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High-viz vests a must for cyclists?

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  1. sallyhinch
    Member

    You might be onto something with item 10 there ...

    FWIW I would never ever have cycled in London without my hi vis yellow jacket - mainly because I felt that nothing says 'cyclist' quite so quickly. Given that there's a lot going on on London's streets, having something on that quickly flags you up as a bike (and hence likely to behave in certain bikey ways) made for an additional safety measure. I also thought that it would mean that if someone hit me and said 'sorry, love, I didn't see you' I could have a good laugh before expiring.

    Then I moved up here (rural Dumfriesshire) where frankly there's not a whole lot going on on the roads and if anyone can't see me then they're not going to see the deer, sheep or loose cows either and they need removing from the gene pool, or at least the roads. And more to the point, it's just not frightening. Even in Dumfries, the traffic is lighter and the drivers while not exactly better seem perfectly capable of seeing bicycles. The scary yellow jacket got put away within about a month and only now gets worn when I'm cycling down to choir of an evening and I know that there will be a lot of elderly drivers on the roads, and it would be bad form to have them hit me.

    Since then I've ridden in London without the yellow jacket and promptly almost got wiped out by a bus which overtook me and then forgot all about me. So I'll probably continue to wear hi vis on London's roads while continuing to campaign to make it entirely unnecessary everywhere. That said, I never wear a helmet wherever I ride so go figure. Nobody said we had to be entirely consistent and rational ...

    Posted 12 years ago #
  2. sallyhinch
    Member

    oh, and when we bought our car I made sure it was a VERY bright colour. I never fail to be amazed at how invisible silver cars can be on a dull winter's day.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  3. Dave
    Member

    Since then I've ridden in London without the yellow jacket and promptly almost got wiped out by a bus which overtook me and then forgot all about me.

    But since he overtook you (didn't drive over the top of you) you were clearly visible. More likely that he either didn't care to check, or decided you were competent enough to get out of the way, than having pulled around you was suddenly unable to distinguish you from grey tarmac in the mirrors*.

    This morning I was drafting a nippy chap who'd overtaken me along the Bridges, when a taxi pulled out of the bus lane, came up alongside us, put his left indicator on and tried to turn through us (he didn't actually, but I think he was trying to force us to stop so he could). Cue amusing double rude gesture from two cyclists!

    Of course, neither of us was wearing hi-viz so in some quarters we'd deserve everything we got if, having pulled into the other lane, the taxi driver suddenly 'couldn't see us' any more and ran us over...

    * source - I've now been in the driving seat of a real service bus, and you can see everything down the inside :)

    Posted 12 years ago #
  4. sallyhinch
    Member

    Oh I'm sure I could have been wearing a purple clown costume with a sparkly mirror ball helmet and the bus would have behaved the same way - it's just wearing the yellow jacket acts as a comfort blanket and enables me to tackle London's traffic... I'm sure much of what we do as cyclists is for our own peace of mind and nothing to do with the effect on cars

    That said, on a Boris bike you're somehow perfectly visible whatever you wear and everyone gives you an enormously wide berth. Most refreshing.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  5. gembo
    Member

    I was on train to stirling late this pm and at Larbet I noticed the Network Rail Training Centre a large black building with some weathered timber. Next to it I noticed a lot of people in orange boiler suits and hard hats, one of whom was on a winch hanging slightly off the ground. maybe I am quite good at noticing things? Hi viz is more visible in many circumstances. it doesn't stop blind drivers hitting you. I also noticed in the letters in the herald a person commenting that he had NEVER seen a cyclist making a hand signal, when pressed he stuck to his guns but also stated he was an occasional cyclist, I conclude by syllogistic style reasoning that he doesn't make hand signals.

    I have lost any idea of trying to make a point but wonder if some drivers ask for cyclists to be in the gutter area and wearing hi viz. rather than more visible but in the middle of the carriageway therefore holding them up?

    Posted 12 years ago #
  6. alibali
    Member

    I plan to learn from the Team GB cyclists: seek incremental improvements: and apply it to road safety.

    Model good practice when driving
    Wear a helmet
    Signal my intentions when practicable
    Wear visible clothes HiVis in the day, reflective at night.
    Ride defensively and anticipate bad driving
    Wear a blond wig

    Well, you get the idea. All these have downsides but so do all safety measures, and it's likely the downsides of most of these are less than the benefit so the overall effect is likely to be positive.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  7. Smudge
    Member

    @Uberuce, I'm particularly looking forwards to your next appearance at PY now, serial 5 onwards should be particularly impressive!
    @Alibali, so do you think blonde wigs could serve as a useful CCE "badge" and thus aid spots of forumites? :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #
  8. alibali
    Member

    @Sumdge Good idea, should liven up the "Spotted" thread and will be especially useful if I forget to wear visible clothes to complete the full Godiva look.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  9. Uberuce
    Member

    When arrested, claim your clothes are so high-visibility that only cats and dolphins can see them.

    Back OT, I noticed this morning that hi-viz isn't, if it's foggy.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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