Has hi-vis had its day?

[Rhythm Thief]

That's missing the point that hiviz can often be in plain sight and yet still be invisible, which is very rarely the case with active lighting.

I don't understand why you think hi vis is worse in this respect than, say, a plain top or a bit of team kit. No one is arguing that we should use hi vis instead of lights.

 

[magnatom]

As it happens, absolutely the opposite is true. As I said in an earlier post, the whole art of camouflage lies in breaking up shapes which are easily recognisable to the eye. Large blocks of solid colour in recognisable shapes such as a T shirt or a pair of shorts help motorists to recognise what they see as a cyclist.

RT, that is certainly true, but by solid colour I meant same coloured shorts and top, not different colours on a t-shirt etc. In my opinion, and it is just an opinion, it is important to have two very different colours on. The reason for that is that you will always have something that contrasts the background.

That said, as others have pointed out, road position etc is much more important for visibility.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

RT, that is certainly true, but by solid colour I meant same coloured shorts and top, not different colours on a t-shirt etc. In my opinion, and it is just an opinion, it is important to have two very different colours on. The reason for that is that you will always have something that contrasts the background.

That said, as others have pointed out, road position etc is much more important for visibility.

Right, sorry. I'm with you now, and you're probably right.

 

[garrilla]

Surely all these things - road positioning, illumination, bright colours, reflective fabrics, etc - improve the prospect of being seen? There may be an order of priority depending on the time of day, level of light, environment, traffic levels, etc, but none guarantee it yet in combination they increase the chances.

 

[BentMikey]

Many cyclists seem to think that the art of being seen starts and ends with a hiviz top. That's a worrying trend, especially because it's relatively ineffective compared with the other ways of making yourself visible.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Many cyclists seem to think that the art of being seen starts and ends with a hiviz top. That's a worrying trend, especially because it's relatively ineffective compared with the other ways of making yourself visible.

Well, that's true enough. Hi vis is a useful aid to being seen, in my opinion, but it ain't a substitute for lights.

 

[summerdays]

Many cyclists seem to think that the art of being seen starts and ends with a hiviz top. That's a worrying trend, especially because it's relatively ineffective compared with the other ways of making yourself visible.

So you would rather that they didn't wear hi-vis and behaved in exactly the same manner? Removing their hi-vis won't make them safer either.

 

[siadwell]

Hi vis is a useful aid to being seen, in my opinion, but it ain't a substitute for lights.

Or appropriate road positioning.

 

[BentMikey]

That's hardly the likely result, summerdays, or what I'm suggesting.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Or appropriate road positioning.

True, but given a lack of lights and a position riding two inches off the kerb, hi vis is sometimes the only thing that has come between my truck and a messy but exciting death for a cyclist on some of the narrow unlit B roads around where I work. I've seen unlit cyclists both with and without hi vis (and what's going through their minds, I don't know) and the ones with hi vis have more chance of being seen because there's a chance my headlights will catch their reflective stripes. Personally, if I was given a choice I'd prefer to see them using good lights, riding in a strong secondary and wearing hi vis, but sadly it's not my decision.

 

[summerdays]

That's hardly the likely result, summerdays, or what I'm suggesting.

So you are saying Hi-vis does aid cyclists visibility then?

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, it does. The problem is that it's unreliable and not always visible, and it's far less effective than any of the other ways of making yourself visible, perhaps by two orders of magnitude. It's also a rabbit's foot, and has the danger of making people rely on it instead of relying on proper cycle craft. Hiviz is simply not necessary for cycling.

 

[GrasB]

Having ridden several months with a Hi-viz top from my perspective it's not changed the amount of drivers who pull out with way to little space or act in any way to make me think they've seen me & reacted to my presence. In short from my observations one could conclude that hi-viz is fairly pointless.

 

[psmiffy]

Having ridden several months with a Hi-viz top from my perspective it's not changed the amount of drivers who pull out with way to little space or act in any way to make me think they've seen me & reacted to my presence. In short from my observations one could conclude that hi-viz is fairly pointless.

That is because you cannot legislate against the minority of people who are simply not looking, stupid or concentrating properly for one reason or another

Many years ago I was working on the M1 at night in traffic management - there was something like 3km of very large signs indicating that the lane was closed - our vehicles were a mass of high viz strobes -plus lots of little flashy lights on the cones - I was up near the start of the taper - I looked up and a lorry was mowing down the cones about 200m from where I was - I assume the noise of the lorry hitting the cones woke the driver up because the lorry swerved into the unconed lane and continued on its way - if people are not looking they do not see

Thankfully most drivers do look and Hi Viz does enable them to see you earlier

 

[Arch]

Having ridden several months with a Hi-viz top from my perspective it's not changed the amount of drivers who pull out with way to little space or act in any way to make me think they've seen me & reacted to my presence. In short from my observations one could conclude that hi-viz is fairly pointless.

I dunno, there's always the moral high ground - "so, matey, what part of this bright yellow jacket did you not see, exactly?". Although I know it leads to worries about victim blaming.