KD5NRH

Hit WalMart in various seasons. I stock up on neon yellow DriStar shirts when they're on clearance for $3-5 each.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SILVER-RETR...VcEU8oGAXgjrwg
20 yards for $12, and that will do a lot of shirts, gloves, pants, (most of my jeans have a strip of it inside the legs at the hem; I can turn them up for an instant ankle band) and other gear.

Myosmith

I've seen a driver rear end a fire engine parked at an accident scene with its lights on. Just assume that drivers don't see you, no matter how brightly festooned you and your bike are.

KD5NRH

Watch any collection of "bad driver" videos on YouTube, and I guarantee 20-50% of them will be cases where a driver should have seen the problem (or something clearly indicating there is an abnormal situation ahead, like cars braking and swerving at a particular place) with plenty of time to stop, dig out a map and plan an alternate route, but didn't look that far ahead. (And usually started honking when there would have been time to stop, but didn't actually start to brake until too late.)

Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evfRDWn-qMI#t=2m26s
Look closely: there's even a guy on the left shoulder waving a couple of white somethings trying to get the driver's attention.

BobbyG

This is how many optical illusions, especially the "patterns in motion" kind work. Your brain can't help but try to "fill in the gaps" and anticipate what will happen. It's an evolutionary advantage to survival since there is a fraction-of-a-second lag between sight and cognition.

I learned about just last February on this episode of "The Infinite Monkey Cage" podcast, which I listen to while bike commuting to and from work (one ear only).

Needles to say I kept sweeping my head side to side for the rest of the ride. Not a confidence-building discovery.

u235

On the flip side, I've been on a MUP at night and have not seen other bikes coming the other way. Well I clearly saw them and their headlight but it did not register as a bike approaching me on the MUP, I for some reason assumed it was just another car off in the distance until it was about 20 feet away. I've had it happen before even with a blinky coming towards me and I unconsciously assumed lights through the guard rail posts was causing the "flashing" like often happens. On the MUP I am not worried about getting hit by a car but for everywhere else.. A rear blinker, a solid on light strap/reflector on my ankle and have reflective tape on the back of my shoes (my pedals do not have reflectors). Hopefully the shoes and the ankle light give a solid lit *moving* target object for depth perception. Like many others have shown and provided proof.. People zone out or are subject to mind games and illusions on occasion and more so at night so nothing will give you 100% chance.

dueWest

I was rear ended. The guy who hit my T/A had nearly the same story. Looking at the wrecked car off in the field instead of the 6 feet worth of brightly glowing honeycomb tail lights stopped on the side of the road ahead.

I just looked at him. "The car in the field is of no concern unless you were driving through the field."

It'd been better if he were driving through the field. That car had no one in it.

Gidgmom

Sugoi's "Zap" pack cover will make your backpack exponentially more visible. It's also waterproof and through some extreme downpours has kept my pack and its contents, dry. Highly recommend. The cheapest Amazon has carried it is $13 but they usually have it around $20.

https://www.amazon.com/Sugoi-Pack-Co...words=zap+pack


This winter I've also attached my Noxgear360 vest to the backpack. Am getting lots of positive comments on the visibility of it.

https://www.amazon.com/noxgear-T3V-N...ds=noxgear+360


I also would not ride at night without my Planet Bike LED straps above my ankles. I wear two on each leg to maximize visibility from behind, in front and from the side. I've read on this forum and elsewhere that lighted leg movement is highly visible to motorists.

https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-M...lanet+bike+arm


For lighting, I use Cygolite HotShots on the rear (two at night, one during the day). Front lights -- I have one (Planet Bike 2 watt) blinking all hours of the day and night and only at night I have a Light & Motion Urban Pulse that I have on steady to actually illuminate potholes and other hazards.


.

rachel120

The other night there was another crazy idiot riding a bike at midnight. He was maybe 800-1000 feet in front of me on the bike path when I got on it. No rear light but he did have a rear reflector and those ankle reflectors. I can't say I was impressed by the ankle straps. The reflector was a LOT brighter. They didn't appear that bright when my light hit them and they were super low to the ground. If it weren't for the reflector I probably would have gotten too close for maneuvering before realizing he was on a bike and not walking.

Based on what I saw while behind him, if I had been in a car and he had been on the road I would not have realized it was the feet of a cyclist. The rear reflector is what made him easily recognizable from a distance.

CliffordK

I had a problem that I was using those button cell battery lights. And, I'd try to keep them going long after the batteries should have been discarded.

I recharge my current lights every night, and they're fresh and bright the next day.

Also, be aware of focus. Most of the new LED lights have a beam which should be directed right at the vehicles behind.

The last thing is lane positioning. Ride on the side of the road, and it may not matter if you're seen or not. Ride in the middle of the lane, and a slight error in judgement, and you're flattened.

If you were, however, brightly lit, and reflectorized, I have to think the comment was a joke, as others have suggested.

MikeyMK

I came to a crossroads on the cycleway last night, climbing a steep hill from an underpass and intent on turning right. From my right came a bike with a light, and he sounded his bell. So i waited for him to pass straight across, as he was going downhill rather swiftly. I then pulled forward, only to be met with another bike following immediately behind him - no lights, no bell, both wheels locked-up on the mushy rotten leaves... it was a near-miss that would've been painful and damaging. I was just glad he was the one to require a new pair of pants afterwards. And maybe learn from the guy in front, and pick up some lights and a bell whilst he's at it.

rumrunn6

these bar mitts come w large reflective patches

rachel120

I almost ran into someone tonight. I was on the bike path, somewhere between center and right-ish. Then I saw something very, very teeny glinting ahead of me fairly high off the ground. Someone walking in all dark clothes, coat hood up, on the same side of the path I was on. I think my light caught a piece of jewelry. Thank goodness, because that would have been a bad collision. There's only been one or two other times that someone's been walking on that path at midnight and he/they had the sense to walk on the right-to-them side of the path and have something (other than jewelry) light enough colored to catch my light.

Snort. Even the deer have more brains than tonight's walker when it comes to avoiding collisions.

fietsbob

coat you wear matters a lot you have more surface than the bike

Mine comes from safety gear makers..

rachel120

Yeah, I would have been screwed then, my skin's surface area wasn't well covered.

I took some advice from the winter cycling forum and I dress very minimally when riding. Today is a great example, going to work I froze the first few dozen feet on the road. It was 25F and I had a short sleeve t-shirt, a thin long sleeve shirt and a very thin jacket, compression leggings and thin sweats, and a scarf I liberated from my husband. But by the time I got to work I was sweating and felt overheated and was seriously thinking about getting some ice water in order to cool off.

Going home was the same layers at 20F, the only reason I wasn't sweating coming home is because the wind was non-existent going in, but 15mph steady, 20mph gusts, in my face (the opposite direction than usual, grrr) all the way home. I was somewhat cold, mostly my fingers and toes, but nothing like the first few minutes where I was seriously concerned about frostbite.

fietsbob

Non race bike kit, Safety gear, High Viz.. this : Men's High-Visibility Class 3 Waterproof Jacket 100499 | Carhartt

for the dark winter season..

Rollfast

Years ago they were remodeling our hospital and a police officer stopped a car next to the construction area. This small truck stopped right behind the officer and politely waited for them to move on...the officer had some suspicions and called for backup. It was not a big surprise to find out the stopped driver was intoxicated. Being a four lane street they could have easily and slowly pulled around and gone on...it was, to me, the equivalent of Otis checking himself into the Mayberry jail after too much booze. Very strange.


Some people just zone out and when traffic stops they don't react.

Khb

1) consider reflectorized tape on gloves. https://www.amazon.com/Gear-Aid-Tena...eflective+tape works well

2) arm/angle/other not incredibly bright; but very flexible. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072M2Y8S9...XMH1ODJC&psc=0

CliffordK

I just had someone stop me 2 days ago and ask me what type of lights I had on my bike trailer. Actually wanting temporary lights for his car trailer.

Apparently they were quite bight, and clearly visible... A good sign.

I had two of these on my trailer.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/152459568816

Very similar to this, I think.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Bicy...298769984.html



Perhaps not perfect with side-view, but very bright behind me.

And, with the recharging, they're always fresh.

I did lose one off of my seat post a while ago which was a bit of a pain. I think they could use slightly more substantial hooks. I try to double check how well hooked on they are now. Otherwise, they seem to be doing quite well.

MikeyMK

If you want a bright rear light, a red Cree torch is unbeatable - this one reflects street signs half a mile away when on zoom, so i had to tape the zoom shut and put a pearl/frost filter in the lens to completely diffuse the projector diode (which i cut from the side panel of a natural-coloured HDPE plastic bottle). It still illuminates anything anywhere near it, including the road behind me.

With an 18650 battery in it, it's rechargeable. Without charger, it cost me less than four quid.

Being around 25mm i fitted it using a standard plastic reflector mount.

johnje

I was rear-ended in heavy stop/go traffic on the freeway, on my Honda Goldwing. The driver said she didn't see me, fully stopped in front of her, on a motorcycle half the size of a Honda Civic. She was behind me for at least 5 minutes in traffic before the incident.

If at a stoplight, I turn around on my bike and watch an approaching car. Smile. Wave. Eye contact. Even at night, I find it effective.

Leebo

I run 8 -10 lights at night, plus safety vest and leg bands. I find wheel lights to be very effective. And head on a swivel.

noglider 

Yeah I like my wheel light. I've received unsolicited compliments on it, and it's not even bright. The motion is an attention getter.

What's a head on a swivel?

I-Like-To-Bike

Note: Language is NSFW.

Leebo

Head on swivel is a term for be aware, be prepared, constant scanning for problems. Ya know, looking around a lot. I get a 15' strand of battery operated tiny blinky x mas lights, great for the main bike triangle fetivus decor.

KD5NRH

If I took the time to put on/turn on that much crap and then have to deal with it at the other end of the trip, it would be faster to walk.