Flashing LED Light on Front - taken from the cyclists safety book. | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Flashing LED Light on Front - taken from the cyclists safety book.

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There's way too much over-thinking here when this is really quite simple ... always go with the best possible odds.

In other words, the people who WILL see the flashing lights will be more than those few "what-if" instances that some of you are coming up with.

I'm sticking with them for now unless experience over the riding season alters my view.
 
LOL only one guy here considered HTA. The only color that is allowed to blink, at ANY speed is amber. Strobes of any kind are reserved for emergency vehicles, that's why the package always says for offroad use only.

If you want to be noticed, I'd say be loud. And if you want a better chance to survive somebody backing out of their driveway, creeping out of parking lots or turning left(for the purposes of calculating impact energy, these are practically just stopped vehicles), be alert and don't be so liberal with the throttle on city streets. I haven't been riding long but there also aren't any scratches caused by me on my vehicles either. Because I watch everyone, I assume each one is Canada's worst driver. Keeping a reasonable speed gives me more time to observe and react, more stopping or avoidance time, shorter stopping distance and in the worst case scenario, less impact energy. Being constantly aware of what is going on around me has also kept me safe working in a factory that doesn't even bother to hang a "Time since lost time injury" sign.
 
LBV said:
There's way too much over-thinking here when this is really quite simple ... always go with the best possible odds.

In other words, the people who WILL see the flashing lights will be more than those few "what-if" instances that some of you are coming up with.

I'm sticking with them for now unless experience over the riding season alters my view.
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always go with the best possible odds . . . What kind of cage are you getting, and how much do you want for the bike?
 
LBV said:
In other words, the people who WILL see the flashing lights will be more than those few "what-if" instances that some of you are coming up with.
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Correction, the people that WILL see you will be the ones that were already paying attention, oh and cops, but don't worry you're going to know when they see you.
 
JTR said:
LOL only one guy here considered HTA. The only color that is allowed to blink, at ANY speed is amber. Strobes of any kind are reserved for emergency vehicles, that's why the package always says for offroad use only.

If you want to be noticed, I'd say be loud. And if you want a better chance to survive somebody backing out of their driveway, creeping out of parking lots or turning left(for the purposes of calculating impact energy, these are practically just stopped vehicles), be alert and don't be so liberal with the throttle on city streets. I haven't been riding long but there also aren't any scratches caused by me on my vehicles either. Because I watch everyone, I assume each one is Canada's worst driver. Keeping a reasonable speed gives me more time to observe and react, more stopping or avoidance time, shorter stopping distance and in the worst case scenario, less impact energy. Being constantly aware of what is going on around me has also kept me safe working in a factory that doesn't even bother to hang a "Time since lost time injury" sign.
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False. Read again. Red and blue flashing lights are prohibited, alternating white is prohibited. Many school busses are running white strobes.

Loud bikes cause regulatory push back, they do very very little to improve safety. You have a lot of reading to do. At best, a loud exhaust is more noticeable to people behind you. If it is loud enough that it makes you more noticeable to people in front of you, it is way to f'n loud and you should expect a ton of tickets and more laws being passed that specifically target motorcycles. Toronto is revising its' noise bylaw and one of the specific points being addressed is motorcycle noise. Do you think this would have happened if people left the stock exhausts on their bikes?
 
I think the best tradeoff for visibility is auxiliary amber front lighting - and I can see the logic in having LEDs that are using relatively high-frequency flashing (technically PWM - pulse width modulation) very close to the threshold of visibility. This way it is not "flashing" in the manner referred to in the HTA. Front - Amber. Rear - Red.
 
I had a guy pull out from a driveway right in front of me about 2 years ago. He was in an SLR with the top down not far from 15th side road. He pull out from a driveway on my right so I got on the horn and swerved hard into the oncoming lane. I was doing 90 (limit there is 80) and he noticed me (after the horn) JUST in time to stop and I went past the front of his pretty little benz with zero room to spare. The difference here is that I was in my 7.3L Diesel F350 and would have absolutely killed him. The Ford emblem in my grille was juuuuust about his ear height.

If that guy didn't see a 4 TON white truck, there's less than no chance he sees your bike with bright lights, flashing lights, loud pipes save lives bro, or anything else you got.

There are inherent risks you take when you leave the house, and those risks are getting riskier each day. More cars on the road, more distractions for drivers, possibly, a higher sense of entitlement. All of these risks are elevated even more when you strip away airbags and seat belts. The hands down, number one thing that you can do to mitigate the risk is take responsibility. Become a better rider, take advanced courses if you can, watch the actions of drivers and anticipate their next moves.

I watched a guy merge onto the highway aggressively this morning about a half car ahead of me and one lane to my right. I knew full and well that he hadn't seen me and was coming over so I covered the horn and got ready to swerve. 2 seconds later here he comes. I honked, swerved to the other side of MY lane and accelerated. He caught up a min later, rolled down his window and apologized. It was a nothing situation but it could have been nasty.
 
Brian P said:
I think the best tradeoff for visibility is auxiliary amber front lighting - and I can see the logic in having LEDs that are using relatively high-frequency flashing (technically PWM - pulse width modulation) very close to the threshold of visibility. This way it is not "flashing" in the manner referred to in the HTA. Front - Amber. Rear - Red.
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To my eyes at least, the auxillary amber/parking lights work the best. I think Dodge vehicles used them as DRL at one point, instead of the headlights (or it seemed that way--I saw plenty of Dodges with the ambers/no headlights on during the day). People running highbeams, non-OEM bulbs and those cyclists with strobelights should be ticketed, period. While the light may be "noticeable", it's dazzling enough that I can't see determine your speed, direction, proximity or intentions easily (since the signals are washed out or even worse, Chinesium LEDs). Of course, every generation brings new innovations in idiocy. Haven't seen it here yet, but offroad LED lightbars are on the way from our American cousins.
 
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Flywheel said:
Haven't seen it here yet, but offroad LED lightbars are on the way from our American cousins.
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I've seen lots mounted (both bars and square fog lights), but thankfully I've never seen one turned on on the street.
 
I've always been on the side of having a good defensive skillset and anticipating possibilities.

Riding/driving with hi-beams on isn't just annoying as ****, on a dark two laner, you're blinding oncoming traffic.
 
With 8 years of commuting on my bike, I've found that watching and anticipating what drivers will do, and a quick blast of a loud horn just as they start to do it, is the most effective way of protecting yourself. You have to be prepared for evasive maneuvers if they decide to cut you off anyway after reacting to your horn, but at a rough guess I would say it works about 80% of the time. I've had a Stebel on my bike for the last 5 years. Recently it started sounding really weak, and I was amazed how much more vulnerable that made me feel. Replaced it with the Fiamm high and low tone horns. Best safety investment you can make.

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https://www.princessauto.com/en/det...sionid=VEGFJVVaXxCN9XhnH+O4e14d.pal-prod-com3
 
Green Meenie said:
None of this stuff is gonna help you much; IMO. Today's distracted drivers will turn left and pull out of driveways or parking lots at will. You can mount the sun itself on your handlebars and they will not see you because they are staring at their phones. Assume every vehicle you see ahead will turn into you and have an avoidance plan. That's your best hope :( Even then; it's 50/50.
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What if he does both? It's not like they're two mutually exclusive safety strategies.
 
inreb said:
TorontoBoy said:
Your lighting and gear choices have no positive impact on distracted driving.
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Well, isn't that a knee to the nuts. I take it that the use of daytime running lights have had no effect on accident stats. People used to argue that cell phone use had no effect on driving ability or if it did you shouldn't be on the road in the first place. Strange goings on.
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If a driver is distracted by texting or taking a call they are not concentrating on the road and might not even be looking forward to the road. If they do not even see you or your bike, the gear or lighting you use is also not seen.

I differentiate distracted driving from benign negligent driving from occasional driver errors. Gear and lighting will always be important, but they do not force other drivers to look at the road or your bike. Maybe when all vehicles have a collision avoidance system, like air traffic control, will all cars get some kind of warning. Until then motorcycle riders need to ride with their wits about them at all times.
 
Just to put my experience hear. Every fall when the day light saving time kicks in and commuters get off work at around 5 pm to a dark street there is always a spike in fender benders and even catastrophic accidents. I work downtown and live in Scarborough area. So I was looking into being more visible and began thinking about the cyclist's flashing red and white lights. I called the Police HQ and talked to an officer that was in the department of HTA and roads (not sure exact what department but was put in touch with someone with knowledge in regards to my Qs). So I asked him about the legality of the lights flashing non flashing, colour etc. He said there are no official laws in regarding light colour or placement, and it's always good to be visible, as long as they don't resemble emergency or police vehicles (blue and red together). Asked him on placement if I put it by my side lights in front or rear, he said that it may confuse oncoming vehicles as if your turning or something (good point) He suggested on the higher up.

So for the last 2 years I've had 3 of the cyclist's strobing lights on my beanie helmet. One red and white facing front and one white facing the rear. I have them held by cable ties to the right side and left strap of my beanie. I work close to the Police HQ downtown so have them on passing the cruisers and through the high-way and never have been stopped. I only put them on in the evening when going home in the dark.

Picked them up from Crappy Tire for around $10 a set or something 2 years ago.

Here's a link.-http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/supercycle-rubber-led-bike-light-set-2-pack-0731218p.html
 
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There's no way a flashing red light facing forward, or a white light facing back when not reversing, is legal. You got advice from a cop, and they're not legal experts. "No official laws in regards to light colour or placement" is a serious misunderstanding, either on his part or yours.

The likely explanation why you've never been pulled over for having them is that they're just too puny to be noticeable next to your regular bike lights. Or if cops did notice them, they just couldn't be bothered to make a case of it, or they weren't on point regarding the law like that cop you spoke to.

All in all, this is a bad idea if not for its illegality then for its ineffectiveness.
 
Green Meenie said:
None of this stuff is gonna help you much; IMO. Today's distracted drivers will turn left and pull out of driveways or parking lots at will. You can mount the sun itself on your handlebars and they will not see you because they are staring at their phones. Assume every vehicle you see ahead will turn into you and have an avoidance plan. That's your best hope :( Even then; it's 50/50.
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hdsomeday said:
NO!!! It causes target fixation. Every time I see a bike coming towards me with modulators I find myself drawn to the headlight. As a rider I know I'm fixating on it and stop looking. I am sure most wont.

I HATE modulating headlights !!
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TorontoBoy said:
I do agree. Look up inattentive blindness and the subject of "Sorry Mate, I didn't see you" SMIDSY is a deep one, and of interest to me. Emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks as well as buses get hit all the time. If they have their lights on and get hit, there's more to it than just adding lighting.

The best thing to do, after you upgrade lighting and gear, is to develop your motorcycle traffic 6th sense. Plan an escape route, try to predict what cars will do that are around you, stay far away from cars that you have just seen that make driving errors (distracted drivers often drive more slowly), when going through intersections use cars and trucks as blockers, that sort of thing. Don't be in he wrong place at the wrong time.

Your lighting and gear choices have no positive impact on distracted driving.
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I think you are right!!
 
Nevermind legality, red facing forward or white facing backward is a bad idea, potentially confusing to other drivers.

White facing forward is not confusing, but can disappear among all the other headlights. Amber facing forward can stand out if done properly and is legal.
 
fastar1 said:
There's no way a flashing red light facing forward, or a white light facing back when not reversing, is legal. You got advice from a cop, and they're not legal experts. "No official laws in regards to light colour or placement" is a serious misunderstanding, either on his part or yours.

The likely explanation why you've never been pulled over for having them is that they're just too puny to be noticeable next to your regular bike lights. Or if cops did notice them, they just couldn't be bothered to make a case of it, or they weren't on point regarding the law like that cop you spoke to.

All in all, this is a bad idea if not for its illegality then for its ineffectiveness.
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Been working for me...hopefully so will ride it... ;)
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