Another bike Myth - for the DutchFiles

Flashing tail lights make it hard to judge the cyclists speed.

That my speed ranges from 10 to 60kmh for my daily commute.
That slight changes in gradient make a big difference in my speed.
That I am significantly faster than some, and slower than others.
That the speed limit is rarely a factor.

Its the variability of cyclists speeds plus peoples tendency to assume
that makes it hard to judge.

The flashing tail light simply warns them its a cyclist and thus the
speed may be hard to judge.

Andre

Aeek wrote:
Flashing tail lights make it hard to judge the cyclists speed.

That my speed ranges from 10 to 60kmh for my daily commute.
That slight changes in gradient make a big difference in my speed.
That I am significantly faster than some, and slower than others.
That the speed limit is rarely a factor.

Its the variability of cyclists speeds plus peoples tendency to assume
that makes it hard to judge.

The flashing tail light simply warns them its a cyclist and thus the
speed may be hard to judge.

Andre

So what do you suggest, that we connect the tail light to the speedo so
the flash rate is proportional to the speed? Does it make any difference
if a car driver knows how fast you're going?

On Fri, 19 May 2006 21:31:29 +1000, Aeek wrote:


The flashing tail light simply warns them its a cyclist and thus the
speed may be hard to judge.

Drivers should rely on the Doppler spectral shift to determine your
speed.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Friday wrote:

Aeek wrote:
Flashing tail lights make it hard to judge the cyclists speed.

That my speed ranges from 10 to 60kmh for my daily commute.
That slight changes in gradient make a big difference in my speed.
That I am significantly faster than some, and slower than others.
That the speed limit is rarely a factor.

Its the variability of cyclists speeds plus peoples tendency to assume
that makes it hard to judge.

The flashing tail light simply warns them its a cyclist and thus the
speed may be hard to judge.

Andre

So what do you suggest, that we connect the tail light to the speedo so
the flash rate is proportional to the speed? Does it make any difference
if a car driver knows how fast you're going?

It might do under special circumstances.

For example, I have been cut off by cars turning left when barely in front
of me, so I have had to brake to avoid an accident. Presumably they
thought that I was travelling slowly enough that they could do the
manoeuvre with safety. This has happen during the day, too, so it was not
flashing lights that caused the car driver to misjudge a cyclist's speed.

In another example, I have had a 4WD turn right into my path, again
presumably because the driver underestimated my speed.

Cheers,

Vince

"Aeek" wrote in message
...
Flashing tail lights make it hard to judge the cyclists speed.

There's actually quite a bit of research around on the effect of flashing
lights and how that affects others' abilities to judge speed. Not a myth.
Most papers think a flashing light is better than a wheel reflector :-)
http://www.uctc.net/papers/667.pdf

Gemm

So, If I'm stationery, the lights would be... off!

as long as there's an awareness i care not much more...


--
flyingdutch

On Sat, 20 May 2006 19:47:55 +0930, Gemma_k wrote:

There's actually quite a bit of research around on the effect of flashing
lights and how that affects others' abilities to judge speed. Not a myth.
Most papers think a flashing light is better than a wheel reflector :-)

A single point source of light directly ahead provides no visual distance
information, regardless of whether it's flashing or not.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

someone on the bike path the other night screamed out to me to be "kind
to epileptics" l assumed he meant my flashing light!


--
Meeba

flyingdutch Wrote:
So, If I'm stationery, the lights would be... off!

as long as there's an awareness i care not much more...

If you are stationery, someone is writing on you

RoryW


--
Rory Williams

Meeba Wrote:
someone on the bike path the other night screamed out to me to be "kind
to epileptics" l assumed he meant my flashing light!

or your pokemon cartoon!


--
flyingdutch