Flashing LED lights!!

singlespeedexplosif

So why do the manufacturers produce lights with flashing modes if it isn't to make you safer?
If it will sell, they'll make it. Like replica world champion jerseys. You shouldn't wear one because you aren't world champion, but if somone's prepared to shell out their hard-earned for it, why not make a buck or two out of the numpties?


Actual answer: to give you an option to run a flashing light alongside a constant light, because it extends battery life.
If you think it's about vision, why aren't car lights - particularly rear lights or, for really poor visibility, fog lights, available on comedy rave mode too?

keef66

By definition the student cyclists in Cambridge will be freshers; they'll have their bikes nicked within a couple of months.

Doubt they'll be bothering with errant cyclists once the police budget has been halved!

Bozman

i think somebody having a drag on a fag would've given more illumination than that flashing LED. They give people a cheap alternative to a real light and a way around the law.
Ban them or only allow them as secondary illumination.

jeremyrundle

Bozman wrote:

i think somebody having a drag on a fag would've given more illumination than that flashing LED. They give people a cheap alternative to a real light and a way around the law.

Ban them or only allow them as secondary illumination.

Oh please.................. :?

Oh and lights do not give you cancer.. Ban smoking in ALL public places.

jeremyrundle

The law clearly states (for those that do not know) that it is legal to have flashing lights readr and front.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4071

I suggest you take a look at MY rear and helmet lights, unly a camera phone used to record, would you like me to shoot it on a Vid.

"copy and paste the link"

[url=hhttp://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad121/jser1/?action=view&current=rearbikelights1.mp4&evt=user_media_share]hhttp://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad1 ... edia_share[/url]

singlespeedexplosif

The law clearly states (for those that do not know) that it is legal to have flashing lights readr and front.

it's also legal to be Welsh. Sometimes, the law is an ass.

Bozman

I think somebody has issues!!! If you're stupid enough to ride around in the dark with one flashing LED light, you'll be dead long before any cigarette/smoke would kill you!

jeremyrundle

Bozman wrote:

I think somebody has issues!!! If you're stupid enough to ride around in the dark with one flashing LED light, you'll be dead long before any cigarette/smoke would kill you!

Yes, someone does, we probably all agree one light is not enough.

As for smoking I prefer to change my car for a new one every three years rather than set light to it.

andrew_s

It is legal to use flashing lights only. They have to be brighter than 4Cd, flash 1-4 times per second, and not have a steady mode.
This last is why most flashing LED lights on their own aren't legal lighting - the only one without a steady mode I'm aware of is the Reelight SL120.

de_sisti

APIII wrote:

Like someone else has said, flashing lights make it difficult to judge distance. If they're on the front it's even worse.

Is there any researched evidence to prove the above statement? When I see a bike ahead
of me with flashing lights I don't have any difficulty in making an approximate judgement of
how far they are ahead of me and how fast they are going.

I just think to myself;
"Cyclist ahead (probably) doing less than 30mph, unknown distance ahead, drive accordingly
and FFS don't knock him/her off their bike".

I mean, how accurate a distance do you need to able to judge? :roll:

Phate

To be honest I always notice a flashing light well before a constant especially in traffic, tend to find a constant light gets lost against the constant car lights!

On top of that the way you ride has more chance of you getting knocked off rather than whether or not your lights are flashing or constant! With reference to the OP the chances of you hitting the cyclist would have been far reduced if they had pre-empted that you might not have seen them and slowed to let you out!

jeremyrundle

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicle ... edalbi4556

jeremyrundle

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicle ... edalbi4556

jeremyrundle

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicle ... edalbi4556

Stone Glider

When driving at night flashing red lights always signify, to me, the presence of a cyclist. I suspect that I am not alone in that assumption, which is good news for those cyclists riding with a flashing rear light. With closing speeds giving drivers little time, the sooner they register your presence, the better.

These lighting regulations do seem rather out of touch with current trafic conditions and technology. With so few civil servants these days I suppose there is little chance of revision.

Lillywhite

Stone Glider wrote:

These lighting regulations do seem rather out of touch with current trafic conditions and technology.

They were only revised in October 2005. Prior to that any sort of non-filament light wasn't permitted.

jeremyrundle

Stone Glider wrote:

With so few civil servants these days I suppose there is little chance of revision.

There are approximately 530,000 civil servants today, how many more do we need :roll:

Stone Glider

According to Mr O'Donnell, in today's Grauniad, we shall soon have the smallest Civil Service since before WW II. Where does 530,000 come from?

The 2005 changes were fudged to accept LED's. What is needed is a clarification (always a good thing with lighting) of the old B.S. regulations, which are widely ignored by manufacturers to match the EU regulation which are the industry standard.

Sigh: if only I had remembered the emoticon.

potters1863

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

[quote="

I have seen riders with TWO rear lights on blink mode, going at different rates, most disconcerting and unneccessarryy.

may be disconcerting but certainly noticeable.[/quote]

I have two seperate rear lights that are both set to flash mode, I find this is the best way to get noticed from a distance, therefore giving the motorist more time to deal with the situation of having a bike riding along in front of them.

Also have a front light that is on flash mode with a constant light when the flash is in between flashes, it's brilliant.

Some motorists may not be too keen on all the lighting but it is very important to let them know you are there.

morstar

potters1863 wrote:

Some motorists may not be too keen on all the lighting but it is very important to let them know you are there.

I don't think any motorists are bothered by too much lighting. From a motorists perspective I think there is a flaw in this assumption that flashing lights must be better. On their own, I don't think they are. In conjunction with a fixed light, they are a brilliant evolution.

briantrumpet

morstar wrote:

I don't think any motorists are bothered by too much lighting.

Apart from the ones who flash their lights at you.

And the twerp who overtook me one night, but with whom I then kept up ... at one set of traffic lights the passenger leant out of the window and told me to turn my light down as it was annoying the driver. Good. I'd been seen, for a change.

Don't get me started on drivers who are determined to overtake you, and as soon as they do, slow down so you're then on their rear bumper...

jeremyrundle

Stone Glider wrote:

According to Mr O'Donnell, in today's Grauniad, we shall soon .

The CIVIL SERVICE

http://www.civilservant.org.uk/numbers.pdf

giant_man

briantrumpet wrote:

morstar wrote:

I don't think any motorists are bothered by too much lighting.

Apart from the ones who flash their lights at you.

And the twerp who overtook me one night, but with whom I then kept up ... at one set of traffic lights the passenger leant out of the window and told me to turn my light down as it was annoying the driver. Good. I'd been seen, for a change.

Don't get me started on drivers who are determined to overtake you, and as soon as they do, slow down so you're then on their rear bumper...

This is the whole thing. I would be glad too if a driver told me that, the lights have done their job and I'm still alive. For safety's sake, light manufacturers can make as many flashing LED lights as they like. The last thing I want to worry about is whether it annoys motorists!

APIII

giant mancp wrote:

briantrumpet wrote:

morstar wrote:

I don't think any motorists are bothered by too much lighting.

Apart from the ones who flash their lights at you.

And the twerp who overtook me one night, but with whom I then kept up ... at one set of traffic lights the passenger leant out of the window and told me to turn my light down as it was annoying the driver. Good. I'd been seen, for a change.

Don't get me started on drivers who are determined to overtake you, and as soon as they do, slow down so you're then on their rear bumper...

This is the whole thing. I would be glad too if a driver told me that, the lights have done their job and I'm still alive. For safety's sake, light manufacturers can make as many flashing LED lights as they like. The last thing I want to worry about is whether it annoys motorists!

I take your point, but if you don't care about motorists, why should they care about you?

giant_man

Nothing different there, when does the motorist ever care about the welfare of the cyclist? Some of them can't even drive properly ...

APIII

Maybe I've been lucky, but I've had very few issues with drivers in the last 10 years. I just don't take the view that all motorists are anti-cyclist, and don't see the point of p*ssing off the majority, just for a feeling of security (not actually backed up by any evidence that I've seen)

Phate

Deleted due to talking pesh!

morstar

So the argument has now moved to it being acceptable to dazzle drivers as long as they notice you.

Good luck with that partisan viewpoint. Bearing in mind the brightness of some modern lights they do need to be angled correctly but the brightness in itself is not an issue for motorists.

Of course, I'm sure the motorist who is actually an aggressive tosser will be glad that he can plead he was dazzled by the gzillion lumen supernova pointing right at him just before he ran you off the road.