day glo jackets

[sparky]

i'm looking at replacing my jacket. had a wander round and i've been seeing a lot of the hi vis yellow on the jackets. i'm not sure what to think of them. anyone got any particular views?

[Guest]

Quite a few peeps wear them, anything to aid your chances being seen is a bonus without having to worry about the Hi-Vis vests.

I opted for a white and black jacket which my mate says works very well... but it gets dirty very quickly!

Dan has one I think... pretty sure techno wears Hi-Vis vests so could help you there.

[bwhiti]

I wear a high vis vest. I look at it if it helps others see me by 1% more then it's worth it.

[BigShot]

Just a quickie from a newcomer to (motor) bikes.

You'll get some pretty polar views on high-vis, though I'm not a biker (yet) I am out on my push-bike a heck of a lot and the same arguments pro and con exist there.

On one hand high-vis could help where someone is looking for bikes and may have otherwise missed you due to the conditions; on the other hand it will do absolutely nothing to make you visible to the kind of person who pulls out in front of emergency services vehicles with the disco-lights on and sirens blaring.

I don't own any high-vis stuff but my view is that in certain conditions it could probably help people see you but since you'll still need to ride like you are invisible anyway it could be argued that they add very little benefit.

Once I'm on motorbikes I may well wear a high-vis if I'll be out around dusk and dawn when visibility is already compromised but the rest of the time it'd be more down to how I felt on any given day and not any kind of religious thing.

So, I'm of the "I suppose it could help in certain conditions but more generally I'm not so sure I see the point" school of thought... but I'd never try to put someone off wearing one so long as they still ride like 2 wheels make you invisible.

[Guest]

Aye, my gortex HG jacket is one of them dayglo things. After a smidsy with a mondeo couple of years ago I figured every little helps.

Everyone is different though, plus I ride all year round. And as Rick says, they show the dirt very quickly. Mine is no longer yellow .. more a grimey yellow mustard now

Some do , some don't. Some will advise it, some will say whats the point, if they don't actually look then what good are they.....

I reckon if it improves your chances, why worry what people think.

[BigShot]

why worry what people think.

I reckon that stands true regardless of whether it improves chances or not.

[Guest]

True indeed!

[techno]

Quite a few peeps wear them, anything to aid your chances being seen is a bonus without having to worry about the Hi-Vis vests.

I opted for a white and black jacket which my mate says works very well... but it gets dirty very quickly!

Dan has one I think... pretty sure techno wears Hi-Vis vests so could help you there.

 

Yeh i do then i woke up and realised it was a bad dream!!

[Ezituper]

years ago i rode home from work in my hi-vis and had a female cut me up so badly i hit her car with my leg though stayed on the bike.

I managed to get her to stop so i could speak sweetly to her and her excuse.....

The high-vis jacket confused her, she thought i was a workman stood in the road so pulled out.

I don't wear one now, the ones that pull out wouldn't see you if you had laser beams cutting pieces out of their car.

[chiz]

...the ones that pull out wouldn't see you if you had laser beams cutting pieces out of their car.

 

Definitely a new one!

[BigShot]

Maybe that's the answer.

They'd have to be blind, deaf, be eating a takeaway, talking on the phone (I know) AND applying makeup (male or female) in order to miss someone coming at them like something out of Star Wars!

New aftermarket mod, reduces insurance premiums by reducing your chances of being in a crash, lasers.

[WhiteRyder]

this week im wearin a fully camo water proof set, and my matt black helmut.

but feel safe enough, just make sure u look at ppls eyes when u ride past a junction, keep urself safe and hi vis mite not help

[Guest]

i'd rather ride defensively than have a hi-vis , and hi vis doesnt help when the suns behind you....

[GARYJL]

Personal choice I think, I would opt for a standard jacket

and a hi-vis vest and it will give you the best of both worlds.

I've never owned a flourescent jacket but I would be worried

that it would fade over time and look really back but for the sake

of a few pounds you could change a hi-vis vest more often.

[Guest]

i'd rather ride defensively than have a hi-vis , and hi vis doesnt help when the suns behind you....

And in my personal opinion, wearing one could lull the wearer into a false sense of security,

I'd rather rely on my eyes to spot a driver that might pull out on me, than rely on a driver spotting me cos I'm wearing a Hi Vis vest,

there is also a argument that they only stand out because there are not that many being worn, and their effectiveness ( if any ) will diminish with more widespread use.

[Guest]

the same was thought of Headlights way back, so much so that it became the norm.. and bikes now have permanent dip...

don't fancy Hi-Vis to go that way...

[Guest]

Purely car-driver perspective / experience: once, (years ago) I pulled out of a junction - turning left with a bike coming toward me from the right.

He pulled out onto the other side of the road and went past giving me the obligatory finger.

On thinking about what had happened, I immediately thought back to the point of me pulling out and distinctly visualised physically 'seeing' the bike - but obviously not registering it.

Bikes are a minority and are not naturally checked-for.

That experience (and the embarassment due to the bikers 'finger') made me register bikes from then on.

Just a thought, but I think that drivers are not 'registering' bikes; not 'not seeing' them.

Which pretty well means: "Bike riders have got to be prepared to avoid everything, rather than depend on any aid stopping stupid mistakes".

As a 'noobie' - I won't be depending on hi-viz anything, and probably won't go to the bother of wearing it if it means extra effort.

One thing that I do swear-by (even in a car) - I always put my side-lights on. Our brains naturally recognise clear movement, a bouncing light coming head-on seems to produce more movement than an hi-viz jacket coming head-on.

p.s. I do believe that the bike I mentioned above had no lights on, but in any case - if it was you, in Burnley, in 1980, on Eastern Avenue - sorry.

Red

[polecat]

Purely car-driver perspective / experience: once, (years ago) I pulled out of a junction - turning left with a bike coming toward me from the right.

He pulled out onto the other side of the road and went past giving me the obligatory finger.

On thinking about what had happened, I immediately thought back to the point of me pulling out and distinctly visualised physically 'seeing' the bike - but obviously not registering it.

Bikes are a minority and are not naturally checked-for.

That experience (and the embarassment due to the bikers 'finger') made me register bikes from then on.

Just a thought, but I think that drivers are not 'registering' bikes; not 'not seeing' them.

Which pretty well means: "Bike riders have got to be prepared to avoid everything, rather than depend on any aid stopping stupid mistakes".

As a 'noobie' - I won't be depending on hi-viz anything, and probably won't go to the bother of wearing it if it means extra effort.

One thing that I do swear-by (even in a car) - I always put my side-lights on. Our brains naturally recognise clear movement, a bouncing light coming head-on seems to produce more movement than an hi-viz jacket coming head-on.

p.s. I do believe that the bike I mentioned above had no lights on, but in any case - if it was you, in Burnley, in 1980, on Eastern Avenue - sorry.

Red

A good point well made