genec

Sure, but it lights up, with LEDs, and the bright green color still remains.

But feel free to find and offer a better solution.

njkayaker

Knowing the properties is important in itself.

BearCatSafari

I live a good ways outside the city and only have rural roads/country highways to bike on. I wasn't sure what to wear to start with, but I have noticed there's many aggressive drivers, big trucks, etc. I ended up buying one of these to wear over my clothes. It's lightweight mesh, so it shouldn't be too bothersome or hot.

genec

Saw an interesting cyclist yesterday... He was wearing a high-vis green helmet and jersey, and the bike had several tubes painted high vis green... This guy really stood out.

Korina

Some years ago I was riding home on the highway in the afternoon when I was passed by a woman with safety orange and black panniers and a bright blinkie. As she got farther and farther away, the last thing I saw was the bright orange of her panniers, long after the blinkie faded out.

Also, I watched a video about motorcycle riding and the instructor said that patterns break up the rider's outline, effectively making it camouflage. It kind of makes sense.

BearCatSafari

So the safety vest isn't a good idea?

genec

What I got out of that was that orange was visible for a long way...

BearCatSafari

I may have misunderstood. This part, "effectively making it camouflage" made me think they were saying it wasn't effective.

njkayaker

No. He was talking about patterns. Complicated/busy patterns look obvious when close up but might not make things that visible from way off.

The "camoflage" was referring to "patterns" (not color).

Korina

Pretty much what njkayaker said.

rekmeyata

I would think about it this way, what does a road crew wear? Why think like that? because they have put many years into the art of being visible, they know what works, gleam as much as you can from those guys.

livedarklions

Makes sense. Also, drivers are conditioned to watch out for yellow and orange because it's what these guys wear so it's probably better than just its visibility effects.

rekmeyata

Not from what I've read, those colors they used were specifically chosen for workers to stand out against the background, and lot of times I see a single road worker out more than I see large groups.

Keep in mind, that even with those colors being worn, we still hear of a road worker getting killed, mostly due to the motorist not paying attention and or going faster than the posted construction speed limit. While orange cones help to protect them which we don't have that luxury, but we can use active lighting to enhance our visibility by attracting the attention of motorists with flashing lights. Nothing we can do is going to guarantee that we'll never be hit by a car, geez, I was sideswiped on a perfectly sunny day wearing a neon lime safety vest I got from a home improvement store, and 2 lights on the rear flashing, and the idiot still sideswiped me, then drove off like nothing happened, I'm not sure if the driver hit me on purpose or didn't realize how close they were and never knew they hit me. In the city where I live there are a lot of drivers who HATE cyclists being on the road, they think they should be on sidewalks and bike paths.

livedarklions

I think you're misunderstanding me--we're conditioned as drivers not just to notice those colors, but to actually take steps to avoid getting close to people wearing them or to slow way down when we see them on people. I'm totally agreeing with you that it's a good idea to copy the road workers' strategy and maybe just going a little further with why.

Ubie

Off topic, but we used to have an older gentleman near me growing up that hated squirrels. After the Dept of Fish and Wildlife told him in no uncertain terms picking them off with a .22 was not allowed his grandchildren bought him a paint gun. He would then take perverse joy in tagging them with bright yellow pellets and waiting for the hawks to notice.

He was a right old bastard, that one.

FredMau

There was a study in the mid 1990s that looked at 750,000 fire vehicle runs and found that "Lime Yellow" fire vehicles were 1/3 as likely as "Fire Engine Red" vehicles to be involved in "low visibility" multi-car accidents and 1/2 as likely to be struck by another vehicle in an intersection.To me, that's an extraordinarily compelling case for that particular color.

sjanzeir

Which makes me wonder if thay study was what the Saudis based their choice of color on:


Image: 998.gov.sa

Unca_Sam

It doesn't have to be that particular study; the anatomy of the average human eye can resolve more shades of green than any other color. This color simply stands out in many environments.

It's also why celeste is infamously difficult to match (regardless of which era mix was used).

njkayaker

Those studies show that color works but not "perfectly".

Unca_Sam

Man, those two just don't get along.

rekmeyata

Neon green does have a problem standing out against a backdrop of green, like trees. There was once a picture on YouTube that showed a cyclist wearing neon green riding through a city, he stood out really well, but when he was riding through a thickly tree lined area he blended in and was more difficult to see. But when they changed to a neon orange the rider stood out better against a tree background, but not so good in a city background. They don't have a safety vest that combines the green with the orange, which makes me wonder why? Is there some sort of issue doing that that I'm unaware of?

Here is a video of reflective stuff:

FredMau

I've got one. It's made by "3A Safety", style # S2001. They call it a "surveyor's vest", but there's no law that says a bicyclist can't wear one too. The white inside the orange is reflective. First two photos are in normal light. Third is with the lights off using a small penlight to show how the reflective strips light up.

The fourth picture is how the whole vest lights up under blacklight (The yellow looks green and the white looks blue). That's not as silly as you might think, because modern car headlights put out some UV, and some manufacturers are deliberately adding extra UV just for things like this.

Federal Highway Administration: Ultra-Violet Headlamp Technology for Nighttime Enhancement of Fluorescent Roadway Delineation and Pedestrian Visibility I am especially impressed by Figure 3 on page 17 (at bottom). It wouldn't surprise me to see this become a DOT headlight standard at some point.

rekmeyata

I sometimes wear a neon green mesh vest with wide reflective bands, but only at night do I wear it, or when I'm traveling on highways to go camping someplace.

Couldn't car manufacturers put in a single UV light in the middle of the car without going to fancy bulbs that combine the regular with the UV that might cost more?

Unca_Sam

I don't think extra bulbs are needed; LED headlamps apparently produce enough UV "waste" light that fluorescent additives enhance recognition. Sealed headlamps are all but relegated to antiques, while halogen bulbs are gradually being replaced with LED because the LEDS just don't need replacement in normal use.

imakecircles

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/abcs_of_awareness/

I came across this article from Trek on the ABC's of Awareness, which, of course, is meant to sell product. There is, however, lots of useful information that cyclists can use to improve their chances of being seen by the average motorist.