Hi Viz - Do you or don't you?

[ComedyPilot]

Prompted by recent threads where people have indicated hi viz is not having an effect on overtaking traffic - we're visible, so not as much room is needed, i just wondered, do you wear High Viz?

If so why, where, when, what for?

I have no intention of riding in my spare time looking like a navvy off a 'Nanny State' building site.

I do wear reflective stuff on a night because that helps me stick out from the inky blackness (no street lighting in the cundryside).

My little one's trailer is adorned with pink and yellow luminous snake flags, and together with defensive riding I feel safe to tow (drag) her all over the area.

I think a common sense approach should be used, but I see loads of people who look like they're attired direct from a RoSPA catalogue, just as much as I see ninjas darting along on a stealth mission.

 

[John the Monkey]

I do if visibility is poor (rain, severe overcast, early mornings &c).

Speaking from experience, it does make getting the other party's insurers to pay up following a collision VERY much easier.

From the point of view of your safety on the road, knowing where and how to ride is much more significant though.

 

[Theseus]

I sort of wear hi-hiz, but it not a ghastly yellow/orange. I have a Foska bones training jacket that has the bones painted on with reflective paint. To motorists at night I look like a skeleton on a bike - spooky.

 

[HLaB]

I tend only to wear a hi-viz in winter if I'm wearing a Black jacket.

 

[addictfreak]

Always in winter, and any other time conditions dictate

 

[lazyfatgit]

Depends on conditions and type of ride.

Commuting - ankle bands, somtimes vest depending on jacket.

Liesure rides - cycle specific clothing with reflective trim.

I've also got reflective tyre walls, and stickers inside rims and on frames, although I appreciate these are only effective when litup by headlamps and are very directional.

Road postioning and decent lights are more important IMHO

Worst hazard I think is spring/autumn low sun, and hi vis dousn't help much then.

 

[3tyretrackterry]

rather bright rucsac cover and my cycking jacket is yellow with reflective trim also reflective bits on my cycling trousers and shoes plus usual lights on bike

 

[ianrauk]

In the dark and in the winter yes.

 

[Dan B]

Some of my cycling-specific clothes have hi-viz or reflective trim/piping, but (as per the original poster) I see no good reason that the world should expect me to dress up as a binman for a simple journey from A to B in daylight. Ghastly flappy stuff.

 

[2Loose]

I wear a hiviz jacket if it is very overcast or raining, also grey dawn or dusk, when everything else is a shade of grey. Every little bit helps me feel a little safer at those dreary times.

 

[Theseus]

Talking of Hi-Vis, time to drag this up again.

 

[jimboalee]

It is my birthday soon.

I have a clear Racecape on order from aerotechdesigns.com

They call it a "PVC rainwear cycling jacket by 02"

Its a clear racecape in my language. $15.95.

Being clear, it shows my bright red longsleeve through.

 

[jimboalee]

The problem with much of the 'safety' clothing described as 'hi-viz' is that it effectively isn't.

There is so much street furniture and so many vehicles with 'hi-viz' on them that wearing hi-viz yellow means that you effectively become part of the background. You are far better off wearing a contrasting colour (such as bright blue, pink, green or red) in an urban environment than you are wearing hi-viz yellow or orange.

At night, hi-viz yellow and orange are also relatively useless. They were designed for use in specific lighting conditions, rather than use in the dark. The best colour to wear is reflective white or blue. Just think about police officers and ambulance staff. If you see them in the dark, what will strike you first is the reflective bands rather than the hi-viz.

About the only time that 'hi-viz' yellow or orange is really of use to a cyclist is in mist or rain in the countryside, where it will stand out against the green (unless you happen to be unlucky enough to be cycling alongside a rape seed field).

Grow-your-own diesel.

 

[garrilla]

I commute with a back-pack which has a Hi-vis cover.

My helmet is orange with losts of reflective paint.

In winter I wear night-vision over-wear which, although black, has lots of reflective bits on.

Should I have an accident and need to go to court or claim insurance it would be easy to prove I had made all reasonable attempts to make my self seen (irrespectuive of whether it does or not). I had an RTA a few years ago, when a lady drove into me from behind at 30mph+ as I was waiting to turn right. She claimed not to have seen me and her lawyers persisted with this line of defence for a while as I was wearing jeans and demin jacket - apparently a 6'1" hunk in blue is a bit of a disguise when standing in the middle of the road at 8pm on an August evening. The case was only really settled when she later changed her story that I emerged from between 2 stationary cars - the police record and the damage to the bike clearly demstrated this was not the case.

 

[Bodhbh]

The problem with much of the 'safety' clothing described as 'hi-viz' is that it effectively isn't.

There is so much street furniture and so many vehicles with 'hi-viz' on them that wearing hi-viz yellow means that you effectively become part of the background. You are far better off wearing a contrasting colour (such as bright blue, pink, green or red) in an urban environment than you are wearing hi-viz yellow or orange.

I'm not sure about this argument. I know myself I clock people in Hi-Viz very early on - perhaps only because as a cyclist you want to have a nose the bike on the incoming or whatever - but I think it works.

I had an incident over the weekend with some horseriders. I was hammering along the road and zipped off into a bridlepath. There were 2 horses riders at the entrance, and normally I would slow to a crawl, but just gave them wide berth and hammered past, startling the horses and making them rear. I felt very bad about this because it could have caused an off and tried to analyse why in the heat of the moment I did not stop, a saw them easily, well in advance. The riders were not wearing Hi-Viz as normal and somehow I think I didn't register them as 'horse riders'.

Might be clutching at straws with the above, but I don't think a simple Hi-Viz top hurts in general. I wouldn't rely on it tho, I've had people pull out in front with Ay-Ups glaring them in the face. I'm not wearing any atm, but will come dusky mornings/evenings.