Sure this has done the rounds before, but hey, there hasn’t been a good row on here for a few weeks…
some (possibly biased) science; which includes some interesting theories on hi vis as camouflage. not entirely convinced myself, but it’s now open to the floor.
some good advice in this generally though and a recommended read I would say, particularly the SMIDSY evasion section.
not really wont make a difference. If a driver cant notice your headlight or brakelight what hope is there in them noticing a hi vis jacket, until drivers understand think bike there is no hope.
yeah the riders riding manner plays a part in their safety but majority of the time a driver wont be paying attention for bikes and will only be watching out for cars as they fail to think bike before pulling out on to a road and etc.
I think there’s a lot to be said for having something attention grabbing higher up - a bike’s lights are easilly hidden behid a car/pedestrians/road signs.
I tend to wear hi-vis as the nights draw in - it’s no effort and it might help prevent me getting knocked on my arse. On my pushbike I’m lit up like a christmas tree, lights and reflectives all over the place.
I have to say that the cyclists in hi vis really do stand out and grab my attention when I’m riding past them.
I did a biker down thingy and the mag guy that gave a safety talk said that there’s no evidence to support it’s benefit so I’ve always contested the effects of hi viz and this confirmed it.
im not wearing one at the moment as i ride into work when the suns coming up
so its the solid black will prob help me more.
at night, cars behind will see uou but a car pulling out in front wont see the high viz.
massive debate. I think bikes shd have a light pointing ahead but not a head light as it’ll blind everyone
if your commute involves say some dark unlit roads, ie counrty lanes etc, then yes wear one, against the trees bushes etc in daytime it will help, at night its obvious it can help, most important reason for me is if you have an off while commuting these roads, and say are laying in the road unable to move, you will light up liek a christmas tree! most bike clothing has 3M scotchlite reflective material anyway but not as much as proper hi-viz vest.
same goes for in town, i know when i couriered i used to wear me bib with the hi-viz H pattern on it, specially after dark.
but on the flip side the reason we get knocked off our bikes is simple…someone hasnt looked, so quite how they will see your hi viz i dont know.
that said its not always the car drivers fault.
also if i where to wear one, i feel fluro orange is more visible then yellow fluro.
Best defence would be one of the flashing blue light thingies. But that might make you a little too conspicuous to a few other blue light folk who don’t necessarily agree…
+1. I never assume that a driver has seen me or that they’ll do anything to make my life easier. I assume the worst and if anything better happens, it’s a bonus. I have been considering one of those Hi-Viz belt things for a while now so might give it a try…Surely, it can’t hut
For 15 years I always wore either black or dark brown jackets, very rarely hi-viz, but then in June this year I bought this jacket from Hein Gericke. The reason I got it had nothing to do with the colour - I wanted a gore-tex jacket and this one had received a rave review from Ride magazine, but HG Coulsdon had no black ones (which I wanted) in stock. There was a good deal on, I was in a hurry, and thought “why not”.
The difference has been amazing - whereas before I regularly needed to use my Stebel horns to let people know where I was - say once every two days - since getting the jacket I’ve never needed to use them and people really seem to notice me.
So going purely from my own personal experience - I fully support the use of high-viz. And the jacket is great - comfortable, warm (with the bodywarmer insert fitted), and it hasn’t leaked so far. At that price I wouldn’t expect any different! Well worth it though.
A high vis won’t save you. Yes it might make things a bit better but as others have said, assume you’re invisible (note: not invincible!)…
Sometimes my worry with people that wear a high vis is that they assume they have been seen just because they wear a fluorescent bit of kit.
A lot of jackets will have some fluorescent bits so whether or not it’s worth it, personally I don’t. Also those bibs can be restricting, or create a bit of wind buffeting so for pure comfort I wouldn’t.
But then again I sometimes drive in all-stars so am not the most safety focused person to talk to about this!
A while back I was going to try and do a poll about hi-vis but didn’t know how to do it!
I was interested in the colour choice and type of hi-viz people choose. (Orange or green?, bibs?, integrated into clothing?, none at all?, only when commuting?, ride-outs?, etc etc).
Cyclists predominantly wear the fluro green ones, and now they seem to be recognised as such. When I doing the cbt we all wore the builders orange ones, but when it came to DAS we went to the green ones.
Not sure if this is a good idea or not, or if indeed it makes any difference!, but it maybe that cyclists go with the green, and bikes orange. Having said that, I now notice that some bike clothing manufactures, now integrate green stripes into clothing! so I guess that wont happen.
Interesting thread and nice to read people’s opinions…
this study is considering environmental factors after a collision by interviewing those involved to define characteristics that may have contributed.
such as the use of Hi vis, or the colour of the riders helmet or clothing and the colour of the bike, and the relative levels of perceived conspicuity.
Well I skim read most of this study (Auckland New Zealand) as it is very detailed but very interesting nonetheless, so for those who do the same, the bottom line from them is:
Wearing reflective or fluorescent clothing and white or light coloured helmets and using headlights in daytime could reduce serious injuries or death from motorcycle crashes by up to one third
so I’ve always contested the effects of hi viz and this confirmed it.