rant

[pete black]

watching a so called guy show where they are fabricating metal. every time starts to weld they focus the camera on the arc? grinding metal, focus on the sparks.
also, tv news field guys, police cruiser parked at night with flashing lights on, focus on the lights.
why?
 

[S.Crum]

Many people are only aware enough to focus on the effect, Not the cause.
 

[Two Dogs]

Maybe the same reason that they will focus on the only one in a crowd who isn't like the rest. TDF
 

[redtom]

IDK but speaking of cop flashers, the newer cop cars in my area have so many stobe lights arranged on them, when you appraoch them when they have someone pulled over it almost causes blindness. I'm talking about at night. Its so bad you can hardly see to drive around them. Entirely unnecessary.
 

[Dick]

Boy I know what you mean. It is totally blinding and makes the situation more dangerous. What's even worse is if there's an accident and you have fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, all with their, more than necessary, lights flashing. Yes, those strobe lights are the worst. I think everyone knows to slow down at the scene of an accident, so why do they make a situation worse blinding other drivers?
 

[Dusty MI]

So many flashing lights that you don't see a turn signal.

Dusty
 

[Southern Ray]

or when they are featuring some tractor or implement the camera is on the speaker more than the tractor or implement.
 

[Charles (in GA)]

I discussed this three or four years ago with a guy I knew on the web pretty well. He was a small town police chief in NJ. He said the reason for this is a "white paper" that was written in California specifying what police cars should have for lighting on them. In other words, someone who hasn't a clue, wrote this long paper on "proper" lighting, and now, for liability reasons, the industry feels that they need to comply with it.

Funny part is, when you come up on an accident or whatever at night and are faced with a sea of flashing lights, and blinded, the cops seem to act like you are a rubbernecker or gawker because you are driving so slow, when the fact is, you cannot see that guy directing traffic (he forgot to get his reflective gloves and vest out of the trunk of the crusier) and you are trying to not hit him. That happened to me a couple of months ago. He was frantically waving for me to get by (in the other side of a two lane highway) and I could not see him waving, or anything else till I was right on him.

Charles
 

[GlenIdaho]

When the strobe type lightbars first came out we did a real time test and found that there were indeed blinding to those who drive by. The recommendaion was not to use them because of the potential liability. The recommendation lasted for a few years, but Cops are like everyone else, they like the new toys. The strobe is a little more effective in getting people's attention during the daylight hours. You'd be surprised that when rolling Code 3, lights and siren, many people don't hear the siren or see the lights until you pass them.
 

[retired farmer]

Why? Because the majority of the world's population was born stupid. The older they get, the dumber they get.
 

[Sean Feeney]

There has been a lot of car vs police car crashes here in the past recent years, those new police cars with lights on at night and a little rain make it blinding?
 

[scotc]

Then they up and park the car facing you with their high beams on which makes it that much worse.

I've seen school busses with 5 acres of glass on the front and LED lights. If they are oncoming into the morning sun, I have to stop until they pass because I can't see if the lights are flashing or not.

The LED traffic signals can be seen from too far away, too. I know a few that can be seen from 4+ miles away, and they have more than their share of bad accidents.