Are you a flasher?

I have a small turtle light, and I find that whether it be flashing or be on constant doesn't really make a difference in terms of visibility. I would always make my front turtle light flashing, just in case oncoming traffic wouldn't be able to see the constant light. Rear light always flashes too.

I use 4 lights and all are flashing. Static lights, particularly ones that are not brighter than other lights, tend to blend in with all the other ambient light and fail to identify the vehicle as a bicycle. Flashing lights get the attention of motorists and the way I figure it, the more lights I have...including my little turtle lights...the more visible I am.

If I'm somewhere without street lighting and therefore using the front light to illuminate the road, constant is best.

If I'm using the light to alert to my presence people who have such serious moral and/or psychiatric issues that they are driving a car, then I use the flashing function.

Flashing front & back for night time, turtles for dim & overcast, cat's eye for dark.

I find that the MEC reflective yellow jacket is always a nice touch - plus drivers occasionally think I'm a cop.

Big bright old-tech Vistalite 6W bulb/reflector on the front. The idea is to make motorists think "what's that, a motorcycle or something?". Many a time I've seen cars hesitate and not pull a left turn across my path. This is a good thing, as I hate to stop for red lights and will sprint close to 40km/h to make the green.

Flashing front light means "cyclist". Yeah, the flashing lights are noticable, but they're discounted: "just another slow cyclist, far away, plenty of time".

I always used plain on front, flashy on back. Thanks for something to think about

Has anyone had different experiences with either kind of light to compare notes with?

HONKA! HONKA!
http://trikester.wordpress.com/

I rarely ride on roads that are poorly lit or not lit at all, but when I do, my main light is switched to static and aimed downward toward the road. It's one of the reasons I use two lights on both front and rear, sometimes three.

While a blinking light may suggest 'slow cyclist' to some motorists---and it does, because I have had some drivers simply make the left turn in front of me thinking I was slow---nothing is perfect, so I have to be ready to stop, swerve or slow down quickly. It's simply a reality. Not even car lights tell some other motorists that they shouldn't cross their path. It happens. Be prepared. At the very least, I am visible to all the others who don't cut across my ROW.

As for Trikesters inquiry whether there have been any studies, I can only relate what I have experienced as a cyclist, pedestrian and motorist: static lights blend right in with all the other ambient lights and were not noticeable at all, for the most part.

"....static lights blend right in with all the other ambient lights and were not noticeable at all, for the most part."

Indeed, your average LED front light will blend in when not flashing. The 6W Vistalight, on the other hand, has a focusable parabolic reflector and I aim it straight ahead. It's bright enough to startle motorists, who then stop to ponder this strange phenomenon. And I'm through the interesection before they recover....

The "really bright light" is necessary for downtown and narrow streets. Out in southern Etobicoke on quieter streets with wide medians and no parked cars, I usually only run two of the four LEDs in my utility bicycle's headlight. (Vistalight is on my commuter road bike.)

Certainly I've had cars cut me off in the daytime, at night, and when I have been driving. Yesterday a taxi decided to turn right (on a red) from Queen to Bathurst, right in the path of my old Trans Am. Completely clueless, he was.

Interestingly, blinking bicycle lights were not permitted in the UK, at least a while ago. I admit to bicycling in Scotland with my rear lights blinking, and no one stopped me.

I used to use flashing, but then I say someone else using flashing on a really foggy day. I couldn't track their movement until I got really close (it was kinda like a dance hall with a strobe light; one second they're in one place, next second in another, etc.).

So I switched to a static light. I had a bit of concern about not having the attention-getting-ness of a flasher, but then I don't have that sort of visual attention-getting-ness in the daytime either. I like the consistency of keeping a similar trackable/attention-getting balance to what I've got in the daytime (so that means a static rear light too), and when I want attention, I just use my bell.

Although I often use a front flashing white light for visibility in traffic I'm not absolutely sure it's legal. Like a car, I think you're supposed to have a constant white front light and a constant red back light. It's the same as in Denmark and Holland.

The constant light is better for paths that are not too well lit.

I live out in the country so I really don't run into heavy traffic. I only use my lights in low light situations. If I go riding in the city I will likely change that. My front light is more for me to see the road than be seen. The back is always flashing. I did have a driver tell me off for the flashing tail light. She said every time she sees me she thinks there is an accident up ahead. I'm glad. Steady lights get tuned out by motorists so I won't be changing that habit.

"Flashing" is illegal, but flashing bicycle lights are not.

Lamps 62.

Intermittent red light restricted

(14) Subject to subsections (14.1) and (15), no person shall use a lamp, other than the vehicular hazard warning signal lamps commonly known as four way flashers, that produces intermittent flashes of red light. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 62 (14); 2007, c. 13, s. 17 (1).

Motor assisted bicycles, bicycles and tricycles, lights on, etc.

(17) When on a highway at any time from one-half hour before sunset to one-half hour after sunrise and at any other time when, due to insufficient light or unfavourable atmospheric conditions, persons and vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 150 metres or less, every motor assisted bicycle, bicycle or tricycle shall carry on the front thereof a lighted lamp displaying a white or amber light and on the rear thereof a lighted lamp displaying a red light or a reflector approved by the Ministry, and in addition there shall be placed on the front forks thereof white reflective material, and on the rear thereof red reflective material covering a surface of not less than 250 millimetres in length and 25 millimetres in width. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 62 (17).

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_st...

My understanding is that flashing lamps indeed get the attention of motorists however it is more difficult for motorists to discern depth (distance) to lamps that are flashing.

Whether subsection 14 actually applies or not to bicyclists is difficult to discern as bicyclists appear to be under their own subsection (17) and 14 appears to apply to motor vehicles specifically.

Let's not draw anymore attention to this, next topic please.

In traffic I always prefer flashing lights, front and back.

I'll only go to solid on the back while on off-road trails and while riding in a group with other cyclists because it becomes very hard on the eyes to follow another bike with flashing lights. Otherwise, it will be flashing on the back. I have a bike rack, and I've installed two backlights to mitigate the stroboscopic effect and other illusions when only one flashing light is used, on on the seatpost and the other attached to the rack.

In very light traffic, and where there are not many streetlights, I prefer a solid front light as it gives me a better view of the road. But when I'm less concerned about the road and more concerned about other road users then I'm definitely using a flashing front light.

"By the book" flashing lights on bikes are illegal, however the Minister of MoTO has assured that cyclists would not prosecuted, but would also not change in the current laws to exempt cyclists.

Depends on the headlight I have. I got 3, and 2 of them I use in stare mode while the 3rd I use in flash. Both modes are great. Also depends where I ride at night. If it is on a major street with good lighting, flash mode, but if it is on a dark side street or on the trail, I use the stare mode.

I always flashed both lights and never thought of how that must throw off other vehicles, especially in low visibility conditions. The blinking light just really seems to make people draw their attention to you.

My headlight has a 5 LEDs and a "roll" function so there is always a light on but it cycles across the front, I think I will start using that. Movement to stand out from the background but still constant enough for others to track my movement effectively.