Re: Riding at night: a strategy for survival?

In article <1auhca968r2go$.15yl7mzrokpf2.dlg@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
	_ <jtayNOSPAMlor@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> On Fri, 02 May 2008 19:36:06 +0200, Jens Müller wrote:
> 
>> ComandanteBanana schrieb:
>>> On May 1, 5:24 pm, Jens Müller <usenet-11-2...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>> ComandanteBanana schrieb:
>>>>
>>>>> Anyway, now my next door neighbor wants to ride at midnight... And
he
>>>>> ain't one of those crazy bums on a Huffy. He even bought a vest with
>>>>> blinking lights
>>>> Args. Please don't use this blinking bull****s. It just distracts
other
>>>> drivers and makes them focus on the blinking.
>>> 
>>> So how is it the blinking rear lights are OK? 
>> 
>> They aren't ok.
> 
> Why not?

There's a belief that it's more difficult for
an observer to determine the speed and vector
of a blinking, rather than steady light in the
darkness of night.  Perhaps blinking lights
confuse our human, pathological tendency of
Persistance Of Vision.  What're those things
called?  Oh, yeah: "optical illusions."  I
suppose there's a wariness about blinking
lights creating optical illusions.

In the darkness of night, a blinking red light
is just a spot that conveys no information
other than its existance.  On a bicycle, it
says: "I'm here."  A little later it says:
"Now I'm here."  A little later it says:
"Now I'm over here."  Each blink is a message
to by analyzed and assimilated by the brain
of the observer[s].

A steady light says: "I'm here and I'm moving
at n rate of speed, in this direction," in
one, simple visual cue.  Just like car lights.
Car's red rear running lights don't blink.

The real reason bicycle red rear lights blink
is to conserve battery juice and avoid expense.

Of all the people who'd know anything about it,
I think it would be the folks who guide planes
in onto aircraft carriers, in darkness.


cheers,
	Tom

-- 
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca