally rational beasts. A light that's too bright may well attract as much grief as it repels. It only takes one..

A HA HA!....wow, blast from the past! Where is Ronco when you need them??

Sounds like the CHP hired one of the adults from the "Charlie Brown" cartoons to be a patrol officer. Was bound to happen sooner or later. I hope this "P.A. system" type of policing does not catch on. I can just imagine. "Attention masked bandits, stop robbing that bank immediately, I order you!"

I agree with the other poster that said to just assume it was something encouraging, such as, "Your athletic prowess is intimidating to motorists."

Actually, the PA systems that are used double as the sirens. Acoustical clarity is not the prime factor in their designs.

Ah, so us civilians are not expected to hear the precise words of the LEO loudspeaker announcement, just the overall tone and timbre, and react accordingly? I guess that's pretty much what I do already.

No, there isn't. It's unclear as to whether or not phototaxis is a thing in humans, but target fixation absolutely is. Every ambulatory movement taken by a human being absolutely relies on target fixation, whether that be a point in our vision, the source of a sound, or any other stimulus.

The biggest danger to a cyclist is the driver that doesn't see them. Conspicuity is important. If the flashing of a taillight irritates a passing car for the 2 seconds it takes them to pass, well frankly, good.

Bicycle taillights are brightest directly on-axis for a reason. From ~8 feet to either side, they're not nearly as bright-- visible, but not blinding.

Could you elaborate? I can't think of a good reason to have a beam like a laser pointer; I'd rather have the light distributed pretty evenly over 30-60 degrees.

Brightest on-axis because that's where someone is going to be when they hit you. Having it spray light 30º off to either side is just going to make it dimmer to everyone. Think flashlight vs. floodlight. From an oblique angle, a light needs only be visible and recognizable. From a narrow cone surrounding "dead on," it should be irritatingly bright.

Or she was commenting on your firm butt cheeks from all that riding... Just saying.

It's called "the Moth effect". Drivers are attracted top blinking or flashing lights. Also, it's been show that it's very hard to judge how far away a blinking or flashing light really is. I run two lights on the rear of my bike at NIGHT. One is steady on and the other is a blinking light not a high-speed flashing or strobe-like light.

Cheers

Fair point. But what about airport PA systems at boarding gates in US airports? The system itself is usually pretty poor, and combined with interference from people talking, other PA sources talking and general ambient noise their announcements usually sound like unintelligible "mumble mumble mumble". What puzzles me to no end is why they can't just accompany their announcements with the same info displayed on the TV screens by the gate... There are exceptions, but they are very rare.