No, not unavailable, just have to go out of your way to find it. Which you don’t really.

By far me favourite jacket is my old Howies long way home, it’s black and most of the reflective bits aren’t that reflective any more but its waterproof and breathable. I’d pick it up every time to go out on the mtb but to ride into work on grey October morning… I’d rather be a bit less comfortable and a bit more visible.

No, not unavailable, just have to go out of your way to find it. Which you don’t really.

ok possibly already done this to death but just for clarity for my learned friend:
If I find a jacket I like the fit/price and function of but it’s only in a dark colour I’ll get that, I won’t chose a worse jacket just because it is hi viz.
I still maintain darker stuff is more prevalent than hi viz.

What can I do if drivers shine lasers in my eyes?

I think you’re supposed to reach for them.

In my own experience it seems to me that they simply don’t look, but I take the view that increasing my conspicuity can never be a bad thing, so I do it anyway.

Nothing I could have worn would have prevented that, but I still try to wear bright-ish clothes when I’m out in rush hour, when there’s low sun or if I’m gonna be riding on shady tree-lined narrow lanes.

I’m sensing a theme here…

I’m sensing a theme here…

Yes, there is no research to ‘prove it’, It doesn’t guarantee your safety, but it might help.Wearing it doesn’t bother me so I am completely open-minded without any prejudice for or against. So why not?

Believe it out not aracer, my anecdote was addressed to the original post in this thread – not the subsequent ‘debate’.

You seem to be approaching the issue from quite a binary position, which is just as daft as the compulsory hi-vis view IMO.

I’d suggest you reconsider, but I think we all know thats not going to happen.

Wearing it doesn’t bother me so I am completely open-minded without any prejudice for or against. So why not?

wear it by all means, it’s the “you must wear hi viz or you’re an idiot with a deathwish” theme that is counter productive, there’s enough cyclists on here who think cycling is a dangerous activity, so everyone constantly banging on about the necessity for hiviz and helmets isn’t great for long term cycling prospects. We need more “utility” cyclists, people just grabbing a bike instead of the car keys for a trip to the shops, school run, the 2 miles to work, wherever! The idea that you have to suit up especially for it really doesn’t help with the big picture.

Nice DONK (and others)

I’m a utility cyclist.. I don’t own a car

I do the shopping, school run twice daily, trips to the beach, to the park, town, visiting family, in fact just about everything that most folk do by car (or on foot 😳 ) I do by bike.. very often with a trailerful of kids..

Generally I’m pretty proud of the way people in my town react to the bike, other road users are very courteous and patient, I’m seeing more trailers and child seats zipping about each year and get great feedback each and every day..

Winter is coming though and after a mean time last year with eff all proper winter wear I’m kitting up this year.. I generally do a bare minimum of 40 miles per week towing the trailer about with no alternative, plus leisure activities and cycling for fun and I want to be fairly comfortable..

But I have noticed that cycling gear is kinda drab, especially at the cheaper end of the market, and today, on the first poor visibility morning we’ve had down here for yonks I had two car drivers pull out on me, and that was in broad daylight with good lights on the bike (one right outside the local primary school..)

I’ll be wearing a high viz vest.. if you think it’s ‘not helping the bigger picture’ that’s your lookout, I get your point but with my kids in tow I’m taking every measure available to me

You seem to be approaching the issue from quite a binary position, which is just as daft as the compulsory hi-vis view IMO.

I’d suggest you reconsider, but I think we all know thats not going to happen.

OK, I’ve reconsidered. I still don’t think hi-vis will help in the majority of SMIDSYs which should really be SMIDL. I’m not seeing an awful lot of evidence to suggest I’m wrong about that, even from those who seem to think hi-vis is a good idea. Meanwhile the issue is that its promotion is a distraction from other more important things – did you see the one recently where the reaction from some safety partnership to the news of increased cyclist casualties on the roads was solely to recommend hi-vis? 🙄

Well if I’m approaching it from a binary position, what does that say about all those calling people stupid for not wearing it because it’s “obvious”?

I’ll be wearing a high viz vest.. if you think it’s ‘not helping the bigger picture’ that’s your lookout

Come on yunki, I thought I was fairly specific in my last post that I didn’t consider that wearing highviz was “letting the side down” – it’s the attitude that PPE is pretty much compulsory and cycling is a dangerous activity (fearmongering? that’s a popular word at the moment) that I object to.

I’ve been clipped a couple of times and I really don’t think high vis would have helped in those few situations, especially as the last was at night and I was very well lit up, the gormless ****ers just didn’t look, there may well be other conditions where it would help – if the driver is actually looking where they are going, I dunno but it’s no panacea for shitty driving and it shouldn’t be compulsory*

*Yeah ok, I think I’m the only person to use the word in this thread but being called numpty/idiot/etc for not wearing it certainly suggests some think of it as de facto compulsory.

I agree with you D0NK, I don’t think it should be compulsory but I’ll stand by my point that I think people are foolish if they don’t wear hi vis in certain situations.* It may be that where you’re riding there simply isn’t that need for whatever reason.

I’m not sure I agree cycling isn’t a dangerous activity though, driving a car is definitely a dangerous activity and rightly or wrongly, putting yourself in a similar position but on a bike makes cycling the same.

At the end of the day it’s a shared space with cyclists being one of the most vulnerable things in that space. Yes, attitudes should be different, punishments harsher etc and in an ideal world it shouldn’t be dangerous but that’s not going to make a difference if some gormless idiot** isn’t concentrating – the outcome is the same.

Anyways, I’ve said my bit and will leave it there.

*see, no name calling, happier?
** is it ok here?

Sorry Donk.. no offence meant, I just bristled at the thought that I might be letting the side down..
I didn’t fully understand what you were getting at until I re-read your comments

We’ve talked about getting some of those battery operated fairy lights recently so that the trailer can be literally ‘lit up like a Christmas tree’..

In a similar vein, can anyone remember those hi-vis vests that looked at first glance like police vests but on closer inspection just had a witty comment emblazoned on them?
There was some debate over their legality IIRC but I’m happy to risk a slapped wrist for silly behaviour..

polite cyclist

Holy Thread Revival!

I came across this Grauniad piece from Clarkson’s tweet-gate that sums it up:

That is why I have remarkably little patience for campaigns like the recent one by police in London in which, among other things, officers pulled over cyclists who were not breaking the law to “advise” them to wear high vis jackets. If I’d been on the receiving end of such advice my response would have been pretty robust: it’s not the tiny number of drivers who don’t properly see me that worry me as a cyclist, it’s the significantly greater numbers who do, but just don’t give a damn.

from

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2014/jan/13/jeremy-clarkson-cyclists-taking-the-lane

Bit like the car driver I had an encounter with on my (rural) commute the other day.
Dry conditions, good light conditions, I’m wearing bright yellow jacket (no backpack) and have two rear lights on, one flashing & one static. I am approaching a road which joins from the left and there is a car coming up behind me. Now, I know that the driver has seen me because he gives me quite a wide berth as he passes me on the right. And then he turns left. By this time I am halfway accross the junction and about level with his rear doors! My only escape was to brake and swerve into the junction with him, luckily I had anticipated his movement by the sound of the gear changes he made. He’d definitely seen me but beyond that who the hell knows what his thought processes were 😯

psling Sometimes I think people don’t realize that bikes can move faster than 5mph:
1. Oh, a bike in front of me!
2. I’ll leave a lot of room for him when overtaking.
3. I’ve overtaken him, so he must be waaaay behind me now! No need to check my mirrors at all!

I had two car drivers pull out on me, and that was in broad daylight with good lights on the bike (one right outside the local primary school..)

I’ll be wearing a high viz vest.. if you think it’s ‘not helping the bigger picture’ that’s your lookout, I get your point but with my kids in tow I’m taking every measure available to me

I had the same a while back. If a driver is not going to spot a large, lime green trailer with an orange flag, then it’s difficult to imagine what possible difference a hi-viz vest is going to make.