I don't think that target fixation will happen unless there is some other primordial emotional response associated with the visual target. You target fixate on the outside of the corer, or the car's bumper, because you are afraid to go there. Car drivers are not going to fixate on a modulating head]
Well Fred, I've seen people fixate on a shiny gum wrapper on the sidewalk. Remember, those kind of folks walk/drive among us.
And some times I believe that they greatly outnumber us...
;-)
I honestly can't see how modulating headlights increases the chance of target fixation. In my experience, I have never seen it happen. In fact it has been the opposite, where a driver looks at the light and then the focus is broken as it modulates.
I have had the same experience with deer in the headlights. By flashing my high beams on and off it breaks the spell and they run off rather than just standing there mesmerized by the lights.