The simplest single thing you can do to enhance safety on your bike.

I know this is going to sound simple. But most real solutions are simple.

If you ride a bike or any sort; road, mountain, hybrid, cruiser or other type, you need a light on the back. But not just any light. A red that blinks.

But not just on and off blinking. On and off blinking is better than a flat red light, but not as good as a red light that blinks in alternating patterns top to bottom and back.

Whenever one forgets to turn on the taillight on a bike, traffic tends to ignore the fact that you’re on the road. Turn on a red light and cars may or may not swerve around you Some are jaded to cyclists with plain old red lights, it seems.

When that light is blinking the respect and awareness increase incrementally. You can hear cars slow down behind you because they see your blinking light and something in their blinking brain says to their blinking consciousness; “Oh, there’s a bike ahead. Better try to go around.”

It shouldn’t take that much to get road respect. But it does.

But I invite you to try one of the many forms of blinking lights sold at your local bike store. I like the type that is about an inch wide and 2” tall. When that light is mounted behind the seat it seems to really help win respect with cars from behind.

There’s another form of blinking light that attaches best to the back fork, facing backwards. These lights usually have a rubbery strap that wraps around the fork, and the LED light inside blinks pretty brightly. It can also alternate, and that really works well too.

When the blinking lights are on, I predict you’ll find that cars really slow down and wait to go around your bike. The blinking light seems to represent some sort of official vehicle in the minds of many drivers. With the blinking light on, I’ve had trucks that normally might have run me down slow enough to go around when there’s no traffic.

A blinking light doesn’t work miracles, but it’s the closest thing we cyclists have to protect ourselves on the road. And that’s miraculous enough for me.