kickstart

I don't use visual enhancements to feel safe, I do it to make myself easier to see in difficult conditions in the same way one should use their headlights when driving in the rain or in well lit urban environments that don't actually require lights for one to see.

KD5NRH

Both of which have a tendency to become middle-of-the-lane obstacles at odd times, so most good drivers see them as something they should watch and be prepared to avoid a collision with.

bbbean 

Sorry. Guess I fell into the sar-chasm.

Rollfast

I think blinking lights would freak a drunk driver out.

As to the OP...A Harley and a bicycle might have a tank and a fat rider but there is a lot of difference after that.

MrKris

Then all the shovels might fall over.

I tend to wear more hi-viz yellow or green. Living in a college town where the school colors are orange and blue, the orange clothing just blends in with everything else.

Jaywalk3r

If motorists are paying attention, high-vis clothing isn't needed. If they aren't paying attention, high-vis clothing won't help. Still, wear it if it makes you feel better. I choose no to do so and take issue with the OP's premise that I'm doing something wrong by not dressing as a neon clown just to ride my bike.

no motor?

The one time I think I encountered a drunk driver I was stopped at an intersection while a full sized pickup truck meandered out of my way. The blinking light on my helmet got his attention, and he seemed to be wanting to avoid whatever it was as he went by.

squirtdad

My 2 cents

Choose what you want to wear but don't cut down others choices.

I choose to be visible because I feel that the more visible I am the safer I am.

Like my choice of bikes, my choice of clothes and varies functionally.

I always use a rear blinky and front white flashing light. wattage/lumens vary bright on commuter and at night, less so on the front white on my road bike

if I am just doing an errand during the day I jump on the bike with what I am wearing.

I wear yellow/greenhi vis shirt when commutting (eastbay comppression is cheap, comfy and wicks well)

I do this because of my personal observations both biking and driving which include:

it is often hard to see cyclist, even in the daytime due to different light conditions and bike road positions.

Bright Flashing lights ensure visibility

Yellow/green is much more visible than orange (Rydabent just noticed two trike recumbents with flags....yellow/green was more visible than the orange)

People wearing yellow/green are much more visible.

YMMV

daihard 

My clothing varies, but I always use front and rear lights, too.

GovernorSilver

Today I wore my bright blue helmet, bright green shirt, and loaded both hi-vis yellow panniers on my bike rack. It was morning, and overcast. Still, a garbage truck made a right turn in front of me and then trapped me in my lane by stopping to let its workers pick up garbage bins. Too much car traffic on the left lane to pass the truck on the left, so I had to go on the sidewalk.

Either the driver didn't see me or he just didn't care. Or maybe it really would have killed him to wait one more second, let me pass by and continue on the road, and then turn onto the road and pick up garbage. That one extra second would have set off a bomb in his truck or something.

kickstart

Using a public road requires mutual cooperation by all parties, a cyclist being more difficult to see than most other road users, visual enhancements help communicate ones presence to those who are paying a reasonable amount of attention.....that's divided among many other competing concerns.....to give them a better sense of their overall environment in a timely manner. Some people use lights, some prefer high-viz, others a combination of both
Just because some go overboard to assuage their insecurities, it doesn't negate the value of reasonable precautions that fit ones environment and budget.

Just for the record, if one uses a safety device to make themselves "feel better", they're doing it wrong, it should only be done to supplement sound roadcraft.

Jaywalk3r

You miss the point. The risk of riding a bike for utility purposes does not justify any special clothing safety equipment. Wearing clothing appropriate to the destination is perfectly adequate. What you call a "reasonable precaution" I call unnecessary for safe bicycle operation. Again, you are certainly free to wear such clothing or use such equipment if it makes you feel better about riding your bicycle. Just realize that others are not being unsafe or unreasonable if they choose not to do so.

Personally, I believe the primary effect of it's use is to provide yet another reason for negligent motorists to blame the victim. "Officer, I didn't see him because he wasn't wearing neon." BS. The motorist didn't see the bicyclist because the motorist was not paying sufficient attention given the road conditions, res ipsa loquitur.

GravelMN

First and foremost: No matter what you wear, how many lights and reflectors you have, or how good the road conditions are, always ride with the assumption that drivers do not see you.

That said, hi-viz clothing, reflectors and proper lighting do help, especially in low light, fog, or rain. You don't have to look like a clown on a circus wagon lit up like the Vegas strip, just consider the conditions and the background. Even if you like a blacked-out look, there are reflective materials made that appear a dark charcoal under daylight but which are retroreflective when struck by headlights or other directional light sources. Lots of lights are coming out with rubber straps that hold them in place so they can be added to or removed from a bike in seconds.

mconlonx

The proper lighting thing goes right out the door when we consider motorcycles, where, in the USA, daytime light use is mandatory. I was shocked to find out that motorcycles produced to EU standards came with light switches, where the lights could be turned off. But even considering daytime light use, and the fact that they are larger and in many cases louder than bicycles, motorcyclists still face the same dangers from motorists which bicyclists face -- left-hook, right-hook, drivers pulling out in front of them, failure to yield -- and the same excuse/admission of guilt, "I didn't see them."

JoeyBike

I wear whatever I please and...

I run a Dinotte tail light flashing day and night. $259.00US. It can be seen from space at high noon. And I could be wearing a black jump suit with a black hat, black shoes on a black bike with black rims, spokes, and hubs and I still WILL BE SEEN from space.

DAYTIME RED Taillight - DAYTIME ONLY TAILLIGHT seat post, seat stay, chain stay or rack mount ? DiNotte Lighting USA Online Store

Up front I run a Serfas 350+ flashing headlight by day, and steady on after dark. $120US. Ridiculously bright and well past rude and obnoxious. It is bright enough that by day when on flashing mode I may be keeping up with the flow of traffic and actually PULLING CARS OVER as if I were a cop. Crossing traffic, cars backing out of driveways, blind intersections, no matter. Motorists freeze up like deer in headlights. No way are they not seeing me regardless of what I am wearing.

Serfas TSL-350 USB Headlight - at Moosejaw.com

I refuse to buy a "special" wardrobe for riding my bike. I bike every day, car free since 1989. I wear whatever I feel like wearing.

I-Like-To-Bike

You sure of that?

mconlonx

Pretty sure but it appears to be a state by state thing -- Oregon requires dalight running lights... For motorcycles from, I think, the early 70s-on. There isn't even an off switch for the head and tail lights for most modern bikes, like there are on euro spec bikes, the lights of US bikes are hardwired to turn on with the ignition.

Since 1979, most motorcycles sold in the United States have been equipped with automatic-on headlamps to meet some state requirements. This seems to have been an effective method of making them more conspicuous and reducing right-of-way violations. Currently, 86 percent of motorcycles on the road have their headlights on during daytime (Turner, 2000).

kickstart

Always on headlights for motorcycles are now a federal standard, but if they weren't required OE at time of manufacture then they're not mandatory.

JoeyBike

Last MC I purchased was a 1982 Honda CM450E. Lights came on with ignition, no on/off switch.

mconlonx

I'm tired of motorists who are invisible to bicycle riders, i.e. the 99,999 out of 100k who do not hit cyclists...

AlmostTrick

Says the guy who HIGHLY recommended this $100+ jersey a few years ago...



By the way, I bought one based on your review and like it.

Hey, was FB's quote in your sig line written about you? I'm guessing it was and I like it!

Daniel4

Ah yes, there will be ninja riders without helmets who run through red lights and stop signs in the dark snearing at everybody who only wants to be able to avoid a collision with you.

I suppose there are also motorists who feel the same way.

unillenium

Just make sure your clothing/accessories actually have that 3m reflective material on it. At night, bright colours aren't bright. Because they don't reflect light. When driving at night I've (barely) seen people run across the road in white/yellow/red sweat shirts, but because the material doesn't return the light from my headlights. When it's dark, all colours are equal. The material is more important than the colour. And wearing lights is better altogether. I don't understand, when I'm commuting on my bike home at night there I am blinking (and a steady headlight beam, bright enough to illuminate road signs) with my reflective backpack on right in drivers faces, and then there's "ninja riders" out there thinking that the reflectors on their bike will do.

As an SUV driver I can assure you that the headlights on some vehicles are too far away from the driver's eyes for the reflectors in a bicycle to send the light back at the driver's eyes (a reflector, aka retroreflector works by sending incoming light back toward it's source, which on a car would be the position of it's headlights and not the driver's eyes). The best way to be seen is to make your own light. Second best is that 3m material, which is amazing and was probably recovered from the Roswell crash. Stock bicycle reflectors rank just underneath camouflage.

ted m

I have a bunch of $5.00 dayglo yellow shirts I wore whe I worked on the railroad. I wear them on day rides on certain high traffic roads near me. I have a reflective vest I wear when it's getting dark outside.

I don't wear them for all rides, but I do when I go into the city or go in some of the major roads in my neighborhood.

Lights and a white helmet too.

Camilo

and the implication that those of us who don't take unnecessary "precautions" do so because we're concerned about our "manhood" rather just a reasonable assessment of the very, very low risk?