The little white front and red tail reflectors that come with a newly bought bike are not only useless in most cases, but often take extra room and interfere with mounting lights etc. on handlebar and seat post. They are useless nuisance. Couldn't the manufacturers just make part of the bike frame reflective with reflective painting or reflective tapes (like many of us do)? What do you think?
Sometimes the reflectors are the only thing that some people have to help them be seen at night. While they do little, a little reflected light is better than no reflected light at all. I see more people ride on the road without lights than I see people ride with lights. While standard reflectors have limited effectiveness they are better than nothing at all.