Uniform
The other day I was riding to work when I happened to notice the other people riding bicycles around me.
This was more of a coincidence than typical of what I see everyday. But I wondered- does not wearing a fluorescent uniform make a person stand out more?
I agree with everyone else: peer pressure to wear (or not wear) any particular thing is not good for bicycling. What’s good for bicycling is more people bicycling.
But I do appreciate Bikeyface and her subtle pushback of the safety-industrial complex. Any industry that has the purpose of scaring the #@$*! out of everyone all the time will receive little support from me (see also: 24/7 Television News).
The idea that everyone needs to wear high-viz all the time has begun to creep into walking as well and bicycling. My preference would be for cars to be fitted with braking systems that engage whenever they come within 3 feet of anything.
I find that I often need a cycling jacket to block the wind (i.e. I need more jacket on the bike than off). So, needing a jacket for cycling any way, I figure it may as well be high-vis. It lives in my pannier. I don’t think its really necessary or even terribly useful though.
I’m an urban cyclist as well as a car owner. My preferred attire is black on top, jeans on the bottom. I don’t personally like the hi-vis fashion statement.
That said, at night, I *want* cyclists to be wrapped in reflective gear. It is so very difficult to drive through a city and keep track of cars in intersections and pedestrians popping out from between parking spaces. Spotting a cyclist wearing non-reflective clothing on a poorly lit street is next to impossible. Blinky lights only help from the front/rear. If your wheel reflectors are dirty or missing, and you’re not wearing reflective clothes, and you’re padding through an intersection perpendicular to me, I CAN’T SEE YOU. I’m a complete offender of this, and I know I should get a hi-vis jacket for night rides, but I can’t seem to do it. If the Volvo Life Paint is developed further and lasts for over a week, I’ll coat my entire bike and coat in that stuff.
LifePaint is designed for fabric and washes off. If it rains on your bike it would probably turn into a nasty, runny mess. Better to cover your bike in reflective tape and perhaps put a reflective vest on over normal clothes at night, if you prefer normal clothes for riding.
You can get spokeslights. They’re cheap. Attach them to the spokes, turn ’em on and watch the lights go ’round perpendicular to intersecting traffic.
“Spotting a cyclist wearing non-reflective clothing on a poorly lit street is next to impossible.”
Paradoxically, I always found when I was driving in England that cyclists – provided they were carrying decent lights – were much easier to see in the pitch-black of unlit country roads than in towns. The really dangerous areas in my experience were over-lit traffic roundabouts on the outskirts of towns where you were confused by oncoming headlights and street lamps glaring back from a clutter of reflective traffic signs, causing all manner of unpredictable light-and-shadow patches in which it was fatally easy for a cyclist to become invisible for a few seconds: long enough at any rate for you to hit them.
“and you’re padding through an intersection perpendicular to me, I CAN’T SEE YOU.”
In the Netherlands, since 2004, all new bikes have had to be fitted with reflective-wall tyres. And these are marvellous: approaching a cyclist side-on at night the first thing you see is two glowing hoops which you can’t possibly mistake for anything else. They really are a very good idea indeed. Here in France you’re legally obliged to carry two little yellow spoke-reflectors called catadioptres, but those are very little use when moving and none at all when you’re standing still at a junction.
I got pair of reflective Conti GP 4000s tires for my ultimate road machine last winter. I’ve been riding on 4000s for a long time on my road bike, and reflective sidewall option was introduced this year. Only in 25mm width so far, but hey, that’s what most people actually should ride (23mm is just too narrow and doesn’t hold as well in corners, even many racing pros ride on 25mm tires; I never understood why almost all road bikes are shipped with 23mm tires).
While riding my motorcycle one day I had a guy pull up next to me and tell me that I wasn’t visible enough in traffic because I was wearing a grey shirt. Apparently the 3 ft wide 600lb bright Mandarin Yellow touring bike I was riding with head, tail, and marker lights all lit up just wasn’t visible enough all by itself. They’re only going to notice what they want to, so ride like you’re invisible no matter what you choose to wear – the moment you delegate your safety to depending on the other guy to A) notice you, and B) care, you’re already dead just looking for a place to stain.