Wearing Police Hi-Viz jacket?

[DavidHale]

had it painted in hi-viz yellow to make sure I dont ever ever have an accident because someone is a sh1te driver and causes one.

My work van is yellow. It's got reflective bits stuck all over it, huge great big panels of the stuff. It's got really loud horns that I use all the time and it's got lots and lots of flashing lights on it too, lots of which are blue. And even though my big yellow van is covered in reflective stuff, is very loud and lit up like a christmas tree, people still don't feckin see me coming!!

So a tiddley bit of yellow tape stuck to a jacket? Nah, can't be arsed these days.

 

[Bury_Dave]

Ahh, But if those who keep insisting that hi-vis is the panacea of motorcycle safety keep up their vociferous bleating then it's highly likely it will end up affecting you by compulsion.

I thnk the bleating is coming mostly from politicians and car drivers. I was referring to the thread and the OP rather than the wider issue. If they try to make me wear that stuff then i will take to the streets again to protest against it.

Much as last year when all those who don't want to wear hi-viz were saying it was pointless to protest .............

 

[Deleted account 230818001]

What's the point tho' ?

If a blind car driver still clobbers a biker in high viz will they face a stiffer penalty ?

If the high Viz idea catches on, will cyclists and pedestrians be required to wear it ?

I imagine being an SAS member is dangerous, will they have to .........

 

[GSTourer]

My work van is yellow. It's got reflective bits stuck all over it, huge great big panels of the stuff. It's got really loud horns that I use all the time and it's got lots and lots of flashing lights on it too, lots of which are blue. And even though my big yellow van is covered in reflective stuff, is very loud and lit up like a christmas tree, people still don't feckin see me coming!!

So a tiddley bit of yellow tape stuck to a jacket? Nah, can't be arsed these days.

They do see you coming...........they just f*****g pull out anyway !!!!

A lot of drivers have no idea of the perception of speed or at least don't look long enough at an oncoming vehicle say when they are pulling out from a junction to assess the speed of said vehicle.

You see it all the time particularly on motorways..........there you are making good progress in lane 2 or 3 and some idiot pulls out into your lane causing you to brake or at least throttle back/change lane to avoid them. They have looked....seen you, but either have no idea as to the ground you are making or don't give a shite anyway.

 

[Deleted account 230818001]

They do see you coming...........they just f*****g pull out anyway !!!!

A lot of drivers have no idea of the perception of speed or at least don't look long enough at an oncoming vehicle say when they are pulling out from a junction to assess the speed of said vehicle.

You see it all the time particularly on motorways..........there you are making good progress in lane 2 or 3 and some idiot pulls out into your lane causing you to brake or at least throttle back/change lane to avoid them. They have looked....seen you, but either have no idea as to the ground you are making or don't give a shite anyway.

I agree completely, it's all down to terrible driving. HiViz wont change people's selfish, no repercussions attitude.

How can it be a motorcyclists fault if another driver doesn't see them? Europe already has us riding around on newer bikes with permanent lighting, that was supposed to save lives. It's like blaming the rape victim for looking attractive!

I now see, every day, cars with bulbs out, cars coming around corners on the wrong side of the road, drivers on the phone and without seat belts.

There isn't enough enforcement of laws we already have and the penalty for getting caught is laughable but were supposed to wear bright clothing

 

[JKW]

Interesting thread this - well, apart from the posts that just descend into invective .

Anywho - our IAM group had a visit from the Chief Examiner honcho, Peter Rodgers this week. One of the (many) points he made was about drivers filtering out information which experience tells them is not a threat and this has some relevance to this debate. Research done (IIRC by Sussex University) shows that inexperienced drivers notice and retain more information about a bike passing, for example a T-junction, than an experienced driver - so the newly qualified driver will generally talk about colour of bike/lid/clothing etc. whereas the experienced driver will only retain the fact that 'a bike' has passed. The contention is that to the latter, the other information has been filtered out because 'the bike' is not a threat (always assuming he/she saw the bike at all). We all do this because without some filtering we would never be able to process the vast amount of information we receive every second of the day.

This being the case - how do improve your chances of not being 'filtered out' as a 'non-threat'? Well - the only bikes that most drivers will consider a threat are Police bikes, so you improve your noticeability (if the word exists) by looking like one - white lid, hi-viz, white bike.

I'm not advocating either way - just saying that maybe there is some scientific justification for the 'dressing like this makes the cage dwellers think twice' side of the argument.

FWIW - I think decent driver education (and mandatory re-education and re-testing on a regular basis) is likely to pay more dividends for all aspects of road safety in the long run than forcing us all to ride round looking like road maintenance workers but that's just my opinion. And in the interim, I'll wear my white lid all the time and my hi-viz when I feel like it - you do what you want to!

 

[FatAl]

Like a few others on this forum I spent a few years riding a large motorcycle covered in Hi Viz, plus white helmet and hiviz jacket over black leathers, it never stopped drivers pulling out on me, the buggers just didn't look properly, but at least I was in a position to discuss the matter with them
If they can't see your headlight they won't see your 'dayglo derek' jacket.
I ride often in a black lid, sometimes a silver one, and a mainly black jacket and blue jeans, and even the bike is black, but I don't feel more vulnerable because of this. I try to ride as if people may not have seen me.
As an aside, why do I often see people (who appear to be checking out a ditch, low wall or similar) wearing hard hats and hi vis jackets in fields in the middle of nowhere, where there is no chance of anything dropping on their heads, or them being hit by a vehicle.
I recently saw a bloke painting a low wall with a paint brush, the wall was set well back from the road (about 30ft), but he was wearing a hard hat, hi vis coat and safety googles, heavy workboots, I bet his overalls were flame proof just in case perhaps because he was dressed up like this was the reason I never mounted the pavement and ran him over

 

[STUBBS]

.....and if they do see you dressed in high viz it tends to draw them into you or gives them something easy to aim for

 

[Fanum]

the buggers just didn't look properly
*snip*
If they can't see your headlight they won't see your 'dayglo derek' jacket.

*another snip*
I try to ride as if people may not have seen me.

I'm pretty sure there have been some fairly in-depth studies of that sort of thing, and they found (as I remember) that people DO 'see' you, or flashing lights/dayglo, or whatever, they just don't 'take it in' or it doesn't trigger an alert......maybe it's speed recognition, just too damn much hi-vis allover the place, the inability to extrapolate movement from a single or close together pattern of lights on a bike as opposed to a car, I really don't know.....the eye does 'see' though, it's the brain that doesn't respond properly.

I completely agree with your last statement though, it's the only way to ride and survive, although I prefer to assume that they 'can't' see me rather than 'may not have seen' me.

 

[JPB]

If a driver can't see my headlight then i don't think hi-viz will save me !


Certainly true from the front, but what about sides and back? Although I don't imagine for one moment it's a panacea (if only!), I wear a hi viz vest because I believe it could give me a better chance of being seen from those angles. Having said that, I also think it's down to personal choice and respect those who choose differently.

 

[cookie]

in 40 years of riding bikes i've never been rammed from the side or rear (ooh er), or even come close.

i do think that hi-viz may help if you fall and are lying in the road though.

 

[Timolgra]

What a fucking boring thread....again





Here you go, look no hi viz and yet you saw her

 

[Timolgra]

And if it was the Hi Viz which caught your attention here you probably need some sort of therapy

 

[Bury_Dave]

If a driver can't see my headlight then i don't think hi-viz will save me !


Certainly true from the front, but what about sides and back? Although I don't imagine for one moment it's a panacea (if only!), I wear a hi viz vest because I believe it could give me a better chance of being seen from those angles. Having said that, I also think it's down to personal choice and respect those who choose differently.

If your believing it gives you a better chance of being seen and therefore you ride differently to how you would if you weren't wearing it then you are, with all due respect, a fool. You are assuming something of an unknown third party. A definite no-no. I appreciate you are saying side on but how often will you get T-boned by something coming from the side whilst you are riding ? Normally you are moving and therefore they must have the opportunity to see your headlight before the side of you passes them.........

That's my main reason for not wearing hi-viz; the instant you give credit to the visual acuity of someone you haven't seen or know or to some bit of technology, you are risking your life. Ride like they are all myopic idiots. And the best way to ride as if you are not wearing hi-viz is to, er, not wear it. That's my rationale but i do respect yours - i just don't agree with it

 

[Deleted account 230818001]

If your believing it gives you a better chance of being seen and therefore you ride differently to how you would if you weren't wearing it then you are, with all due respect, a fool. You are assuming something of an unknown third party. A definite no-no. I appreciate you are saying side on but how often will you get T-boned by something coming from the side whilst you are riding ? Normally you are moving and therefore they must have the opportunity to see your headlight before the side of you passes them.........

That's my main reason for not wearing hi-viz; the instant you give credit to the visual acuity of someone you haven't seen or know or to some bit of technology, you are risking your life. Ride like they are all myopic idiots. And the best way to ride as if you are not wearing hi-viz is to, er, not wear it. That's my rationale but i do respect yours - i just don't agree with it

Yup, ride like the bastards are out to get you ....... 'cos they are !!

 

[Ross Dean]

...
The only time I have worn it by choice was coming back from London on the M1 in a horrible rain storm at 11pm on a cold November evening, the spray off the lorries was enough to not really want to be there ...

Same here on the M5 one dark, windy and rainy night. I carry a zipped Hi-Vi vest and wear it when I think conditions are bad but its the reflective strip that makes the difference rather than the day-glow colour(s). My partner was following behind and told me after that all she could see was the pinpoint of red rear light of my 1100GS and the reflective strips on my vest in her van headlights. She is a bike rider herself and was shocked by the lack of presence my relatively large bike had in such circumstances. Without those strips I would have been almost invisible. Day-glow colours, in my opinion, are not visible on riders even at urban speeds to those drivers who are not looking. Such garments were designed for slow moving "targets" on building sites and the like and, in such circumstances, they are effective as I know from personal experience in the job I do. The reflective strips they have are, however, a real advantage at night or in poor visibility.

I ride as defensively as I can and am looking for more training in this - day-glow garments or Christmas tree lights are useless if drivers drive poorly and/or we ride badly. I look to reflective materials when riding at night.

Essentially, Hi-Vi and poor car drivers are side issues - its all about how we ride and I, for one, need to get better.

 

[mcinlb]

Just a though re reflective garment being proposed by the French. 150cm2 required, would it be appropriate to put some velcro fixed reflective material on the back of the top box or whatever and an elasticated strip on the front screen above the head light. Could be easily attached / detached when in France and surely would serve the same purpose.

 

[barrys]

So its an unequivocal thumbs up for hi vis then

 

[barrys]

Hi vis gear....that's for twats!
Common sense says its a waste of time - and it's for twats.
Its them bloody car drivers that are to blame, they're out to get you, its all their fault. They're for ever pulling out without looking (too busy texting, watching DVD's and having sex to notice us innocent low vis bikers!)

In my 140 years of superior (non-twat low vis) riding experience: IAM, ROSPA, APR (Advanced Pompous Rider) I can honestly say that high vis gear would not have prevented a single one of my 250 accidents. No, every incident was somebody else's fault and, you've guessed it, them car drivers. In fact, I reckon that the wearing of hi vis gear CAUSES accidents! Bloody car drivers actually notice you and think "hello, there's a motorcyclist dressed like a twat ...think I'll pull out on him while I just finish this text, thereby reinforcing his paranoid biker-stereotypical view of car drivers" - job done.

Naah - hi vis is is a waste of time and strictly for twats (paramedics administering to, and ambulances transporting low vis bikers, excepted)

 

[Ogmios]

Just a though re reflective garment being proposed by the French. 150cm2 required, would it be appropriate to put some velcro fixed reflective material on the back of the top box or whatever and an elasticated strip on the front screen above the head light. Could be easily attached / detached when in France and surely would serve the same purpose.

An arm band will do for France.
So, just mug a school kid in the morning for theirs.
(and nick their mittens too - them ones wot go through their sleeves on elastic)