daihard 

That's a good question. Honestly, I've never been startled or surprised to see a person emerge all of a sudden during the day, no matter my mode of transport. The few times I have been, it has always been at night and someone on foot in dark, non-reflective clothing. In other words, I can't really confirm or deny the theory I quoted. For my own visibility, I rely largely on the lights (both front and rear all the time) and reflective strips on my helmet.

keyven

The problem now is cars have evolved to such a point that they are essentially rolling relaxation chambers. Climate control, piped music, contoured seats, etc all conspire to lull the driver into a semi-conscious state.

Camilo

I've never felt that cycling is so dangerous as to warrant hard core safety vests, etc. To me it's just a silly precaution, especially when I see people on bikes on bike trails wearing those things.

daihard 

There are people who ride to the bike trails / MUPs instead of carrying their bikes on the car.

Camilo

Oh, of course. I do see people I know who ride nothing but sidewalks and trails and still use them. Plus, like I said, I personally have never seen a need for such extreme visibility for riding a bike. But to each his own, I guess. I feel the same way about mirrors and helmets, so there you go.

daihard 

We're good. I don't feel the need of a mirror myself, either, so that's that. Unfortunately, we have a mandatory helmet law where I live.

Camilo

I really don't have any problem with mirrors, helmets or safety colors (even wear a helmet almost all the time, myself), but just don't see a need for them and get impatient with people who think they're essential for reasonable safety.

mgb

More and more riders and joggers do wear the highly visible colors, and that's a good thing, but if I come to expect it as a driver I'm less likely to be scanning for anyone still wearing the drab and dark colors. Since I know this I consciously do it but have started to wonder if other drivers may be more likely to miss seeing the less visible rider. Just something to keep in mind.

Wolf Dust

Shows up best in all conditions.

Jaywalk3r

I choose my clothing based on what's appropriate to wear at my destination. Bicycling is not such a dangerous activity that I need to wear special clothing just to get from here to there safely.

kickstart

Tossing a vest over it when dark in the fog or rain when riding high speed arterials doesn't take much effort, and is a reasonable precaution for difficult conditions. It doesn't need to be all out or nothing.

GovernorSilver

When I'm driving my car, it is pretty unnerving to suddenly see a cyclist in dark clothes on a dark colored bike materialize seemingly out of nowhere in the dark of night. Just like it is for pedestrians in dark clothes suddenly decide to cross the street in front of my car without looking.

prathmann

Yes, with decent lights and reflectors on the bike there should be no need for special clothing. The trio below is quite visible without any need for reflective or other hi-viz clothing.

KD5NRH

Moving around on occasion might help with that too.

KD5NRH

No, but they are still required to have reflectors on the back, in addition to the reflective license plates that pretty much every state uses.

italktocats

if you dont look you dont see, hi vis or ninja..

italktocats

thats pretty much the reasoning behind motorcycles against drivers with lights on during the day; theyll look for headlights not the motorcyclist

DrIsotope

TL;DR: "hi viz" colors are likely zero-net gain when used in daylight hours, and reflective is better at night.

I ride during daylight hours only, and I wear black when I ride. Black jersey, black shorts, black shoes. And I'm far more comfortable wearing a contrasting color (how much of the world that you see outside is actually black? nothing is as black as what I'm wearing) than I would be wearing anything bright colored or "hi viz." Because it doesn't really work. The brain and eyes work off of pattern recognition first, detail only if the pattern prompts further investigation. We see shape and movement long before we see color. Distracted drivers are defaulting to learned programming that looks for things the size and shape of cars-- that's how people can plow down a motorcycle in broad daylight and claim "I never even saw them." Their lazy brain never picked out the non-car shape. On that same pattern recognition, a distracted driver (which is how I categorize all drivers-- I behave as if they are wholly oblivious to me) can register a hi-viz glimpse of color, and unconsciously file it as "roadside worker" or "construction apparatus." I don't want to rely on the awareness of a driver to recognize and sort patterns-- they'd have to stop texting to do that anyway.

Jaywalk3r

The objective risk doesn't suggest such "precautions" are necessary. It is perfectly reasonable to ride a bicycle on US streets without any special safety equipment. It's not an extreme sport, except in the imaginations of some folks.

kickstart

Statistical averages don't invalidate the elevated risk of certain conditions such as the ones I mentioned. Parts of my commute involve multi lane high speed arterials with lots of drives and cross roads. This time of year in the dry clear daytime conditions I also see no need, but once I'm back to doing it in the dark, fog, and rain I will as circumstances have changed. Not head to toe high viz, not banks of mega watt strobes, just some basic lighting and a reflective vest.

Many of the job sites and businesses I deliver to as a professional driver also require wearing a vest, so I'm used to it, and I don't feel my manhood is compromised by it.

Jaywalk3r

If you imagine riding a bike to be dangerous and wearing a vest makes you feel safer, then you are certainly free to do so, just as you are free to pray to purple unicorns or the flying spaghetti monster for safety benefit.

My point is that it is perfectly reasonable to reach the conclusion that such measures are not necessary for riding a bicycle on the street. There's nothing wrong with riding in ordinary clothes without any special safety equipment.

If I'm riding in fog, rain, or darkness, my lights are quite adequate to ensure my visibility.

bovine

Why in the world would you ride with lights on in fog, rain, or darkness!? Do you have any peer-reviewed empirical analysis that shows that riding with lights on in those conditions significantly decreases risk of death or injury of cyclists?

Jaywalk3r

I like to be able to see where I'm going.

bbbean 

It's OK if people occasionally make personal safety decisions based on their own opinions, even if they believe outlandish things like "lights increase my visibility and increase the odds that I may be visible to other road users." Ridiculous, I know...

Of course, if you're willing to offer a critical review of the literature or offer your own research for critique and/or replication, I'm sure we'll all be fascinated.

bovine

Completely facetious. Just satirizing the anti-helmet crowd.