Flashing doesn't need to be on-off. Many bike lights now pulse - e.g. constant light of 700lm with pulse of 1500lm. twice a second.
Patterns are also common e.g. strip of 5 LEDs with 2 on at a time, sequence changes a few times a second.
Anecdotal, but in my experience pulsing lights signfificantly reduce SMIDSYs over solid lights along. (I ride around 2hrs a day, in the dark in winter months)
Even more effective than pulsing lights is helmet lights. When you scan the road you're creating moving light and much more likely to be seen. A quick glance at a motorist waiting at a T-junction to pull out and you've maximised your chances of having been seen.
I second movement being the most effective. When motorcycling at night one of the biggest dangers is cars making left turns across your lane. It's really hard to judge how far away and how fast a motorcycle is moving because there's only one headlight, with cars you can extrapolate based on how far away the headlights are from one another and how much that distance is widening.
The most effective strategy I've found is to do a little waggle if you see a car ahead lining up to turn. The movement catches their attention and makes them realize you're not a car that's really far away
> The most effective strategy I've found is to do a little waggle if you see a car ahead lining up to turn. The movement catches their attention and makes them realize you're not a car that's really far away
My instructor called it the "SMIDSY weave", but cautioned that the car waiting to turn might see your light going in/out of their vision as you flashing your lights and giving them permission to turn across you.
He also talked about creating a triangle of lights (headlight + 2 aux lights either side) as it helped people judge your closing speed, vs. the standard headlight alone.
As another thing to consider, my girlfriend gets really bad migraines from flashing lights, and literally has to pull over whenever when an oncoming bike has a strong flashing light.
Patterns are also common e.g. strip of 5 LEDs with 2 on at a time, sequence changes a few times a second.
Anecdotal, but in my experience pulsing lights signfificantly reduce SMIDSYs over solid lights along. (I ride around 2hrs a day, in the dark in winter months)
Even more effective than pulsing lights is helmet lights. When you scan the road you're creating moving light and much more likely to be seen. A quick glance at a motorist waiting at a T-junction to pull out and you've maximised your chances of having been seen.