Advice from the postman

[purplepolly]

I thought the red bags were a very good idea and assumed that you chose them to increase your visibilty..

Red/green colour blindness affects something like 10% of men so there's a 1 in 10 chance that the postie wouldn't see much diifference in colour between the red panniers and any foliage such as hedges that the bent is going past.

 

[Mr Pig]

They should, but most drivers drive on 'autopilot' . Particularly when it's roads they know well. So anything you can do to make sure you can be seen has to work in your favour.....It is no good being 'in the right' if you are also 'in a wheelchair'.

Good post, I agree with you totally. I wear a hi-vis jacket, use two red tail lights in low visibility. and feel I should use more. As a driver I have often looked at cyclists who clearly do not realise how unobtrusive they are. The other year I saw a guy going along the main road here on a road bike. He had a very small red tail light, which I'm sure he thought was fine, but from inside a car from fifty yards away he was almost invisible.

If a driver takes the time to stop and say 'Listen mate, I can hardly see you" I'd assume he has a point. After all, he's in a better position to know what you look like from behind than you are.

 

[purplepolly]

A half competant driver with legal eye sight should still be able to see you

The legal minimum eyesight requirements for driving are actually pretty cr*p. I know that because although I've got perfect vision when wearing contacts, with glasses I'm borderline legal. I've gone several weeks at a stretch without drving when I've not been able to wear contacts because the difference is so noticeable. Many other people continue to drive when they can't meet the required standard, either knowingly or because they can't be bothered to get their eyesight tested.

 

[Auntie Helen]

I think having a decent rear light is a good idea and often have a pretty bright one, flashing, even in the daytime. I am also becoming of the opinion that orange hi-vis is more useful than yellow hi-vis as there's so much yellow around.

I've got a waterproof pannier cover that's orange high-vis and that I use in the daytime sometimes for extra visibility. Well, I used to, but I've felt less and less that it's needed, the more I've cycled.

 

[Night Train]

As a driver who drives 30,000+ miles per year I think i can say with some conviction that cyclists and pedestrians generally need to give some thought to being more visible .
If it is raining or overcast and cloudy or there is a canopy of trees etc it is very difficult to see people at the edge of the road sometimes . Particularly if at times you need to focus your attention on oncoming traffic or other potential hazards that can appear in seconds.

I drive about 20,000 miles a year and I have never hit anything or anyone. However, I do just about see (because I slow down and look) some pedestrians and cyclists who wear dull grey or black clothing when the light is poor and it is raining and there is spray all over the roads. They seem to hunker down and get tunnel vision as they grimace at the wet. They also forget to look or indicate when they bob about avoiding the puddles. It is hard work keeping a look out for them and everything else on the road. So I slow down more.

I could say that they should make themselves more visible, and I may not be completely wrong in saying that, but then there is my invisible car that has been hit four times because it is painted in invisibility paint that drivers just don't see. Perhaps I should get some Hi-Viz stripes for it.

 

[Night Train]

The legal minimum eyesight requirements for driving are actually pretty cr*p. I know that because although I've got perfect vision when wearing contacts, with glasses I'm borderline legal. I've gone several weeks at a stretch without drving when I've not been able to wear contacts because the difference is so noticeable. Many other people continue to drive when they can't meet the required standard, either knowingly or because they can't be bothered to get their eyesight tested.

Apparently the DVLA will supply driving licence applications in braille!

 

[peanut]

Or maybe, just maybe, in those conditions motorists need to give some thought to slowing down, and driving according to the conditions, at a speed where they are able to deal with hazards both on and off the road?

I hear what you are saying John but you know as well as anyone that road conditions change dramatically from second to second. There are vehicles behind and in front and sometimes to both sides as well as parked vehicles. Then there are khamakarzi peds and cyclists that suddenly appear from behind vehicles and jump out across the road.

We all have a responsibility to other road users . As a driver I can see both sides of the equation and never cease to be amazed at the blinkered view of some cyclists that don't drive.

 

[Joe24]

I don't know any upright cyclists who do.

I do. You obviously dont get out enough.
One person who i have seen, had a pretty large St Georges flag on his, and ive seen a few more about.

 

[Mr Pig]

my invisible car that has been hit four times because it is painted in invisibility paint. Perhaps I should get some Hi-Viz stripes for it.

I've heard that yellow cars get hit less often than black ones, one insurance company ran an ad saying so years ago.

The braille thing, tell me you're kidding?

 

[Joe24]

I've heard that yellow cars get hit less often than black ones, one insurance company ran an ad saying so years ago.

The braille thing, tell me you're kidding?

Cant have discrimination.

 

[Mr Pig]

Cant have discrimination.

Yeah, but idiocy is encouraged. What a f***** up country.

 

[threefingerjoe]

In poor lighting, red can be nearly as invisible as black. I'd go with bright orange, yellow, or hi-viz green...preferably with reflective striping.

 

[hackbike 666]

Indivual peoples vision may come into it...i know when i see blue or red cycling tops in the distance, they 'blend' into the surroundings very easily. The red surprises me ! but it just does'nt jump out at me from a distance.

This has been a point i've been trying to get across on here for ages.Just to be told by certain boarders hilariously no doubt that I should go to specsavers.

 

[John the Monkey]

It is hard work keeping a look out for them and everything else on the road. So I slow down more.

Bing!

This is what I was taught to do on my test. Why is it so unusual to hear someone express that?

I wince when I see people doing 30 on residential roads with parked cars either side. Could they stop if a kid ran out from between them? Not in time, I suspect, so I take these slow - I'd rather do that than be bleating "He just came from nowhere..!" if I did hit someone.

Where road conditions can change abruptly (e.g. driving the lanes locally) I SLOW DOWN. Where there's peds about, or cyclists, or horses, or milk tankers, or cows (lots of dairly farming round my way) I SLOW DOWN.

It isn't rocket science. You should have been taught it on your test.

Mr Pig is right to point out that we live in a f*cked up country. Years of focussing road safety effort on getting everything else out of the way of cars have bred the idea that it's ok for the most dangerous road users to totally abdicate their responsibilities to everyone else, with the enforcement of traffic law colluding in this shameful drift towards the mess we have now. As the recent NAO study pointed out, the roads of Britain are pretty safe, provided you travel them in a car. As a cyclist, pedestrian or motorcyclist, they're more dangerous altogether, particularly, and shamefully so if you're a young pedestrian.

As I've said before, I saw a little lad in our local chippy last year who'd been togged up in a hi-viz vest to walk there with his mum, presumably because the local motons can't be relied on to slow down when it's dark out, and keep a closer eye out for pedestrians.

 

[potsy]

I've heard that yellow cars get hit less often than black ones, one insurance company ran an ad saying so years ago.

The braille thing, tell me you're kidding?

Oh dear i got a black car and a black bike.