flashing light or solid light ?
12-27-13, 05:51 PM
#26
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What you should need and what's best are two different things. Some motorcyclists have taken to running pulsing headlights to increase conspicuity and help prevent vehicles from pulling out or turning in front of them despite running high-beams during the day. It happens all the time; perfect visibility, you're there on your motorcycle plain as day with your highbeam blaring, and they still don't see you. Physically, the light travels through their eyes and forms an image on their retinas which send the info to the brain, but it doesn't register in their consciousness. Flashing/pulsing helps wake them up.
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Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
12-28-13, 07:51 AM
#27
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Right. You can't attain zero risk. People will say this is safe or that's not safe. Safety/risk is not binary. It's a probabilistic continuum. All you can do is incrementally whittle risk down a bit.
01-11-14, 01:09 AM
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I don't use lights during the day and I only use solid beam front and rear lights at night. Granted, I mostly only ride at night on my ride home during winter and my commute is mostly suburban, with some "light" urban sections. My concern with the blinking light is that people might drive in the direction of the thing they are visually distracted by... I was recently driving behind a guy who had a passenger side front and rear wheel in the middle of the bike lane for at least 100 feet while gazing at the rear-end of a female jogger on the bike path parallel to the road... driving in the direction of where his visual attention was, probably unconsciously. Luckily, I wasn't in front of this guy on a bike.
I was in downtown San Francisco between 5pm and 6pm the other day and was amazed at the number of cyclists with blinking lights.
I was in downtown San Francisco between 5pm and 6pm the other day and was amazed at the number of cyclists with blinking lights.
01-11-14, 01:25 AM
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Here's some quick advice. Check your state/federal laws as to see if riding a bike with a flashing light is even permitted.
Here in California, a bicycle is classified as a vehicle, and thus cannot have flashing lights on the front of the bike. This is the part where I'm supposed to insert the state/federal code, but while I'm on my phone it's not something I'm going to bother with.
State and federal law prohibits flashing lights on bicycles.
Trust me on this.
If I had to choose strobe or steady, strobe it is. I want to be see. On the rode, and something strobing is more likely to catch my attention then a steady light. Depending on where you're at, a steady light can just blend in with the rest of the lights around you, where a strobe feature will help you stand out.
Here in California, a bicycle is classified as a vehicle, and thus cannot have flashing lights on the front of the bike. This is the part where I'm supposed to insert the state/federal code, but while I'm on my phone it's not something I'm going to bother with.
State and federal law prohibits flashing lights on bicycles.
Trust me on this.
If I had to choose strobe or steady, strobe it is. I want to be see. On the rode, and something strobing is more likely to catch my attention then a steady light. Depending on where you're at, a steady light can just blend in with the rest of the lights around you, where a strobe feature will help you stand out.
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