Hi Viz Jacket ex Plod

[Ogmios]

against my better judgement (i have better judgement ) i'm replying again .
(an oil thread would be less contentious )

in the city centre - surrounded by shoppers in 'leisure wear' / track and shell suits - (day glo is now even fashionable - i see loads of young wans in tacky tops you'd need sunglasses to be near), a standard yellow day glo blends in.
However the stark black of a textile or leather 'suit' actually stands out better.
...til it gets dark.
then reflective - not day glo stands out... up to a point... in a certain light.

not helping am i?

 

[Neil W]

Mind you I don't mind wearing HI VIZ at work for one reason and one only, if some k****er does run me over when I'm at an incident at least the insurance will pay out to me if I survive or my wife if I do not. NO HI VIZ NO CLAIM.
Similarly on a bike if you are using your lights and wearing HI VIZ and the worst does happen it means that if it does go to court some judge cann't turn around and half you or your families compensation on a technicality.
Best advice is ride as if everyone else on the road is partially sighted and out to get you !

 

[kbada]

I read that some of you seem to ride with daytime lights and others not - my norwegian specced 1200GS does'nt even have a light switch - on start the beast up and on come the lights, whether you like it or not - can you turn off the lights on english bought bikes?

For what it's worth, I ride with HiVis - the guy who is'nt looking, well but the ones who do look but don't see too well, maybe they just might because of the vest

 

[Davel]

I don't ride with a hi-viz jacket but can appreciate the advantage of them in poor light or nightime riding.

 

[RideTheWind]

I sometimes wear a yellow jacket if I have to go airside at work. Its true the brain dead morons in cars do notice you and act differently. Theres still no subsistute for your own self preservation riding tho. A loud pipe helps wake them up a bit.(Loud pipes save lives officer) The GS` three lights help as they are "not the norm" too. Yesterday tho I took the KTM to work in a yellow jacket and the pipe sounds like the report of a hundred 88mm cannons- Mrs Myopic still managed not to see me. I was watching as I approached her, I was however, well out of her reach. I never thought I would say this but the AIM training has helped alot. Hmm, I cant beleive I just typed that, but then who would have thought I would have a BMW

 

[Tarka]

Similarly on a bike if you are using your lights and wearing HI VIZ and the worst does happen it means that if it does go to court some judge cann't turn around and half you or your families compensation on a technicality.

Therein lies a very great danger lurking on the horizon.
So many people are now conditioning themselves that dayglo is good.
Meaning more and more people think dayglo SHOULD be worn.
Meaning more and more people will think dayglo MUST be worn.
Ultimately bringing the compulsory wearing of the fecking stuff.

Like I said...it`s shifting the onus onto the rider instead of addressing the root cause of driver inattentiveness or feckless stupidy/reckless impatience.

It`s also shifting the attention of the powers that be towards what the rider was or wasn`t wearing (or displaying,in the case of daytime lights) instead of focusing on the actions/inabilities/state of mind of the driver who caused the incident.
Note that the word accident wasn`t used because these instances aren`t accidents.

Daytime lights.....Lights are principally for you to see where you`re going in dark condtions.
Sadly,the onus has shifted there so lights are now viewed as devices for others to see you.

It`s all getting fecked up and voluntarily encompassing these notions is simply accelerating the cause for the misguided legislators.

We`ve got some folk on here who`ve even berated folk for not wearing white helmets because dark ones are 'hard for others to see' FFS.

If people bother to look,they`ll see.

When they don`t bother to look....and mostly aren`t prepared or willing to stop and give way into the bargain....well,you`ve got no chance whatever you are or aren`t doing unless you do the thinking and looking for yourself.


This below just about sums it up....

Best advice is ride as if everyone else on the road is partially sighted and out to get you !

 

[Ogmios]

fully agree.

wot Tarka said.
address the cause NOT the symptoms!

 

[Deleted account W]

wot Tarka said.
address the cause NOT the symptoms!

I agree, but while it's being addressed, and I don't see any suggestions of how, I'll make sure the percentages of being seen are weighted more in my favour thanks

 

[kbada]

Daytime lights.....Lights are principally for you to see where you`re going in dark condtions.

Oh dear...... When I was a sprog many many years ago, standing on the diff tunnel in the back of me dad's car trying to absorb the intracasies (?) of car driving, and when evening arrived, I remember watching the game of seeing (no PUN intended) who could leave his lights off the longest. Eventually everyone put them on but then we would drive into a an area with street lighting (like one 40 watt bulb every hundred yards) and the headlamps would be turned off and we proceeded on park lights

It probably worked because there were hardly any cars by todays standards and as I just described, very little background lighting either so the parking light glow worms could be seen, possibly.

I just realised, some of you are still playing that game

You cannot legislate the bad drivers off the road - people make mistakes including you and me, get over it - but if you could legilate them, just maybe just maybe, some of you just might be included if only because of your lack of ability/willingness to adapt or change in an ever changing world.....

 

[santrix]

No government is ever going to sort out the bad driving thing... ever, people get sloppy because of age or wether they had a sleepless night etc.

Wearing Hi Viz stuff must help, so what if everyone was 'made' to wear hi viz elements, it wouldnt effect my enjoyment of riding. Ive got a white helmet and would wear one of those jackets, balls to anyone who thinks i shouldn't, and i dont care to look like a copper, you could just as well say you're impersonating a litter picker/ motorway worker/ other person or trade who wears the stuff.

Untill they fix the bad driving and number of vehicles in general on the road anything that saves or helps to save your legs [insert injury here] should not be mocked or discouraged. Fine i can make a moral stand and say 'no, because soon it will become the 'percieved' necessity to wear it', because that wont save my bacon because mr or mrs crap driver didnt see me.

etc etc

 

[original_concept]

I read that some of you seem to ride with daytime lights and others not - my norwegian specced 1200GS does'nt even have a light switch - on start the beast up and on come the lights, whether you like it or not - can you turn off the lights on english bought bikes?

For what it's worth, I ride with HiVis - the guy who is'nt looking, well but the ones who do look but don't see too well, maybe they just might because of the vest

Euro spec (thanks to the Yanks) - we're all the same now (for some years). Personally I don't like DRLs; and having your bike lit up like a Xmas tree can have the opposite effect. Drivers will still pull out, mainly coz they think you're a twat for all that lighting in daylight (Mway and dual cabbageways for example). When I'm driving I do get pretty fooked off with having my retinas burned out by oncoming bikes during the day. Thankfully the car has a thick bar and blocks out following bikes. As an aside, if I follow the missus in the car with moi on the GS with HIDs and foglights on I can completely disappear from her rearview mirror due to this bar on the rear of the car.

Yes, other people have will have a differing view. I know what kept me in one piece during years of London/M25 etc:

me, other drivers, luck.

As for HiViz, people sometimes do a double-take when wearing a plod style hi-viz. But IME (a long time ago) they also make you easy to spot by the Plod. Never wore HiViz again.

 

[original_concept]

Oh dear...... When I was a sprog many many years ago, standing on the diff tunnel in the back of me dad's car trying to absorb the intracasies (?) of car driving, and when evening arrived, I remember watching the game of seeing (no PUN intended) who could leave his lights off the longest. Eventually everyone put them on but then we would drive into a an area with street lighting (like one 40 watt bulb every hundred yards) and the headlamps would be turned off and we proceeded on park lights

It probably worked because there were hardly any cars by todays standards and as I just described, very little background lighting either so the parking light glow worms could be seen, possibly.

I just realised, some of you are still playing that game

You cannot legislate the bad drivers off the road - people make mistakes including you and me, get over it - but if you could legilate them, just maybe just maybe, some of you just might be included if only because of your lack of ability/willingness to adapt or change in an ever changing world.....

You're talking about at night in Norway... doesn't compare to filtering or just travelling in bright sunshine...

 

[Martin S]

I've just put Hid on the dipped beam but am now wondering whether the brightness might reduce the effectiveness of the front indicators. Perhaps I now need some LED indicators. Doh!

(Use a hiz vis jacket sometimes)

 

[Steve B]

I think wearing hi-viz jackets and daytime riding lights should be compulsory for bikers. Just to see Tarka's next hissyfit. That bugger up all his GS rideouts too
OR maybe we could get hi-viz jackets and daytime riding lights band? Which political party would dare to have that on their manifesto? In the end it's a personal choice so don't judge people on here for it.

 

[kbada]

You're talking about at night in Norway... doesn't compare to filtering or just travelling in bright sunshine...

No, I,m talking about daytime/nightime anywhere, don't really see what geographic location has to do with driving lights or HiViz.

FYI I am a born and bred englishman and the first half of my life was spent in the country of birth - my referred to driving observations were ca 1950

 

[gasman]

Just don't become too reliant on wearing HI VIZ and assuming the the general driving public will see you on a bike.
If we can loose fully marked up vans with six flashing blue lights on the roof, two in the front grille , plus headlight flashers and 100 plus decibel wailers because people pull out of junctions into there path on the way to emergency calls a HI VIZ jacket isn't going to help.
I've even been at an accident where someone pulled out into the path of a fire service turntable ladder in the dark when it had all of its emergency equipment switched on . For gods sake the things are 30 foot long and 10 foot high and you can see and hear them about a mile away.

Well, if you WILL go at 60 in a 30 zone in the dark on the wrong side of the road, to make sure the pizza gets back to the station still hot.

I wear orange hi viz all the time.
It doesn't make me drive faster or more dangerously.
And I don't think it makes me invincible.
And I do still expect people to pull out on me.
And there are times when however defensively you drive, you just HAVE to bite the bullet and go tight past a car who might kill you if he pulls out.

There are loads of reasons why hi viz might not save your life. But one day it might.

Incidentally, the other day I forgot the hi viz, and I definitely notice the ride seemed scarier before I realised I'd forgotten it. Try it and see !

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Could anyone who's got one of these let me know how well the sizing relates to real life, I want to get one to go over my regular jacket for night time riding.

I'm guessing going one size up, I'm 38" chest and generally take a medium jacket, I'm currently wearing a HG PSX-T1 jacket which is reasonably thin and snug and trying to decide whether to go up to a large or X-large in the hi-viz.

Cheers,

J.

 

[luckylucian]

I've a Hein Gericke textile outfit in $hite brown suede, its got a goretex liner but its still not very windproof so I too wore the work goretex Hi-Viz jacket and trousers over the top one day just to keep a bit warmer.

And the cars did part before me - even though I was a Hi-Viz pimple on a red GS.

I'll have to agree that you always have to ride as if you are invisible to stay safe.

For sizing, I'd ride to the the local builders merchants and try the jackets over your riding gear, to small and it will be uncomfortable on the bike, too big and you'll balloon up with huge amounts of drag. Watch out for flapping collars and pocket flaps too.

 

[johnboy]

Bought one of ex-police patrol jackets and used it over the last few weeks- excellent for being seen but...

I have been stopped twice by police asking where I had got the jacket.For clarification they stated that the blue and white chequered strip should be removed as I will get hassle.They did not clarify "hassle"! I have removed the strip and thejacket is just as effective but without the "hassle"!

 

[johnboy]

Could anyone who's got one of these let me know how well the sizing relates to real life, I want to get one to go over my regular jacket for night time riding.

I am a 36 and the medium [which is 36 to 40] easily fits over my outer jacket. However I allow the arms of the hiviz to ride up so that my normal jacket protrudes beneath to allow a smug fit with the gloves.

If you are buying its worth making an offer asI got the medium patrolaman's jacket for £24 which is not bad given it is gore-tex lined and very comfortable.