Per Kurt V. Ullman:
FWIW, there is a long line of studies (I wrote about it the first time
when I was still at Firehouse so it had to be before 1990 or so) showing
that the flashing lights tend to draw drunks toward them on the side of
the road.

I heard a New Jersey State cop on TV refer to tail lights on a vehicle
pulled over on the shoulder as "Drunk Magnets".

If/when I ever have to pull over on to a shoulder at night, my plan is
to douse the lights, exit the vehicle on the non-traffic side, and move
upstream some reasonable distance.
--
Pete Cresswell