Clear path to use flashing lights on the bike

Last week the news about the 200 euro fine that a cyclist had received in Ourense jumped out. Strangely enough, this is something that is against current regulations. The reason? It was alleged that a flashing light could cause an epileptic seizure in a driver suffering from this disease. Other countries reserve flashing lights for emergency vehicles.

The position of the cyclists was quite clear. A flashing light is much more visible than a fixed light, especially considering its small size. It is not like the headlight of a motorcycle, bigger and more powerful. Being small, the human eye is not able to determine exactly if the light is close or far away, which can end up in an accident.

Today a new chapter has been written. The General Director of Traffic, Gregorio Serrano, confirmed on Twitter that this was already going to be part of the past.

Today I signed the Instruction that flashing red lights can help protect cyclists on the road. This is a vulnerable group that deserves our full attention. In any case, Prudence and compliance with the rules is the best protection. pic.twitter.com/8bXIiUTdPi

- Gregorio Serrano (@GSerranoLopez) March 6, 2018

The next step would be for this to be properly regulated in our traffic regulations. We are not the first country where this happens, for example in 2005 it was already regulated in the United Kingdom Although there are other countries where the regulation against flashing lights continues, such as Germany.

In fact, Garmin can't sell their normal version of the light Various RadarThe usual model is the RTL-500, while in Germany the model has the reference RTL-501 and only offers the fixed light to comply with the StVZO standard.

Let us hope that this is the first step towards achieving a common regulation with all road users in mind - not only cyclists, but also drivers.