That's not entirely correct. The flashing light is eye-catching, but it makes tracking the movement of the cyclist much more difficult. A constant light is much safer.

It's correct from my experience as a driver and a cyclist. A slow moving light looks like a static light. A flashing light is much more noticeable. The human eye detects movement and change much better than things that are static.

But it doesn't track flashing objects as well. A person is less aware of where a moving flashing light is in space than a moving constant light. And you definitely want drivers to know where you are in space.

Also remember that a flashing light is only on half the time.

It is more noticeable, which is why flashing lights are used in life jackets and stuff. Ideally, for absolute safety, you'd have a red flashing light to be noticed and a constant light so that your position in space is always apparent once you have been noticed.

I have a flashing light AND a constant light on my bike, and since I ride to work every day and work shifts, I'm often riding in the dark.

I do wish some drivers would giving cycling a go though to see how inconsiderate some car drivers are. Cutting across cycle lanes, driving too close to cyclists etc. Drives me mad.

I'm a cop and I do always stop and have a word with (or give a ticket to) cyclists who I see disobeying road rules and doing things that give the rest of us cyclists a bad name. The majority of us are law abiding safe riders having fun, getting exercise and getting to work!

Well said, agree with above

Hubby is member of cycling club, they go out early at weekends as its so hot later on, they ride across the road to make you overtake properly and when has it been a sin for them to socialise at a cafe after the ride for godsake. Have lost track of the times that he goes out on his own and is nearly knocked off by drivers giving him no room, morons slamming their horn on for no reason, cars pulling out on him when he is travelling fast. They are allowed on the road and legal so would suggest you read what's legal and learn YOUR responsibilities.

I don't cycle but treat them as I would anything else on the road and give them plenty of room when I overtake if there isn't room then WAIT, if you can't see ahead then WAIT.

But they are better for being seen (my point). You can't track something if you haven't seen it. They use flashing lights on emergency vehicles for the same reason. With a constant light I've found that cars don't see you until later and sometimes too late for comfort.

On the other hand. I guess my good spatial awareness means that I don't have a problem tracking a flashing light. I can see others may have a problem with this.

I agree 2 lights are better than 1 but with only one I would choose flashing for safety. In really dark places I would have flashing red on the back and constant white on the front. That's to see where I'm going. In this situation I will often switch the front briefly to flashing when a car approaches. This usually gets them to dip their lights sooner.

I've noticed when riding bike paths at night that I become aware of an oncoming bike that has a flashing light quicker than one that has a constant light.

I do

Well it doesn't matter how good your spatial awareness is, your ability to track a constant light is better than your ability to track flashing light. And knowing where the light is in space is important in not hitting you. When you take into consideration the appalling attitude Australian drivers have towards cyclists, you need to give them as much help as possible.

I would never ride a bike at night here without a constant red light on the back, but the most pragmatic thing is to carry both. I have a flasher on my helmet (and there's another whole debate there as to whether helmets improve safety or not).

There is also evidence that drunk drivers are attracted to flashing lights. Not sure how good that evidence is.

I'd get that stopped.

Got to keep my public happy.

I'm not aware of the debate re. helmets. What is the issue?

it's illegal to ride a bike without a helmet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle...ebate:_science

People will argue about anything won't they? I'm glad it is law here so I don't have to think about it.........