as reported by DC Rainmaker: La loi sur les éclairages vélo évolue, le feu arrière clignotant définitivement interdit - Matos vélo, actualités vélo de route, gravel et tests de matériel cyclisme
text in French. The gist is that a rear red light can not flash on and off. I wish I understood the issue with a flashing light? Seems like a dumb law.
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Agreed. The variability in on off is the idea behind having reflectors on commuter bike wheels and pedals. It’s very nonsensical.
It’s EXACTLY the flashing what gets your attention !!!
“Hey! What’s that!!!”’ vs “oh, just a light; forget it”
Different countries have different rules shocker.
An English version that covers more than the rear light requirements.
One of the things people rarely do is think of the wider context, they are usually only thinking of themselves on the road and their own personal safety - not the safety of others. Flashing lights can distract attention from other vulnerable road users.
I don’t really understand this statement. The idea behind driving a car and seeing a flashing red light is to observe the hazard, acknowledge it, and safely handle it. This means slowing down if required and prepare to give way if required. Just like any hazard. It’s the same reason why train crossings have flashing red lights or emergency vehicles have flashing lights. And let’s be honest, even that’s not enough for some people.
A small solid red light in the day time is next to useless imo and I feel you’re just as likely to get hit with it as you are without it. Where I can understand this rule is at night. A small group of riders all with flashing lights in the dark can be quite dangerous to a driver. But again, slow the f down and navigate the situation with care.
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In the modern road environment, daylight running-lights, HID lights, etc… drown out normal lights. Coupled with everyone putting their lights on as soon as it changes from bright sunlight, the result is so much light pollution that a cyclist gets lost amongst the glare.
Similarly, we have ultra bright lights on the back of our bikes, but no real way to regulate their output on the road. I find when I drive, it is again almost painfully bright to sit behind a bunch of cyclist - many of the times this happens in my area I generally know the cyclists personally - and I always sit and wait for a safe opportunity to pass, but my ability to judge a safe gap is greatly reduced by glare so there are less passing opportunities.
It has made me much more aware of my own light usage, and on the Exposure lights I have I reduce the output in twilight and dusk as it’s overpowering. I’ve also been sat in pace lines with folks running rear lights flashing at max intensity and that’s frustrating. The more the output can be tailored to ambient lighting, the better.
Do the police cars still have flashing lights?
That said, if there is an increasing number of bikes on the road in high population density areas and they all have flashing rear lights, the driver’s of cars and everyone else is going to be seriously distracted by blinking lights from every side street.
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