Burton

Anyone here wear reflective vests or high visibility clothing as an aid to night-time or day-time visibility?

How do you figure it stacks up compared to flashing lights?

no1mad 

I have an orange vest with hi-viz yellow stripes bordering reflective material. It's largely mesh and I don't use it during the warmer months because of the fit. However, I've found that I can drape it over both me and my backpack- it's adding reflective areas to where none existed before. It was free. I haven't incurred any medical expenses that can be related directly to bike commuting, and that's about as much tempting of the Fates as I care to do.

FunkyStickman

I use both. If you can, why not? Every little bit helps.

Schwinnrider

I have a few hi-vis jerseys, both blaze orange and yellow-green. I also wear a reflective vest which has LEDs on it.

rubic

Distractions and multitasking. The bane of safe cycling.

nkfrench 

When I'm driving down the freeway 65mph I can spot a cyclist in HiVis a half-mile away on a frontage road during broad daylight from any angle.
When I'm driving down my neighborhood street 20mph I can spot a cyclist wearing gray attire at night about 10 feet away unless he is taking the lane. Won't ever see them on a sidewalk.

I almost always wear HiVis (especially when riding alone). At night I make sure I have redundant bright head/tail lights.
I need to get my reflective ankle straps on for night riding. The up-down motion makes it extremely clear to people that I'm riding a bike. Cheap, easy to put on, not really a down side.

1nterceptor

I wear hi-viz clothing and use
flashing lights day and night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGpBHbEYqeo

daredevil

Forget orange and yellow....they are not even close to being as effective as hi visibility neon lime green and it should definitely be on in the daytime.

I've mentioned this before, look at a sports stadium crowd and who stands out? The vendors all in hi vis.

mechBgon

I often use hi-vis neon lime, either a jacket or a reflective vest. But reflective stuff is no help when the ...wait, I have a whole web page devoted to this, just have a look at the comparison photos: https://www.mechbgon.com/visibility/activevpassive.html Considering I've seen plenty of people driving and riding with their lights OFF, there's no substitute for active lighting (headlights, taillights).

Also worth noting: the eye-catching fluorescence of neon lime does not work in front of auto headlights, only in sunlight. In the dark, white is better than neon lime. And if the viewer has lights on, and aimed at you, then reflective stuff is far better than either, of course.

On a practical note, a reflective neon-lime vest is a great value because you only need one, you can wear it over anything the weather calls for, it doesn't need frequent washing, and they start at $5 at Harbor Freight Tools. That, plus some reflective legbands and even basic lights, are a great start.

rex_kramer

Hi viz and lights, day or night.

K'Tesh

I'd like to get one of these for myself...



The guy said he bought it in Europe.

amckimmey

Nike has that Vapor Flash Jacket. If you know anymore about the jacket above let me know. (Brand or if we can even get them in the US)


Here are 2 other post that might help you out Burton.
One started by me on reflective vests - PSA: Reflective is Cool
One started by K'Tesh on reflective tape for bikes - Making your bike glow down the road...


I am a believer in reflective stuff really helps at night. A lot of people in Eugene ride with them at night and you can really see them verses just little blinkie lights.

tsl

+1

If nothing else, it increases the chances of a fat settlement to my estate.

contango 

I've always found it reassuring when I'm out on foot and can see the cyclists wearing hi-vis yellow jackets from some insane distance.

In the winter time I wear a hi-vis yellow cycling jacket which is waterproof and windproof. In the summer if I'm thinking there's a chance I'll be out in the half-light or darker I have a hi-vis vest with reflective strips down it. The times my wife and I have been out and to get home I've walked her to the bus and then raced the bus on the bike, she's said she can see me some huge distance ahead with the bus headlights reflecting off the strips and my rear light flashing brightly.

Mark Stone

At my job one is required, so I just keep it on anyway. Can't hurt.

DJ Shaun

It's a combination of high-viz, reflectors & lights.
My winter jacket is high-viz yellow-green.
My spring/fall cycling jackets has reflective stripes.
I also have a hi-viz/reflective construction vest.
Most of my jerseys are in high-viz, white or bright colours.
I've got reflective elements on my cycling pants & boots.
I've got all the standard reflectors on the bike.
I've got reflective tape along the sides of my bike.
I've got a headlight in the front.
I've got three lights in the back. (seat post, rack, & helmet)
Lights are on day or night.

Burton

Excellent info and demos on those pages - thanks!

Fredmertz51

In my experience, nothing attracts thrown beer bottles like hi-viz. Very hard to hit something if you can't see it in time to aim.

DJ Shaun

But wouldn't these beer bottle throwers have poor aim due to their inebriation?

I've never had to contend with such objects thrown at me. The worst I've had to deal with is spit from teenage hoods trying to act tough and cigarette buts thrown out of cars.

Burton

Thanks for another really usefull post! I'm also a great believer in reflective tape and was very disappointed when Canadian Tire stopped carrying it here. I also tripped across that illumiNITE technology at https://www.night-gear.com/ and was surprised it wasn't in any of the cycle stores here - hence the post and query.

I actually prefer NOT to shop online but in this case looks like there's not much option.

unterhausen

From my experience volunteering on randonneuring events, reflective vests and ankle straps are very effective. They have the brightness on the order of a fairly bright taillight, but are much larger

Giro

These are, of course, not mutually exclusive and each is more conspicuous in some circumstances than others, so I use lights (bright & blinking in day particularly), high visibility clothing colors, and reflective vest, leg cuff bands, tires, rims, and tape on the bike. As MecBgon's site well illustrates, the reflective measures are really effective only directly back toward the light source such as motor vehicle headlights (or particularly the on-camera flash usually used for photographs!).

Also as mentioned in this thread, high visibility non-reflective clothing is not very effective when it is dark. For example as I recently posted in Advocacy & Safety:I prefer front-zippered ANSI class 2 or 3 vests so I can slip them over whatever I need to stay warm, cool (can unzip vest partially), or dry, even if I have my helmet with attached light on already. The "gloss" reflective tape is reportedly better than the iron-on type when wet.

I looked up and compared specification sheets on various 3M and Reflexite retroreflective tapes a while ago. 3M Diamond Grade was the most reflective (white more than yellow more than red). Reflexite V82 was close and is reportedly a bit more flexible if you want to use a retroreflective tape on a surface with a compound curve. Either will be more reflective than reflective sidewalls.

For details, see Reflective Tape, post #10 and Reflectivity, post #43.

For more on these conspicuity measures, search both the Advocacy & Safety and the Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets subforums. Searching those on those subjects will bring up quite a few threads, some generating more heat & smoke than enlightenment.

There is a fair amount of research out there on conspicuity, but it is not without problems and is not easy to prove something actually works. See threads on BikeForums such as:
Scholarly literature on bike safety? including my post #17 with more than a few references. The Cochrane review Interventions for increasing pedestrian and cyclist visibility for the prevention of death and injuries. is particularly helpful in discussing the limitations of research in this area.

You could also run the following searches on Loughborough University's Institutional Repository in the UK:
Pedal Cycle
Bicycle (the results of these two searches are similar).

Probably most important of all is the route you choose plus how you bike defensively.

MAK

I find that the most hi-viz stuff you can wear during the day are the hi-viz lime green socks. The constant movement catches the eye much quicker than a similar jersey or a blinking light. This is based on observation during group rides where there is always a variety of clothing and blinkers. The socks just stand out.

At night I wear hi-viz ankle straps and a xinglet. The xinglet is a belt/suspenders combination made with super reflective 3M (I think) stuff. It weighs almost nothing, adjusts to fit over everything and gives 360 degree reflection. I bought mine at an EMS. I also use a rear blinker and two lights in the front at night. One "to see" light on the handlebars and a small blinking "to be seen" light on my helmet

MAK

I find that the most hi-viz stuff you can wear during the day are the hi-viz lime green socks. The constant movement catches the eye much quicker than a similar jersey or a blinking light. This is based on observation during group rides where there is always a variety of clothing and blinkers. The socks just stand out.

At night I wear hi-viz ankle straps and a xinglet. The xinglet is a belt/suspenders combination made with super reflective 3M (I think) stuff. It weighs almost nothing, adjusts to fit over everything and gives 360 degree reflection. I bought mine at an EMS. I also use a rear blinker and two lights in the front at night. One "to see" light on the handlebars and a small blinking "to be seen" light on my helmet

amckimmey

That is a great site. It seems to have smaller fitting reflective vests for a good price. Might need to take advantage of that.

My mom texted me today with a photo of a vest at IKEA, because wearing a reflective vest doesn't get you enough looks, now you can tell them it's a "PATRULL", and get weirder looks

The PATRULL comes in youth sizes.
3-6 year, and a 7-12 year HERE
3 adult sizes
S/M, L, and XL HERE


It might seem like it might be weird that IKEA sells these, I'm pretty sure in the UK by law you must have a reflective vest in your car at all times. I could imagine other European countries might have similar laws or their drivers might realize it's smart.