hi-viz gone mad....

[CopperBrompton]

Hi-vis is so commonplace nowadays that it is disregarded to the extent of uselessness. Someone robbed an auction room near me a few weeks ago, relieving it of over £300,000 worth of jewellery. What was he wearing to go unnoticed in his approach and escape? Yep, a hi-vis jacket.

That's a totally different phenomenon. It's not that no-one noticed him, it's that the hi-viz jacket was all they saw. I read the biography of a conman years ago, who said he didn't ever attempt to actually disguise his true appearance, he would just add one very memorable feature, from a crooked nose to a large zit. When asked to describe him, that one feature was all people could really remember.

 

[Recycler]

That's a totally different phenomenon. It's not that no-one noticed him, it's that the hi-viz jacket was all they saw. I read the biography of a conman years ago, who said he didn't ever attempt to actually disguise his true appearance, he would just add one very memorable feature, from a crooked nose to a large zit. When asked to describe him, that one feature was all people could really remember.

Having read all the "anti" comments I think I'll dump my Hi Viz and get a crooked nose instead!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Having read all the "anti" comments I think I'll dump my Hi Viz and get a crooked nose instead!

Hedge your bets: get a hi-viz crooked nose.

 

[BentMikey]

That's a totally different phenomenon. It's not that no-one noticed him

It's not known as urban camouflage for no reason. People ignore it.

 

[CopperBrompton]

It's not known as urban camouflage for no reason. People ignore it.

But the term is based on a misunderstanding. People see it, and avoid it, they just don't think anything of it.

 

[Hawk]

What, you do that on Great Western Road? Hat off to you! I would chicken out, find a back way

I do go up Great Western road (the bit from town to anniesland cross is a bus lane most of the way and the rest has plenty of lanes for overtaking drivers when not too busy). Actually I use this coming down the switchback road from Canniesburn, the junction where the car showroom used to be, now a car wash

 

[BentMikey]

But the term is based on a misunderstanding. People see it, and avoid it, they just don't think anything of it.

Well that's your contention, but your logic doesn't really follow, and I don't think too many other people support that view. Well, about the large zit perhaps, but not the hiviz.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I have both cycled and motorcycled with & without hi-viz, and the difference is marked. People clearly see you much earlier. The 'urban camouflage' concept is that people are so used to seeing people in hi-viz, it is not remotely memorable. As I say, people most definitely see it, they simply don't remember it afterwards.

 

[Hawk]

The hi-vis robbery story isn't really relevant. If the police had been called *and were looking for the person in the area* they would probably have a better chance of seeing him from farther away when he was wearing hi-viz

 

[BentMikey]

They might see it, but then they'll immediately pull out on you and otherwise mistreat you as a cyclist. You certainly won't get any space or respect from drivers for wearing hiviz, although of course you'll be blamed if you weren't wearing any and the driver causes a collision.

 

[CopperBrompton]

You certainly won't get any space or respect from drivers for wearing hiviz

A bad driver will be a bad driver either way, of course, but a typical driver will see you sooner and you get significantly fewer near-misses in my experience.

 

[Hawk]

They might see it, but then they'll immediately pull out on you and otherwise mistreat you as a cyclist. You certainly won't get any space or respect from drivers for wearing hiviz, although of course you'll be blamed if you weren't wearing any and the driver causes a collision.

This is another argument altogether.

The vast majority of road users treat us with care.

There is probably a case to be made for "most people treat us with care and thus would see us anyway; being 'unknown' helps in the situation where another road user might not have treated us with care". on balance, I think that's probably fair.

 

[Recycler]

If Hi-viz is such good urban camouflage I wonder why the army doesn't use it when patrolling the Afghan streets?

 

[Dan B]

A bad driver will be a bad driver either way, of course, but a typical driver will see you sooner and you get significantly fewer near-misses in my experience.

Possibly we are imagining different scenarios, because I am considering urban traffic and finding it hard to imagine how, under street lights, even a matte black ninja can't be seen soon enough to take a reasonably wide bearing on.

On Nsl roads and in the countryside, it's probably different

 

[byegad]

The trouble with whether hi viz gets you seen or not is that there is and can never be any proof either way, after all there is no record of accidents that don't happen ! Anyway if you want to wear it, wear it, if it offends someone else well that's their problem.

I can 'prove' that Hi-Viz causes accidents. In my motorcycling days I was persuaded by the then Mrs Byegad to wear a Hi-Viz vest over my leathers. The third or fourth time I went to work on the motorbike a motorist turned right across my lane to get into a side road and wiped me out. The attending Police and Ambulance noted I had my Headlight on full beam and a Hi-Viz vest. The burke who hit me didn't. Short of hiring a troupe of dancing girls to prance naked in the road before me I don't know what else I could have done to be seen!

This is just as valid as any Hi-Viz/helmet/St Christopher saved my life story.