I said:Quoted message said:YMMV, of
course, but I actually find a cyclist with a bright flashing white LED
significantly harder to spot than even an unlit POB. It seems reasonable
to suppose that I am not unique in this regard.
and Matt responded:
Quoted message said:I'm not sure what you base your supposition on and I've no idea whether you
are right or not.
My supposition is that I'm not unique in the way I perceive flashing
lights. Perception is a very personal thing, and it's well known that
different people will perceive identical stimuli in different ways. I
/appear/ to be in the minority in the way that I perceive flashing
lights, but I don't believe that my brain wiring is so screwed up that
no-one else's brain will be wired to perceive flashing lights in a
similar way. I have no evidence for this belief, but it would be
interesting to partake in a study on variation in perception of
different light sources.
Quoted message said:When driving (more often than cycling I'm ashamed to say)
flashers stand out much more brightly to me- but I am nealrly alwyas in well
lit well trafficked roads.
My perception of flashing lights doesn't work in the same way. For me,
steady lights are usually very clearly visible, but on a well lit road a
flashing white LED can not only be almost invisible, but can somehow
manage to mask the cyclist behind it. If the same LED was used in
steady mode, it would be almost impossible for me to miss it.
As a ped, the only time that I have ever stepped out in front of a
cyclist was when he was using a bright flashing white LED (and no other
light) under bright street lighting (Milsom Street in Bath at about
17:00 on a winter evening, FWIW). I looked, but simply didn't see him.
My belief is that I mistook a brief flash of light for either a
reflection in a shop window, or a reflection flashing in my glasses as I
turned my head.
I imagine that my perception might be different when driving, partly
because I am constantly on high alert when driving, partly because the
glasses that I wear for driving have an anti-reflective coating (my
cycling glasses with prescription inserts don't, and those are the
glasses I was wearing on that occasion in Bath, and come to think of it
I'm more likely to be wearing contact lenses than glasses while driving
anyway), and partly because the surrounding structure of the car makes a
difference to the light entering peripheral vision. It's impossible to
say for sure, though. I only drive a few hundred miles a year, mostly
on the motorway, so I actually have /no/ experience of seeing an
oncoming cyclist lit only by a flashing light while driving.
Quoted message said:SNIP - 3 relatively plausible explanantions for supposition
To be picky, the explanations are for my observations rather than my
supposition.
Quoted message said:I run a steady light as well as the flasher - front and rear(hence the reply
to the thread). the helmet mounted light is invaluable when putting my bike
away in my unlit shed and people think I'm even more ridiculous when riding
the bent - a double added bonus!
Riding a bent? Now that *is* ridiculous!
;-)
\_ ___
O o
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Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine
