Wiggo - Man in Black

Bustacapp

NITR8s wrote:

Doesnt matter what your wear or what lights you have got on. I learnt on Sunday, the hardway that some drivers dont bother to check their left mirror when turning left and even after they have side swiped you and left you lying in the middle of the road bruised and grazed they still claim not to have even known you were there or that they hit you.

By the way it was midday and the weather was perfect with excellent visability and I was wearing LBS shop long sleve jersery with excellent reflective strips. Doesnt matter how many flashy lights you have or how reflective your clothing is, the bottom line is people dont look or pay attention.

Mirror, Signal, Maneuver people.

Correction. It didn't matter what was worn in your particular situation.

cougie

Ouch. That's crap.

In that one case it didn't matter as they didn't look. There's not much you can do about that. But you have to prepare for the majority of drivers. Most of them are safe and sensible. Don't go making it harder for them to see you.

Richmond Racer

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Do black cars have more crashes than coloured ones? His bright yellow builders helmet was very visible though!!

Is red is the most common colour for cars involved in accidents - or is that just an urban myth?

Bozman

As i said earlier i wear black but anyone who thinks that it makes no difference whether you wear hi viz or black is talking out of their ar*e, i've been taking notice over the last few days and there's no comparison especially in your peripheral vision, even lights don't stand out as much as hi viz jacket in poor day light.

amaferanga

cougie wrote:

Interesting that you think that HV makes no difference but you still ride with a flashing light ? I reckon I see a HV top in country lanes long before I see their flashing lights in daytime.

I'd say the opposite. Are you referring to front or rear lights? If you have a proper rear light such as a Smart 1/2W then these are way more obvious than a magic yellow jacket in the light or darkness.

For front, a light may be useful in heavy traffic in a town or city, but I don't see the benefit of it on quiet country lanes.

Anyway, a black jacket can be high vis.

amaferanga

Bozman wrote:

As i said earlier i wear black but anyone who thinks that it makes no difference whether you wear hi viz or black is talking out of their ar*e, i've been taking notice over the last few days and there's no comparison especially in your peripheral vision, even lights don't stand out as much as hi viz jacket in poor day light.

High vis to me means a jacket with reflectives, not one that's that magic yellow colour. I have an Endura Nightvision windproof that's high vis, but it's not yellow.

cougie

I reckon I see the jackets before the lights. The jackets a much bigger area to catch your attention and whilst a light is bright if you're looking dead on - if its not lined up on you, or the batteries are going, then its not that bright. I've no science to back this up - just observations from weekend rides.

Quiet country lanes still have junctions onto them - and the cost of having your light flashing is pretty minimal anyway - so I usually have mine on in the duller days.

A black jacket can be reflective - but not hi viz. Reflective isn't much use in daytime.

Coach H

Pippi Langsamer wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Apparently orange hi viz is easier to see in all light than yellow. Hence why you have to wear orange for network rail jobs.

That isn't true I'm afraid.

Rail workers wear orange as opposed to yellow simply because yellow is too close to the accents on signalling devices, and thus avoids any potentially fatal misinterpretations by the driver.

Orange also has the interesting property that they do not attract flying insects like the yellow ones do.
Apparently this is the reason why Royal Mail went with orange.

Bozman

amaferanga wrote:

Bozman wrote:

As i said earlier i wear black but anyone who thinks that it makes no difference whether you wear hi viz or black is talking out of their ar*e, i've been taking notice over the last few days and there's no comparison especially in your peripheral vision, even lights don't stand out as much as hi viz jacket in poor day light.

High vis to me means a jacket with reflectives, not one that's that magic yellow colour. I have an Endura Nightvision windproof that's high vis, but it's not yellow.

I used to have an Altura or Endura nightvision that i used for commuting in the dark, you can't fault them at night because they light up like a christmas tree when headlights hit them, but they're as useless as a black jacket during the day. Your HV yellows and oranges do stand out on a dull winters day though.

schleckster

JSCL wrote:

Ditch the lights and whack a speaker on your handlebars, booming out a siren. What could possibly go wrong!?

Sometimes I see this rasta guy riding along in the city centre with a trailer holding a boombox and amp blasting out reggae. Could be something to consider!

As cyclists we obviously have a responsibility to make ourselves clearly visible at night, something a good set of LED lights can sort out, but motorists driving at night also have a responsibility to remember that there could be cyclists around and so they should drive sensibly, unfortunately as we all know that's not always the case. It's just a case of being diligent, respecting yourself and others.

If someone is going to drive irresponsibly (just as if someone is going to cycle irresponsibly with no precautions taken for the dark, for instance) there's not much you can do to change that.

I have worn both an all black jacket and black bib knickers, and a white rain jacket with reflective strips all over it, at night and haven't really noticed cars behaving any differently. Most pass reasonably safely, then there are always the couple that are too close or try to be clever and take a junction/turn early. However, I don't think you can argue that hi-vis is somehow ineffective, it's just one good option to improve your visibility. That said, I think modern bike lights alone are more than enough to do the job.

ben@31

Wiggo should have worn a TDF yellow jersey. Much more eye catching. I wonder how many whingers would spot his maillot Jaune from a mile away and moan "that bloke over there shouldn't be wearing it. It's an award don't you know...."

schleckster

ben@31 wrote:

Wiggo should have worn a TDF yellow jersey. Much more eye catching. I wonder how many whingers would spot his maillot Jaune from a mile away and moan "that bloke over there shouldn't be wearing it. It's an award don't you know...."

Too true, but does that also apply to team kit? I see quite a few Sky and Team GB jerseys around as a result of this summer. The worst was one guy I saw in full Team Saxo Bank colours a few weeks ago, all white of course on a road that was wet and mucky, and doing no more than 10mph, to be fair maybe he was resting but still, I found it a curious choice of attire. I have a Radioshack Nissan Trek jersey I sometimes wear so I guess I'm part of it all and also a hypocrite.

cougie

I think Ben was joking about the people that post on here whingeing about someone wearing team kit or race winners jerseys when they aren't paid to do so.....

They should SO sell TdF yellow Jersey Thermal jackets...

Ron Stuart

Hey you lot give the guy a break will you, don't you know black is slimming :?

Wear something black. Black clothing, especially pants, makes almost everyone look thin and hides big bellies, rolls and other unsightly areas. Add colour to black outfits with colorful accessories, such as yellow cycle helmets, bikes, writing on gilets and shoes.

Read more: How to Make Fat People Look Thin | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_8317226_make-fa ... z2CnD2ZO00 :oops:

lotus49

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Do black cars have more crashes than coloured ones? His bright yellow builders helmet was very visible though!!

Yes they do. There are several studies, at least one of which covered 20 years, that have shown this to be the case.

Here is one article on the subject http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/new ... ashes.html.

Where I live, wearing black could easily be fatal. I almost ran over a man on foot dressed head to toe in black on a dark evening and he was almost totally invisible until I was very close to him. I swerved at the last minute and missed him by about 50cm. It scared the crap out of me. If it didn't scare the crap out of him, he must have been completely drunk.

TakeTurns

Agree, pedestrians dressed poorly or assuming that you've seen them when it's so dark is ludicrous. Surely they should be wearing reflective gear too :?:

Not to mention squirrels, they're always leaping on the road.

Joeblack

TakeTurns wrote:

Agree, pedestrians dressed poorly or assuming that you've seen them when it's so dark is ludicrous. Surely they should be wearing reflective gear too :?:

Not to mention squirrels, they're always leaping on the road.

Not a problem round my way

http://www.myspace.com/hotrodharris/pho ... 1874627%7D