ganchan

I'm making myself as visible as possible to the drivers in my part of town, who seem to be getting less and less attentive every day to cyclists and pedestrians. Here are some thoughts/questions that have come up along the way:

1. I have a nice yellow safety vest, but from behind it's mostly obscured by my black backpack. I thought about clipping a blinkie back there, but now i'm thinking I'd be even more visible if I bought a new high-visibility backpack in screaming yellow or orange instead (especially since I only ride during broad daylight). Can anyone recommend something along these lines that wouldn't break the bank?

2. I also think i could do with a bright white, yellow/green or orange bike helmet instead of just sticking reflective stuff to the blue helmet I currently use. But would it make sense to save money by simply painting my helmet in a Day-Glo color instead? I've heard that it just ruins the helmet....Maybe i should cover it in orange and silver duct tape instead, so I can look like a human speed bump....

lostarchitect 

Strap one of these around your backpack? HALO BELT | LED safety belt, Running safety, Cycling safety, Military safety, Motorcycle safety, Reflective vest jacket I have one and it is very visible at night.

mconlonx

1. Yes, wearing a black backpack over a safety vest defeats a lot of the purpose. You could drape the vest over the backpack instead of wearing the vest, get a day-glo backpack, or find some other hi-viz solution.

2. Hi-viz is in style at the moment -- your choice of day-glo helmets have never been better.

And since many construction workers are now mandated to wear hi-viz/day-glo/reflective stuff, there's more out there now than there was even when raves were popular.

genec

Screw the "belt." I want a suit made of that stuff. I want drivers to see a whole human, not just some reflective stripe.

lostarchitect 

Sounds like you need to develop that!

1nterceptor

2. I run a light on my helmet night and day.
I don't think it matters what color my helmet is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLeZ...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

spivonious

They sell backpack covers in bright colors. You might want to try that.

Most of all, ride farther from the curb. Drivers notice you sooner, and they're forced to respond. 2' from the curb minimum.

JoeyBike

Forget high vis. Go with lights. It's expensive but it works.

Dinotte 300 lumen red flasher in rear - day and night
Serfas 500+ lumen flashing white up front - daytime, steady on white up front - after dark

Lights are USB rechargeable. Gonna cost you about $300+US. You want to put a minimum price on being noticed day or night, there you go.

You want to add a safety vest beyond that to make you feel better, go for it. High vis colors do little good after dark anyway. That's why the designers load them up with reflective bits. Reflectors are worthless to motorists whose headlights are not hitting you, like those backing from driveways, or pulling across the lane ahead or you, or right into you. "He came from nowhere" will be literally true after dark.

Get some serious lighting power. You will be amazed at how much better motorists react around you.

And if you are cycling after dark in a congested, evil, boneheaded area, hit the 500 lumen flasher up front and blind everybody. The entire world will freeze up as you roll past them. Rude but highly effective. Great for Friday night high school football traffic.

joeyduck

I agree with this. Lights make all the difference. I think the addition of high is vest a good thing.

I do wear high vis clothes my wife has purchased me. But I would feel fine in dark clothes as long as I had my lights and vest.

English3Speed

I'm not sure from your post if your concern is day or night (not that anyone wants to be hit at either time).

My experience is that at night lights and reflective clothes work well; flourescent colors are still invisible in the dark. I've seen reflective spots on one bicyclist's vest from a long distance, only to realize there was a second bicyclist when I was closer. Lights are also good.

In the day, I find drivers see me, and colors don't affect their choice to drive safely or aggressively. I also find this varies a lot by area, so your experience may be different.

jwarner

Not to be a bummer, but my theory is that about 20% of the drivers are paying no attention to the road at all (I mean people need to text, eat, and update facebook and stuff right -- and they have all this wasted time with nothing better to do while piloting their big truck along with their knee at 80 MPH), and that 80% of the drivers are busy trying to avoid the first 20%, so no-one really sees anything not in a car that isn't even more distracting than what they are already dealing with.

So.... good lights and the super good reflective material (such as the US military reflective belts in the scary yellow color). Oh yes... I kind of always assume no-one is going to see me no-matter what I do. I used to get angry about it, now I just laugh at all the silly people rushing around in their silly cars.

vol

OP said:
My observation of others is that hi-vis helmet is not very useful because of the small size and high position. It's not as "loud" as a hi-vis jacket. Also I found fluorescent (or neon) colors really has the effect that ordinary colors don't have in outdoor daylight: they look nothing special when you look at them indoor, but once outside, they are much brighter than similar colored clothing that are not fluorescent (there must be something special in the manufacturing?). Bright flashing headlight is annoying even to myself.

mconlonx

Does hi-viz apparel actually work at all, in reducing driver/cyclist collisions...?

Looigi

+1 on really bright blinkies during the day. Hi-vis is good too. Reflective helps at night.

Looigi

Road workers, EMTs, police directing traffic, airport workers, et al, all use hi-vis. I do notice people wearing high vis sooner and from further away than those wearing drab colors. I've come close to hitting peds and cyclists wearing dark colors with no lights or reflectors at night. So, IMO, yes, hi-vis helps.

JoeyBike

I have had motorists tell me that they could see my bright jacket from miles away. Yes, high-vis works under ideal, even not-so-ideal conditions. But there is a reason cars and motorcycles have active lighting AND reflective bits in the light fixtures in case the lights fail. YOU CAN"T DO TOO MUCH to insure beeing seen!

dynaryder

They make them,just not for bicycles:

mconlonx

Ooo, I used to have one of those. Aerostitch rocks!

joeyduck

I got another comment on my Eastbay EVAPOR Compression Tight 2.0 - Men's - Basketball - Clothing - Fierce Yellow/Black from a cyclist this morning. That makes about 8 comments in three weeks.

Creakyknees

"More" is always better. I use all of the above: blinkies on the back of my helmet, centered/aimed rearward on my backpack, and the usual blinky on the saddle.

I also have applied reflective tape between spokes (on the rim) and have cut up a reflective vest and made "gaiters" for my calves - so that the reflective strips point rearward... think of them as ankle straps that go all the way up.

My backpack is one of those cheap/free "string" bags and I've added reflective tape to it as well.

More is always better.

cannondalecaad

I started riding with a hi-vis orange wind breaker back in '71. Got hit by a car at an intersection in '73. Driver claimed
she didn't see me. After that, I added a bright yellow helmet. Still had frequent car issues. Two years ago I went to a blinking hi-vis LED tail light under the seat and it seems to get some respect. More is better!

Daniel4

Helmet: reflector strip and a blinky on the back. Cheap $10 but wide beam and bright LED headlight on the front.

Bike: Rear reflector and blinky on my rack. Panniers and trunks already have reflectors strips on them.

On my body: Reflector vest. Reflector ankle straps. I'm thinking of getting more reflector straps but for my wrists so when I signal left, the hand signal can be seen.

Fargo Wolf

1: If it's a tear away vest, then it's a simple matter to take it apart and re-attach it around your backpack.

I had a really small bungee cord that I attached to my helmet and then attached a blinkie light to that. A chunk of old inner tube keeps the light in place. It obviously works, as I've had drivers comment on it.

FarHorizon

My buddy, Garuka, commutes to work and back every day and his "back-home" ride is usually in the dark. He's done a number of things to make himself more visible. First, he's added battery-powered LED lights to the spokes of both wheels. These lights (different colors & different distances from the hub) are highly visible from the side.
Second, he's added the usual array of two headlights and two taillights.
Third, he wears a fluorescent construction-worker vest that he wears over his clothes. He's added both front and rear baskets, so his backpack resides in the baskets when he rides - not covering the vest
Fourth, he's wound battery-powered christmas light strings over all the main triangle frame tubes. Some strings are on all the time, others flash.
Fifth, he has added blinking strip lights to his front and rear baskets (in addition to the head & tail lights)
And lastly, all the stock reflectors plus more are used.

The bike is not only visible, but startlingly so. Other than the occasional deliberately aggressive driver, he has had no issues while riding. His wife's bike is similarly lit. They're both music teachers, and they like to bike around the local park bike routes with a guitar in the basket. They'll periodically stop & put on an impromptu performance. They're very well received, and very good ambassadors for the local cycling community!

I'll try to get a video of them riding & post it!

rydabent

Wearing high visibility apparel just like a helmet is self protection in case of being hit. It gets really hard to believe a driver who hits a cyclist with day-glo orange or yellow apparel. Further and most important it keeps insurance company lawyers to claim the cyclist was partly at fault.