Originally Posted by
Aeneas
There was a gentleman who's story I read on another forum that was hit from behind by an inattentive motorist while still wearing his vest, and rather well lit with blinkies etc, a couple years ago. He was hospitalized for about a week and off his bike for several months. That he survived was good, but just doing all you can is sometimes not enough... but I'd rather do all I can to see and be seen than leave stuff up to chance.
You can reduce risk, but never really eliminate it.
I cannot explain the sensory lapses that happen to all people. We have blind spots on our retina where the optic nerve joins with the eyeball. We let our attention drift. We "lose" one red light in a forest of red lights. We scan the whole area and "miss" a stop sign. We get blinded by the glare of oncoming headlights, or of the setting sun. Our field of view is interrupted by the A-pillar, or blocked by the rearview mirror, or a bug on the windshield. And so on.