May be a little late...infrequent poster...15-year bicycle commuter...Sorry of 
I'm breaching any protocol on this list....BUT I have to respond to Kristy's 
post about flashing lights. I don't know anything about seizures but to me it's 
another reason why flashing bike lights suck. The main reason, IMO, is that in 
the dark a flashing light makes it difficult to determine distance to the 
light. Yes, they get attention better, but I contend that any white light at 
night gets sufficient attention, and a flashing light, since it messes with 
depth perception, takes an inordinate amount of attention to decipher, and is 
therefore less safe.

Jason


On Aug 25, 2012, at 3:31 PM, [email protected] wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. Fwd: News Alert: Lance Armstrong to be stripped of 7 Tour    de
>      (mstuartev tds.net)
>   2. Bike Lights & Seizures (KMSH)
>   3. Re: Bike Lights & Seizures (Robbie Webber)
>   4. Re: Bike Lights & Seizures (Patrick Lenon)
>   5. Weekly Reminder- Next MAM Ride Mon Aug 27 @ 6:30pm
>      (We Are All Mechanics)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:53:38 -0500
> From: "mstuartev tds.net" <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Bikies] Fwd: News Alert: Lance Armstrong to be stripped of 7
>    Tour    de
> Message-ID:
>    <CAMxbj7pAetqSzMOzH8cBHTywoz_EOB=x2i_dwwz6f_h39gu...@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> News Alert: Lance Armstrong to be stripped of 7 Tour de....
> blah blah blah blah blah blah etc etc blah
> Lance Armstrong...    blah blah blah blah blah blah etc etc blah
> Tour de France...     blah blah blah blah blah blah etc etc blah
> Big surprise that pro bike racers are doping...   blah blah blah blah
> blah blah etc etc blah
> 
> Sorry, Tour de France... becoming the most boring sports event in the
> world. They keep running it and either it never gets finished or no
> one wins... what's the point? Just let them do the dope. Make dope a
> requirement of doing the race.
> 
> blah blah blah blah blah blah etc etc blah
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:20:04 -0500
> From: KMSH <[email protected]>
> To: bikies <[email protected]>
> Subject: [Bikies] Bike Lights & Seizures
> Message-ID:
>    <CABWpYCDeCCqL6S+kX4Y=87cfc29551t49cdj2hgms_sb6jh...@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I was biking home two nights ago at dusk along the lakefront path near
> campus and saw a runner ahead jogging toward me.  As he got close he said
> "that light can trigger seizures" in a serious non-joking way, and then
> kept on running.
> 
> I have heard that flashing lights in videos can trigger seizures, and I
> agree that my front light blinks annoyingly fast (it's Bontrager Ion
> 2<http://store.trekbikes.com/product/bontrager+ion+2+headlight.do>,
> from Trek), but is this really a big deal?  I find that I am more visible
> with a blinking light (as opposed to keeping it on steady), and it saves
> batteries too.
> 
> -Kristy
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:31:56 -0500
> From: Robbie Webber <[email protected]>
> To: KMSH <[email protected]>
> Cc: bikies <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Bikies] Bike Lights & Seizures
> Message-ID:
>    <caot7dyzs1fnn2eqkhg8aly9ower50mvxfgsw0ts+z6bvx6p...@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> OK, a couple of disclaimers:
> 1. I am not a doctor or any type of medical professional.
> 2. The information below is the result of about 15-20 minutes of on-line
> research.
> 3. Do your own research or ask a truly knowledgeable person to check my
> information.
> 
> Epileptics are the population that is really at risk. There is a milder
> form of seizure in non-epileptics that basically makes people dizzy, but
> isn't considered dangerous.
> 
>> From what I can tell, rapidly flashing lights - at the rate of several
> times per second - can trigger seizures in about 5-10% of epileptics, who
> constitute about 1% of the population. I.E. about 5-10 people out of 1000
> might have problems with rapidly flashing lights.
> 
> An epileptic responded to this very question that the time looking at the
> light is important, and most people sensitive to seizures due to lights
> know not to look directly at the lights, or to look away.
> 
> I don't know how fast front lights flash, but they might not even be in the
> range that are likely to trigger problems in susceptible  persons. The
> flash rate has to be really fast.
> 
> Bicyclists have a right to protect themselves too, so you have to weigh
> your own safety against that of the very small possibility that you will
> happen to trigger a seizure in some facing you on the path or street.
> 
> 
> Robbie Webber
> Transportation Policy Analyst
> State Smart Transportation Initiative
> www.ssti.us
> 608-263-9984 (o)
> [email protected]
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 6:20 PM, KMSH <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> I was biking home two nights ago at dusk along the lakefront path near
>> campus and saw a runner ahead jogging toward me.  As he got close he said
>> "that light can trigger seizures" in a serious non-joking way, and then
>> kept on running.
>> 
>> I have heard that flashing lights in videos can trigger seizures, and I
>> agree that my front light blinks annoyingly fast (it's Bontrager Ion 
>> 2<http://store.trekbikes.com/product/bontrager+ion+2+headlight.do>,
>> from Trek), but is this really a big deal?  I find that I am more visible
>> with a blinking light (as opposed to keeping it on steady), and it saves
>> batteries too.
>> 
>> -Kristy
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bikies mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
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>> 
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> ------------------------------
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> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 01:51:58 +0000
> From: Patrick Lenon <[email protected]>
> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Bikies] Bike Lights & Seizures
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> 
> I doubt VERY MUCH that a bike light could trigger a seizure unless you're 
> holding it in the person's face and propping their eyes open.  This came up a 
> few years ago when a Pokemon cartoon caused a few seizures.
> http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/seizure.asp 
> I'm no doctor either, but I've knows a few epileptics and I'm very skeptical 
> of this.
> 
> ------------
> Patrick Lenon
> 
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:20:04 -0500
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Bikies] Bike Lights & Seizures
> 
> I was biking home two nights ago at dusk along the lakefront path near campus 
> and saw a runner ahead jogging toward me.  As he got close he said "that 
> light can trigger seizures" in a serious non-joking way, and then kept on 
> running.
> 
> 
> I have heard that flashing lights in videos can trigger seizures, and I agree 
> that my front light blinks annoyingly fast (it's Bontrager Ion 2, from Trek), 
> but is this really a big deal?  I find that I am more visible with a blinking 
> light (as opposed to keeping it on steady), and it saves batteries too.
> 
> 
> -Kristy
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Bikies mailing list
> [email protected]
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:43:40 -0700
> From: "We Are All Mechanics" <[email protected]>
> To: "Bikies Listserve" <[email protected]>
> Subject: [Bikies] Weekly Reminder- Next MAM Ride Mon Aug 27 @ 6:30pm
> Message-ID:
>    
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> 
> End of Bikies Digest, Vol 46, Issue 17
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