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"High-vis clothing makes little difference ..."

(2 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by slowcoach
  • Latest reply from allebong

  1. slowcoach
    Member

    The headline may be as unhelpful as some of those on helmets, but the actual interview seems better. From NZ TV this morning: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/high-vis-clothing-makes-little-difference-cyclist-safety-expert-5461950

    "... experts like Dr Glenn Koorey, who studied 84 road deaths over a seven year period, believes it is motorists who need to be brighter.

    "The evidence showed that it had no effect on the motorists seeing them or not, so often they're just not looking no matter what you're wearing," he said.

    Koorey told TV ONE's Breakfast that his research has found that road user education, cycle education and empathy is generally lacking.

    "We should certainly be looking at better cycling infrastructure, lower speeds is a low cost measure we can do now, but in the meantime I think we've got to recognise that there are a lot of places we are not going to have those facilities, we are still sharing the road together, and we've got to work out how we can do that better," he said.

    However, he did say that wearing high visibility clothing was still a good idea for cyclists.

    "I think there are situations where it can help, when you've got a busy environment or a dark environment, it certainly can't hurt," he said.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  2. allebong
    Member

    "I think there are situations where it can help, when you've got a busy environment or a dark environment, it certainly can't hurt"

    Sums it up for me. Think garish luminous yellow is just overkill for your average sunny or cloudy day. A dull rainy evening with fog, mist and water spray all over the place and I'll be putting it on along with flashing lights. I have even while cycling seen other dark clothed cyclists disappear into dull haze while someone running even a basic light and a bit of bright clothing stands out vastly better. (edit: though that hardly makes a difference if drivers aren't looking in the first place, as we all know)

    A neat solution which I've adopted is to have reflective tape/strips on the back mudguard. Note reflective, not hiviz, this stuff isn't retina searing in sunlight but stands out extremely well in car headlights. Since it's on the bike permanently it's hardly an inconvenience in the same way having to pack a hiviz vest is.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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