Confirmation of what we've always known
- Thread starter buggi
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Exactly. I think HOW you ride makes a difference.
What shocks me is when I'm in the middle of the road due to cars being parked on the left (and I'm not getting the door prize) and someone overtakes me doing about 40 in a 30mph zone, what is even worse is that it is a part that is blind, so if there had been a car coming there would have been a very very nasty accident.
classic33
Leg End Member
Not always the case. Often you're nowt but something travelling slower than they can & something that can get out of their way.
50000tears
Senior Member
- Location
- Weymouth, Dorset
Nothing we didn't expect but this bit gives us hope
"The study recommended better cycling infrastructure and legal and educational measures as better remedies to reduce close overtaking."
Cycling is being pushed so hard now it can only mean good things in the long term. I almost always feel safe even on busy roads as I don't do a lot of the things that bring other cyclists down such as undertaking, weaving through traffic etc. In my home town there are two new cycle paths going in over the next 3 months, both of which are useable for even us roadies who often skip them for the faster roads.
"The study recommended better cycling infrastructure and legal and educational measures as better remedies to reduce close overtaking."
Cycling is being pushed so hard now it can only mean good things in the long term. I almost always feel safe even on busy roads as I don't do a lot of the things that bring other cyclists down such as undertaking, weaving through traffic etc. In my home town there are two new cycle paths going in over the next 3 months, both of which are useable for even us roadies who often skip them for the faster roads.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Erm no. I saw the exact opposite this week commuting into Manchester via the A34 which is dead straight.
Being a cyclist anyway (erm) I could see 3 ahead of me for about half a mile.
The only one that stood out in the murky daylight, was the one running a good rear light. He had no high viz. the other two had dayglo, which you would expect helped, it didn't. It was light, but heavily overcast. Reflectives help, but only if the car is pointing at you.
Sadly the study didn't look at driver behaviour during poor light times. They didn't even collect data if it was raining! I would have thought low light conditions are when high viz is most useful.
Strangely it looks like all the outfits (apart from the saeco kit) has at least one element of high viz on them, while the conclusions don't seem to take that into account.
Much like the researcher's previous study on cycle helmets, this will be used to argue a point that the researcher is not trying to make. He seems interested in how driver behaviour is influenced by the perception of cyclist skill and experience. This he believes is determined by what the cyclist is wearing (or gender in the helmet study).
i kind of agree with this. i do wear hi viz a lot of the time (i've got a really stylish hi viz jersey i love) but i think sometimes a black silhouette against low sun makes you stand out more. and i think reflectives work best at night. for anything approaching from behind anyway. (oo er mrs)
but a lot of drivers perceptions about how skilled we are is based on what they see us wearing. They think just coz someone is on a sit up and beg bike they don't know what their doing, but if their own a road bike they probably do. I don't think it even occurs to them we have more than one bike!
I agree. I've owned everything from a carbon tt bike to a pashley ice cream bike and everything in between. I also wear all sorts while riding, it just depends what I am doing.
I am just a bit confused as to why various cycling web sites are taking the study out of context. The researcher is not simply saying wearing high viz makes no difference, he is saying that drivers "do not adjust overtaking proximity as a function of a rider’s perceived experience".
He draws no conclusions about the effects of high viz clothing making cyclists more or less conspicuous.
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
I agree with that point, I look like I know what I am doing due to my attire. My attire leads people to believe I am a surfing instructor, and my bicycle is one of those pedal-forward types popular in California. Get a lot of second looks, and Big Lebowski quotes.Unfortunately, they probably think I know nothing about bicycles.
