I don't think I see a dashed trail, but I will pay more attention. I mostly find that many modern car LED lights are flickering very obnoxiously. And it is worse during motion.
I don't have a problem with those. If you can only see half the car, hazards that blink normally still look like a turn signal blinking too. Yeah, the motion calls extra attention, but paying extra attention to a car with its hazards on seems fine.
Headlights, no. Blinking taillights are allowed though (with a minimum blink frequency of ~3.3 Hz / 200 per minute) and those are the ones I mentioned. Blinking taillights do make bicycles stand out more which can only help in a country like Sweden where cycle paths are as rare as hen's teeth. In the Netherlands (where I'm from originally) this is less urgent as there are plenty of cycle paths.
You're saying "don't see them at all", but we don't know if that's what happens. We don't know that drivers don't see fixed lights, or see flashing lights more often. And we don't know what information they get from the lights.
I hate to continue your tangent but I do feel something that is relevant to the OP article are new vehicles that have blinking break lights.
Most people don't notice these new break lights (I think its on Chevy cars) but when the driver breaks there is a very fast and subtle blinking of the red tail lights (opposed to just the red tail lights being on for older cars).
I only noticed this blinking while under... but now I see it often but my wife does not. ie its similar to the pong bar "C" letter in the article.
My car actually have rapidly blinking brake lights as a feature :) this happens only with rapid braking, but it supposedly brings attention more quickly
I personally have some dimmable AC LEDs in my home that blink at 50Hz (EU power), that seems to distract only me
Personally I find the Audi-style sequential lightshow signals far more stupid - and more distracting.
These look odd in a static image where the reader has been primed by the title, but in real life they are flashing lights on the corner of the car. The animated GIF in the article isn’t confusing is it?
The sign that warns driver does actually blink though, for this exact reason. I believe there's a separate electronic sign further up the road as well that flicks on when a vehicle triggers the sensor. Even without all that, an educated driver should just see the sign on the tunnel and determine their truck doesn't fit...
Funnily enough, blinking taillights are actually banned here because it's very difficult to guage distance and speed from a blinking tail light.
Yes. Flashing lights at the correct frequency and intensity can cause a noticeable fraction of the population to immediately seize. Emergency vehicles are a known trigger.
Less glibly, yes. There are particular arrangements of roads which are known to get people killed by cars. For example, an intersection at a particular angle with particular speed limits cause cars to stay hidden in each others' a-pillars as they approach the intersection. There are bits of highway that are known to cause human drivers to drift; this is why many stretches of highway now have textured strips down the side to notify drivers that they've moved out of their lane.
I dont - I can see some credence to the claims for dark on light signs - of course I'm enough of a road geek to have a preference over which flavor of Highway Gothic I prefer (Series E, Modified).
I suspect while there may be some improvement with clearview, its not enough of one to justify the cost differential.
Ah, the “phantom wiggle”: I’ve witnessed this so often in my rear view mirror from certain vehicles (usually vans). I thought I was going mad, but now I know! I didn’t realise LED lights strobe.
Aside: I'm not a fan of so many new cars with flickering taillights. I know most people can't see this effect, but many can.
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