I was traveling a very long stretch of road in my cage last month with a Honda Trike going the same way. He was running the modulator. I bet we were near each other on & off for over 100 miles. Sometimes in front of me sometimes behind me, going at a similar pace. I was bored and heard of the modulator before so I was paying attention to it, kind of analyzing it a bit. What I ended up believing was that it was more of a distraction to others than a help to the rider. To me it looked kind of corny and it really did not seem to make that bike look more visible at all to me. Those bright "can you see me now" Teeshirts are 20 times more helpful. This was a daytime test, no clue how it would be at night.

Just my opinion of them.
I suppose I might feel different had I been in a wreck like the OP.

 

We are happy with our modulator. The flickering is not the same as an "ok to pass" signal commonly used. No, it won't stop the idiots, but just this trip it DID stop a cement truck from cutting us off. He was stopped, then started rolling pulling into traffic, he did a quick 'lurch' when he decided we were a motor cycle and NOT a car 'spaced far enough in the distance that we looked like one headlight'.

We don't use it at night, and hubby is kind enough to flick it off if we are stuck behind someone for a long run, no point in pissing someone off!!!!

 

A headlight modulator looks nothing like flashing hi beams on and off. I have a Road Glide with one bright white headlight and one bright yellow headlight. It's unusual enough most people notice it, maybe just too look and see what it is. There are of course some folks that just don't care.

 

Modulator may help on your headlight but you need to change your driving lights over to yellow fog light bulbs. I installed yellow fog light bulbs years ago on my 03 Classic. Several of my buddies have changed theirs now. Something I learned from a very old friend that still rides. People seem to have less of a tendency to pull in front of me or left turn in front of me. Yellow fog lights gets their attention better then white. They see white lights all the time but yellow is not that common. I also have a wideglide without the driving lights and I have to drive very defensive when riding her. People don't see her as well. You still need to drive more defensive and hopefully this unfortunate wreck taught you more then it was the other guys fault. You were in the right but it could have been dead right. Been having a problem with white mini vans trying to kill me lately but I think that is because of the person driving and how they drive. I think they are seeing me but don't realize that they are targeting me. A spatial thing with an idiot not knowing where he actually is with his vehicle.

 

+1. I've kind of studied this phenomenon recently and have noted that depending on the angle of a bike coming down the road, and a car sitting at a cross road waiting to pull out, bikes aren't very "visible". They are easy to see, but, they can be deceiving due to their lack of a broad frontal area (car/truck/etc) that most people look for. And if you have a vehicle behind the motorcycle, it can cause a couple of things. 1) focus is automatically drawn to the larger vehicle, and 2) it makes the motorcycle seem closer to that larger vehicle and can cause a deception on how close the bike actually is to the intersection.

Now these are just what I've observed over time. No science involved here. But I've ridden bikes all my life. And if things appear this way to me, I can imagine what it looks like to someone that's never been on a bike, much less specifically looks for them.

I think the best thing any rider can do to avoid a collision when someone pulls out in front of them is to anticipate that very scenerio happening every time they come to an cross road. And plan an escape for each one. I know that takes away some of the fun of just kicking back and cruising without having to worry about things like that, but hey, I'd rather do that and ride another day.

 

wow...never thought of that... thats a great idea.... doesnt look bad niether

 

Not sold on the headlite mods either but I did change the rear on my RKC to an LED tail lite and put the module in so the rear turn signals are on running and on for braking. Seems to have helped a lot especially in the rain... biggest worry is getting hit from behind!!

 

I got hit a few years ago by a guy that ran and red light and had to drive by two lanes of stopped traffic to do it. He hit the front wheel of the bike, knocked me over, no damage to me but a lot to the bike. While the LEO was doing the paper work, we heard a loud screeeeeech BANG. A lady had run into the back of a city bus about 1/2 block down. A city bus, good lord, how big does something have to be before the idiots will see it. I think its all a matter of luck more than anything.

 

I use these in the amber color. They do seem to help you get noticed more.

http://www.ceebaileys.com/harley/harleyhdg.html

 

All you guys that mentioned the yellow passing lamps got me to thinking.

I saw a news thing years ago that spoke of the most easiest to spot color for your car. They said yellow was rated the highest.

Then there are the highway warning signs,....... again yellow.

Interesting stuff.