I see a pretty wide range of ideas on this. I just wish there was a way to more accurately measure the effectiveness of the law. Guess we'll have to wait 20 years or so and argue that this one law had an effect on whatever trend we see at that time. Reminds me of the law to require stop lights in the rear windows of cars. Decades later the rate of rear end crashes is up compared to other types, but there are so many factors that go in to the cause that it can't be decided one way or the other.
By the way, I've never heard it called the moth effect. But I do know that experienced bike riders (motor or pedal) stress: when you get out of shape, look where you want to go as compared to looking at the thing you don't want to hit. I thought it was called target fixation.
