Hi Vis Clothing - do you use it?
Do you wear Hi Vis (High Visibility) clothing or adornments?
Personally I'm a big fan of High Visibility clothing when cycling and never go anywhere without a bright coloured top, usually with reflective panels or stripes.
If I’m riding somewhere and don’t wish to stand out when I get there, I’ll slip on my fluorescent Hi Vis wait coat – easily folds to nothing and sits inside my helmet when I arrive.
I just figure that the more visible I am, the more easily I can be seen and the safer I’ll be.
I always feel somewhat puzzled though when I see people that look like they are trying to make themselves invisible to drivers.
Case example being - when driving into the Central Market around sunset last night I saw a man with a black bike, black pants, grey top and black and grey backpack. Perfectly colour coordinated but at dusk, on a grey road he was almost impossible to see. No lights or fluorescent straps to help him be seen in the peak hour traffic.
At night I see some people riding with great headlights and flashing rear lights and feel quite envious of these safety features. I don’t ride at night because lights of this quality (while I’m sure they are good value for money) are not cheap and I wouldn’t feel safe enough with something more affordable.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Southern on -
Always.
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Permalink Reply by Bicycle Fish on -
+ 1 to all of that Stephen. I anticipate tho that you will be assailed by " stealth " cyclists, such as the ones you describe, who are remarkably common, especially here at AC. The usual " us vs them" attitude by cyclists leads to the politically correct position that " cyclists are always in the right" no matter how foolish their behavior, and that card drivers are somehow supposed to see cyclists who are 99 % invisible. FWIW : I get pretty peeved this time of year with the number of BLACK cars that manage to continue to drive w/o lights after sundown: these can be especially troublesome to a cyclist trying to merge to a RH lane etc, as they DON'T show in your mirror, even if you have one. But to return to your point : High Vis articles that are ( as you say) easily removable are a very good idea, as they "restore" the cyclist to the ordinary world when the journey is done; as opposed to making you always look like something escaped from a poor science fiction film. BTW : if you are going to get this stuff, buy it from a bike shop ( as opposed to using something from the construction industry ) The bike shop stocks good stuff designed for cyclists, while the construction look is not. And in this case, "more" heavy duty construction clothing is not necessarily " better" , in fact : worse // Thanks for your post , "here's lookin' at ya.." / BF
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Lynch on
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During the night you are also able to predict cars' movements, as you can see their headlights (for example turning a corner, the car's lights will be visible before you enter the secondary road)
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Permalink Reply by Bicycle Fish on
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I forgot to add : avoid RED clothes, especially at night, as RED shows as BLACK in shadow or low light ... Yellow is the go, night or day !
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Permalink Reply by David B.o.R. on -
I have a high vis jersey which I have not worn for months and a high vis jacket which I wear only on really gloomy/cold days. I do use lights during the day though. I have not noticed any change in motorist behaviour when I am wearing my "yellows" but I do notice it with good lights.
Like you, I was amazed by the amount of people riding in town last night in dark colours with neither lights nor reflectors on their bikes. Almost all of them were fixies and I wonder if it is part of the fixie culture that I am not privy to. I am also sure (to attempt to avoid the backlash) that most fixie riders are responsible road users who wear bright clothes and use lights.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Young on -
I think a lot of fixie culture is about minimizing the junk all over your bike, so I know a lot of people don't like to have bulky lights on their bikes, or the fittings that invariably remain on even if you take the light off. The same goes with reflectors (ask most roadies, they'll agree). But I don't think there are many people about lacking the brain cells to have no lights at all. Little lights with an elastic strap are cheap and very common.
On an unrelated note, I expect most of them were on freewheel single speeds, they seem to outnumber fixies about 3-1 these days (just a passing comment)
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Permalink Reply by Michael Bland on -
I don't wear Hi-vis but tend to wear fairly bright colours ..
I'm a posty and wear a Hi-vis top on my round everyday for 4-5 hours , A couple of years ago we changed form bright orange to bright green ,and I have worked out that now I get more bees ,and some other insects land on me . This isn't really a problem ,because I haven't been stung yet.
I'm surprised that there isn't many Hi-Vis helmets on the market .
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Permalink Reply by Sam Young on
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I don't tend to. In fact I've even been that guy who wears lots of dark colours more than once. I always have some lights at dusk or night though. If I'm riding in the hills or whatnot, I'll wear cycling kit, but if I'm commuting then the ride is incidental, and I'll dress for where I'm going/what I'm doing, rather than for the ride.
Not to say wearing bright clothes wouldn't make me more visible, but I'm quite confident in my ability to assess the road and space around me, and ride appropriately for the conditions - so I still feel quite safe even in dark jeans and a black top.
The only crash I've been in that involved another vehicle was when a car pulled out in front of a friend and I, even though we both had very bright flashing lights.
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Permalink Reply by Rob (Chewbacca) on -
I wear black usually...but the jacket I wear has reflective strips....but always remember after a motorist crashes into you their first response will be "sorry mate, didnt see you" .......assume that nobody can see you no matter what you wear or whether you have bright lights or not, live by this rule :)
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Permalink Reply by Michael Murray on -
"sorry mate, didnt see you"
Yep. I wear a mesh hi-vis vest over whatever I am wearing. But some days it seems to make no difference at all to the people at roundabouts who stare straight through me and pull out in front of me.
The other day I stopped at Bunnings on the way to work and had it on and another customer asked me for advice about ladders. :-)
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
I wear a yellow vest with reflective strips, day and night.
The Tioga dual eye rear light got god reviews by Bicycle Victoria. Bought one last year only $25 from Clarks in the eastern suburbs. This month a cyclist offered a free bright front light after he bought one that lasted more than 2 hours between charging. under a post where a cyclist asking about cheap good lights. Check if light still available at http://www.adelaidecyclists.com/forum/topics/headlight-and-tail-lights
I collated AC links on lights under the AC group Look For Cyclists at http://www.adelaidecyclists.com/group/lookforcyclists/forum/topics/...
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Permalink Reply by Don (Who's lost?) Nairn on -
If I could find one I would be delighted to buy a jersey (assuming the price is sensible) that complied with the audax guidelines on reflective clothing but is it available ?
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