Cunobelin wrote:
Sory for the break - wanted to select a reference:
THe comment about the dark clothed cyclist reminded me of a post on another site. THe same discussion came up and the opinion is often different. On a cycling forum, the discussion between hiviz clothing and the black suit was was met with the following reply:
Quote:
The silver buttons twinkeled enough to show in headlamps!
You really are the most stupid bloke on here!
By the wya you are so short sighted and unable to see beyond end of your nose that you need to see optician pronto!
Regardless of the insults and poor grammar, I felt that this was worrying. If there are people out there who feel that feel that all of us wearing Hi-Viz clothing (including apparently the Emergency Services) is stupid and unhelpful then what is the answer?
Education?
Do we need to change the clothing?
I form part of the Emergency Services and I find my jacket to be extremely helpful when I am investigating, training soemone, chasing an errant biker on my bike - whatever. If I know myself to be visible on a dark road - I feel a heck of a lot safer. All our lads feel th same way - and we liaise with paramedics and fire crews - and they all feel the same. The jackets are useful - especially at night and most especially on our faster roads.
Now in the context of the article - person posted some research allegedly carried out by one cyclist on a commute to work:
one individual cyclist allegedly doing some research somewhere or other into high viz clothing wrote:
I cycled the same route each day for three weeks.
In week one - I wore a high viz vest
In week two - I wore ordinary clothing
In week three - I wore a black suit with silver buttons and a party policeman's helmet.
For some reason the dark suit was more effective and impersonating a policeman is the most effective way of keeping safe!
The person who posted this appeared to think this significant as a visibility aid. The silver buttons would indeed show in headlamps if road was dark - but doubtful whether the rest of the person's silhoutte would show up if the guy was cycling to and from work in dark winter lights.
Plod uniform is a visibility aid, though - it usually attracts yob to attack us as they are no longer scared of us.
If you were a policeman - you would know that wearing a uniform usually means someone will gob on you, be sick all over you, pull weapons on you, call you rude names, refuse to be arrested and aim to kick you where it really hurts - so I would not recommend wearing this type of gear at home folks as a personal safety/visibility aid!
But in any case - we normally wear high viz vests with Police in reflective letters written all over in any case when we are out and about. We also use traditional cycling helmets as well around here - as the traditional one gets in the way when you are pedalling really furiously after soemone - and we found the ordinary helmet wobbled a bit and fell off when we rode the bikes up and down steps as well.
But you know what we're like up here - speedy responses....
But - as said earlier, foreign element in this family have found some really tasteful gear abroad which serve purpose of being seen in the dark without overpowering folks with uniform clothing.
And of course - we need education adverts to remind people of the benefits of being seen and series of adverts teaching, reminding, reinforcing those COAST skills in all road users. No good wearing the clothes if we are not teaching people how to obesrve, anticipate and react accordingly