Because that’s what I was told by a dog-walking busy-body tonight as I rode through a pitch dark park.

I ride this path almost every day and evening of the year, but tonight, this deadly earnest and slightly passive aggressive woman decided to tell me off.

So is she correct?

Regardless, might I say that what she did represents the single worst feature of British society I have experienced. That busy-bodying, ‘I think I can tell others what I think outside of a constructive, discursive context’, self-righteous, ‘I would never do such a thing myself’, bullshit Stalinist attitude.

And calm.

I suspect she reads the Daily Wail

well they clearly irritate some pedestrians

Did she explain the “dangerous” part?

They irritate the hell out of me when I’m riding my bike! Why would you not have them on constant in a pitch black park?

In a park, yes, I can see the annoyance. Flashing lights are useful in traffic to differentiate a cyclist from a motor vehicle.

But in a pitch black park, why wouldn’t you just have them on steady?

Are flashing lights ‘very frustrating and dangerous’ for pedestrians

depends where they’re pointing and how bright they are….

a 1200 lumen strobing beacon approaching pointing directly at you leaves you pretty much blind, you *have* to look away, and if you keep looking in that direction you can’t see anything behind the light*

If it’s a little flashing LED pointing down or with a good cut-off then it’s great as it catches they eye and identifies you as a cyclist, increasing your visibility and not hindering theirs.

* great example of this the other night as I was heading along the canal path, rider coming the other way with stupid bright light, I slowed down and shielded my eyes, glad I did as there was another cyclist behind him but about a foot further out, I had no idea they were there until we nearly collided, had I not slowed down we would have plowed right into each other. Had similar happen with walker ‘hidden’ by oncoming light.

Stupidly bright flashing lights might be unpleasant – dazzle you, ruin your night vision for a few moments. Bit if an overreaction on their part though.

She may have well been a douche, but I actually don’t like them – it’s hard to tell how fast someone is travelling and they seem a bit..daft?

Which light? In completely unlit areas a front light flashing would irritate me no end whilst riding the bike, never mind having it shone directly into my eyes.

Lights are genuinely very blinding in total darkness though. It pisses me off when people don’t dip them, or leave them on any setting that isn’t totally pathetic really.

Our club has an unwritten rule – only constant red while off road.

Some dog walkers seem to make up rules and laws to suit themselves, like not picking up their dogs turdies, and when and if they do throwing it in a bush or tree

like not haveing the ability to control their dogs with commands or the the use of a short lead,

like not using a long extending lead ona shared use or dessignated cycle path,

like not wearing anything reflective or haveing the dogie wear something reflective ot a small flashing led,

next time point out the above to a dogerist, theyll really appreciate someone who cares talking to them about safety, also always say hello doggie enjoying your walk, that always seems to power them up, the owners that is

Lights are genuinely very blinding in total darkness though. It pisses me off when people don’t dip them, or leave them on any setting that isn’t totally pathetic really.

I find this a bit tricky on my commute route. It is unlit total darkness and there are hazards to avoid so I need a decent light to see with.

When I see people approaching (cyclists or peds) then I switch it to low, but I’m aware that even that can be pretty dazzling – I do sometimes try to shade it with my hand too, but turning it off completely (or to a “pathetic” setting) would leave me effectively blind heading towards them.

I think LED lights are particularly dazzling, even on low settings, and most don’t seem to have any kind of beam shaping.

As for the OP, that woman sounds like an arse but yeah flashing lights off road can be annoying.

Some dog walkers…

Is this going to be another one of those threads where we list bad things that you might have seen other people do in order to justify having a go at the original person making the complaint?

Other dog walkers doing bad things is irrelevant to her complaint, she might have been overreacting a bit, we don’t know cos we weren’t there but she obviously had a big enough problem with it to say something, there’s certainly polite ways and rude ways of doing it though…

Should have Baxtered the dog.

[video]http://youtu.be/hZzTpjh-NsQ[/video]

When I see people approaching (cyclists or peds) then I switch it to low, but I’m aware that even that can be pretty dazzling – I do sometimes try to shade it with my hand too, but turning it off completely (or to a “pathetic” setting) would leave me effectively blind heading towards them

The trouble is, you’re effectively leaving them blind coming towards you. It’s a bit dog eat dog.

Though I do appreciate it if I see people switching to a less powerful beam. But I’ve genuinely had someone do just that before, and I’ve still had to come to a complete standstill because I could no longer see anything other than a massively bright light. Couldn’t see the track. Not the edges of it. Nothing before the oncoming rider, and nothing after them. Not the first time I’ve found myself in that situation either. It’s a little problematic.

I always tilt my beam down towards the ground when I see people approaching. I’m not sure there’s any other way to prevent blinding them.

I aim mine down as I’ve dazzled other road users by accident.

Off road I aim it horizontally.

If she a fit lady, ask her to discuss it over coffee and do the wild thang’.

Just don’t do it on live tv… Not PC correct according to the brigade.

Said it before, flashing lights are shit. On their own they are terrible for judging distance (handy if you are approaching them in a car) and invariably far too bright if the light is to be considered useful.

Personally I’d either have a decent light that directs the beam properly on either high or dip or a standard light plus a crap one for pointing at the ground so you can switch if necessary.

I always tilt my beam down towards the ground when I see people approaching. I’m not sure there’s any other way to prevent blinding them.

I typically have my light pointed at the ground just in front of my wheel anyway – but I find LED lights aren’t very directional so even then it can still be a bit dazzling.

It would be good if light manufacturers worked on beam shapes rather than lumens wars, and if they produced a proper dipping headlight, rather than just reducing the output a bit.

Flashing lights are easy to spot but very hard to relate to. Judging distance and speed is very hard. Modern lights are silly bright and are not nice to look at. Careful use would reduce these sort of complaints but you will still get cretins who whinge about anything and cretins who insist on using stupidly bright lights when it affects others.

SaxonRider – Member
So is she correct?

If you value your life riding in the dark winter days then you should light up like a Xmas tree as far as I am concerned. If I cannot see while driving and then running you over like road kills will only mean increasing my “game scoring points”. 10 points! Woohoo! 😆

She is absolutely wrong … unless of course you do not value your life.

There are a lot of bellends around with obnoxiously bright badly aimed flashing lights…

konabunny – Member
There are a lot of bellends around with obnoxiously bright badly aimed flashing lights…

There are also plenty of bellends that ride with light so dim (are they trying to save battery or what?) they are challenging the exoskeleton of the cars.

Our club has an unwritten rule – only constant red while off road.

Eh? How do you see where you’re going then?

If you value your life riding in the dark winter days then you should light up like a Xmas tree as far as I am concerned. If I cannot see while driving and then running you over like road kills will only mean increasing my “game scoring points”.

If you are running over cyclists IN THE PARK then I doubt any amount of lights are going to stop you! 😆

Slow bright blinking lights are indeed bad for pedestrians, motorists, other cyclists and the cyclists who are using them.

Flashing lights need to flicker rapidly. Some slow blinkers are so slow that you can’t immediately see what direction the thing is travelling in. In complete darkness it might not be so bad, but when there are loads of lights, traffic lights and reflections all around they are a disaster for visibility.

I say this not only as a motorist but as another cyclist – your main light should be either steady or rapidly flickering, if you want to be as safe as possible.

You also should not be blinding the shit out of all other road users – it does no-one any favours. You might think you’re on a crusade against the tyranny of motor cars but it also pisses off peds and cyclists.

Ride through a London park at rush hour on a cycleway if you want to see what I mean. There’ll be a load of cyclists with slow blinking lights on and you (as another cyclist) won’t be able to see what the hell is going on. Amedias’s situation has happened to me loads.

My favoured light for urban environments is one with about 200 degree viewing angle, and I have it on a fast flickering setting.

To the OP – she may have put her point across very badly, which is inexcusable, but she does have one.

GrahamS – Member
If you are running over cyclists IN THE PARK then I doubt any amount of lights are going to stop you!

I could be dogggging … then making a quick escape … 😆

I don’t like flashing front lights when I’m cycling. Used to get a few on the cycle path on my commute, found them disorientating and had to look away when passing, so I can understand why a pedestrian might not like them.

In the complete dark a flashing light on its own is annoying. Any person in front of you will struggle to actually look to the side of it as the repeated light blinking will pull the eye blindingly back to it. The effect is more diluted when there’s other lights around, street lights and cars etc. Still they can be annoying but easier to not look at and especially if bright.

Personally I go through a huge park in the pitch black then onto a busy road for a few miles, duck onto a 4×4 track for a couple more miles before hitting a city centre. I have a constant light and very low blinking light. The tracks are smooth so I’m going pretty fast and it’s 7am so quiet. But in the pitch black park and along the river I sometimes meet runners coming the other way. Their eyes have already adjusted to low light but it isn’t enough light to bike with. They have no lights mostly so I’m usually glad to have a powerful light at speed to actually see them before hitting them.

Who’s at fault, well honestly both of us.

I #think# I need to see ahead and they #think# my lights too bright. No win. Smile and reply if they something. Move along nothing to see here fnarr fnarr

Why would you have a flashing light on in a pitch dark park, that’s just daft and annoying. I commute on the bike across a moor on a segregated cycle path and occasionally see idiots coming towards me with a very bright flashing light, it’s very annoying and utterly pointless. They only thing slightly more annoying is people on the same path with flashing lights on when it’s daylight. I can’t see any reason for that.

Of course it is annoying and dangerous.

A bright and flashing light gives the pedestrian coming towards you very little idea of where you actually are so the chances of collision are higher.

Plus bright lights frighten dogs.

So think of others whilst on yer bike and put it on a low constant setting when approaching people.

Really are some very selfish narrow minded comments above

Why would you have a flashing light on in a pitch dark park, that’s just daft and annoying. I commute on the bike across a moor on a segregated cycle path and occasionally see idiots coming towards me with a very bright flashing light, it’s very annoying and utterly pointless. They only thing slightly more annoying is people on the same path with flashing lights on when it’s daylight. I can’t see any reason for that.

Couldn’t have put it better.

Look at yourself before getting all judgmental about other people being judgmental OP.

Some common sense in the last few posts and – thankfully – some self awareness and responsibility.

OP – if you think that having a flashing light reduces the chances of being squashed, or having someone step out in front of you then keep doing it. Some folk might see it as selfish, other see it as self preservation.

Most folk seem to be obsessed with their phones, so anything that gets their attention should be a good thing.

I normally run one front light flashing, and one fixed beam. The pedestrians, joggers and dog walkers seem to have to dress like ninjas.

Decent lights have a proper beam pattern, either letterbox or even square with tapering brightness. The point is to illuminate the way a car headlight does, lighting up the road or path and providing secondary light to be seen. Pointing them up is like driving with high beam on – maybe okay if you’re dong a fast night route in Glentress with no-one about, massively antisocial otherwise.

Flashing front lights are just wrong in any situation – very, very hard to judge distance and position with them.

Bike lighting is like the wild West..completely unregulated, what rules there are are barely enforced and date back to days of HP2 batteries and 3v bulbs. Anti Dazzle and dip technology needs to be built into them for everyone convenience. I think German lighting regulations better at this, but no idea if actually enforced.

I normally run one front light flashing, and one fixed beam. The pedestrians, joggers and dog walkers seem to have to dress like ninjas.

Are you suggesting all these people should be wearing high viz clothing? If you really can’t see people wearing normal clothes with a normal light on you’re a hazard on the road.

Can’t stand flashing front lights to be honest.

I actually find the faster the flash the more irritating.

I normally run one front light flashing, and one fixed beam. The pedestrians, joggers and dog walkers seem to have to dress like ninjas.

Are you suggesting all these people should be wearing high viz clothing? If you really can’t see people wearing normal clothes with a normal light on you’re a hazard on the road. [/quote]

I’m suggesting that when running or walking the dog in an area with absolutely no lighting in, having a small amount of reflective material or maybe even a small light on their outfit would be a benefit to those sharing those paths.

I’m rarely a hazard on the road – i prefer to cycle on the pavement 😉