So, obviously, there’s disagreement over how annoying blinky taillights are. There’s also an assertion that strobes are more attention-getting at cross-streets (and hey, many of our bike trails cross a lot of streets). The point is that there are a lot of factors here, like time of day, ambient lighting, which trail we’re talking about, etc. Everybody needs to make their own decisions about what is the best/safest option for them. Certainly it’s reasonable to raise the concern about strobes so people can consider it, but that’s been done–now it’s just beating a dead horse. Blanket statements like “on the trails it’s bright enough to see without a headlight” are silly, as I guarantee on the dismal stretches of W&OD on a moonless morning/night you’re not going to be seeing without a light unless you’re a mutant. On the urban trails, it’s a different story. I tend to keep the taillight in blinky on the trail for the simple reason that it lasts 5x as long that way, and at 5:30 in the morning in the winter dark east of Hunter Mill on the W&OD the cyclists aren’t exactly packed nose-to-ass. (IOW, remember that light obeys the inverse-square law…)
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