I posted this on another forum in response to the usefulness of the strobe feature, but I thought id share it with you too.
I've always thought that strobe was a useless gimmick. I didn't care for it and preferred my flashlights didn't come with the strobe feature.
A couple of months ago I purchased a Surefire R1 Lawman to use on duty. It's a programmable light with a strobe in program 2. I kept my light in program 1, because i didn't see any need for the strobe. I could never dream of using it in a tactical context. I know that the Dutch police have conducted a study on strobes and found the useful in certain situation, so much that they're standard issue now. Of course, they have the training needed and the lights are built according to their specification with a specific UI and flash per second. We do not receive any training whatsoever, so ill leave the tactical use of strobes for the experts out there.
Anyways, I was one of several patrols a couple of weeks ago on the night shift and was sent to a stretch of highway, where a fatal crash occurred, involving several cars. All lanes were blocked and the traffic quickly came to a standstill. The patrol on site had to turn traffic around and send them back against the traffic direction to the nearest ramp. That's where me and my partner was stationed. Our job, was to block the highway a couple of miles away, and lead traffic up the ramp and off the highway.
We parked our patrol car sideways across both lanes with parking lights on and the blue lights flashing. We were both wearing hi-vis yellow traffic vests and placed 5 LED traffic strobes across both lanes to signal our position to the oncoming traffic.
Nevertheless, several vehicles would come speeding directly as us, as if they hadn't noticed the barrage of flashing blue lights and there were a couple of close calls, where they braked at the last possible minutes. I don't know how one can miss so many blue lights AND a white/blue patrol car parked sideways. I can only suspect, that people have somehow become desensitized to flashing blue lights. I remembered that my Lawman had a strobe, so i thought I'd give it a go. (I couldn't remember for the life of me, how to change programs, so between the waves of cars, I actually had to Google Robin Wangs R1 Lawman review on my smartphone, to figure it out!)
I noticed a immediate effect with the strobe. People would brake much sooner and slow down to a standstill a safe distance from our position.
I had the strobe beam placed on the stretch of road directly ahead of the oncoming vehicles. If the vehicle got too close, id place the beam so the upper edge of the spill was on the car's hood. Most would brake the same instant i turned on the strobe, but there were a couple of idiots that kept on speeding toward us. As they got dangerously close, id point the 750 lumen strobe directly at the driver. It was devastatingly effective. I could see at a distance of around 50-100 yards how the vehicles occupants would turn their head away and instinctively slam on the brakes.
Traffic regulation is dangerous business. Accidents involving inattentive drivers are far too common and there have been too many officers killed at the scenes of accidents. Imagine what it's like in pitch black darkness and on highways. I found the strobe so effective, that I vowed to never go on patrol again without a flashlight with the strobe feature.
I now keep my Lawman I program 2, as I find the strobe activation "hidden" well enough to prevent accidental activation.
I've always thought that strobe was a useless gimmick. I didn't care for it and preferred my flashlights didn't come with the strobe feature.
A couple of months ago I purchased a Surefire R1 Lawman to use on duty. It's a programmable light with a strobe in program 2. I kept my light in program 1, because i didn't see any need for the strobe. I could never dream of using it in a tactical context. I know that the Dutch police have conducted a study on strobes and found the useful in certain situation, so much that they're standard issue now. Of course, they have the training needed and the lights are built according to their specification with a specific UI and flash per second. We do not receive any training whatsoever, so ill leave the tactical use of strobes for the experts out there.
Anyways, I was one of several patrols a couple of weeks ago on the night shift and was sent to a stretch of highway, where a fatal crash occurred, involving several cars. All lanes were blocked and the traffic quickly came to a standstill. The patrol on site had to turn traffic around and send them back against the traffic direction to the nearest ramp. That's where me and my partner was stationed. Our job, was to block the highway a couple of miles away, and lead traffic up the ramp and off the highway.
We parked our patrol car sideways across both lanes with parking lights on and the blue lights flashing. We were both wearing hi-vis yellow traffic vests and placed 5 LED traffic strobes across both lanes to signal our position to the oncoming traffic.
Nevertheless, several vehicles would come speeding directly as us, as if they hadn't noticed the barrage of flashing blue lights and there were a couple of close calls, where they braked at the last possible minutes. I don't know how one can miss so many blue lights AND a white/blue patrol car parked sideways. I can only suspect, that people have somehow become desensitized to flashing blue lights. I remembered that my Lawman had a strobe, so i thought I'd give it a go. (I couldn't remember for the life of me, how to change programs, so between the waves of cars, I actually had to Google Robin Wangs R1 Lawman review on my smartphone, to figure it out!)
I noticed a immediate effect with the strobe. People would brake much sooner and slow down to a standstill a safe distance from our position.
I had the strobe beam placed on the stretch of road directly ahead of the oncoming vehicles. If the vehicle got too close, id place the beam so the upper edge of the spill was on the car's hood. Most would brake the same instant i turned on the strobe, but there were a couple of idiots that kept on speeding toward us. As they got dangerously close, id point the 750 lumen strobe directly at the driver. It was devastatingly effective. I could see at a distance of around 50-100 yards how the vehicles occupants would turn their head away and instinctively slam on the brakes.
Traffic regulation is dangerous business. Accidents involving inattentive drivers are far too common and there have been too many officers killed at the scenes of accidents. Imagine what it's like in pitch black darkness and on highways. I found the strobe so effective, that I vowed to never go on patrol again without a flashlight with the strobe feature.
I now keep my Lawman I program 2, as I find the strobe activation "hidden" well enough to prevent accidental activation.
