An investigation of motorcycle rider use of and attitudes to high visibility gear

[Ocean1]

I still recon we need someone walking in front of every bike with a BIG Day Glow flag to inform cagers that a bike is approaching.

Fuck that, if a little dayglow on my arse is good then legislating for compulsary 100% dayglow paint for cars must be fucking awsome.


Innit.

[caspernz]

Done the survey, seems basic and almost pointless really. Far more variables at play than just whether your glow in the dark or not....

But yeah, I wear the hi-viz vest already, so the ramblings of the tin hat brigade don't bother me.

[Ocean1]

Take a wider view. ALL of us are forced to fund the recovery of riders injured in crashes through taxes. Hence the majority has a say in how you conduct yourself on the road in order to minimise this cost.

Don't agree. Take that premis to it's inevitable conclusion and no minority will escape censure and eventual elimination by the majority. So no, the fact that ACC, (a very good deal it must be said) covers the more adventurous souls as well as the extremely risk averse doesn't give them, (or anyone else) the right to dictate specifically what precautions an individual must take in any given circumstance.


Fuck'em.

[300weatherby]

I would love to see contribution to this topic / debate from professional riders who wear hi viz, Police, first response etc. Sure, they are highly trained but must also be aware of any effect from wearing hi viz, not just assuming that it is saving their bacon on a day to day basis. Quite possibly they would say better skills are the best solution but every little helps in getting home safely.
I agree with the "it just needs to work once" mentality too.

Mmmmm........, cop on a COP!, bike, you think they even see the hi vis?, not!- they see the threat, he is visible because he is representative of possible CONSEQUENCE!, gimmie a big white beamer with blue and reds and I will feel safe as houses, cause I will be.

[awa355]

my age is showing again. Long time since car brakes were mechanical, but it works in the movies

The RPG idea raises a couple of questions;
Does an RPG count as a dangerous fitting?
Would it require the left hand throttle as per the 1941 Indian to allow the rider to operate it?

Might require a modern automatic targeting and remote trigger but could be done.

I'm sure I've seen an Ad for a Ural complete with a machine gun mounted in the sidecar. The Ural might yet, turn out to be the safest bike on the road.

[Flip]

Just a few options from the Harley catalogue.



Anybody got a spare LMG?

[jellywrestler]

But yeah, I wear the hi-viz vest already,

what do you define as a hi-viz vest then?

[Flip]

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...ity-gear.html#

At least you won't have to look like a honda rider.

[MIZXR]

The bright orange stickers on cop cars is great when your looking but not really noticeable when your not looking. They keep getting revenue. People crash into roadwork vehicles that are yellow and reflective both at nigth and day. The servey is pretty much one sided.
Can we get all cars to test it across the boot to see if it stops rear end crashes first before I have to destroy a perfectly good jacket.

[Swoop]

Let's be clear. Universities seldom pay for research. The academic doing the research has to raise funding to cover some or all of the costs.

Staff access to funding is quite simple. No raising of funds, only a simple request accompanied by a budget for the hair-brained scheme wonderful idea.
Add to that airfares and accomodation for presentation at overseas forums and you can get a quick holiday thrown in as well. Seen it happen many times over some decidedly dubious research. Reinventing the wheel is quite popular at the moment.

[KiWiP]

The bright orange stickers on cop cars is great when your looking...

So true. If high vis is so visible how come so many people don't see uniform cars until it's 'ticket time'

[MIZXR]

Identifing something that is happening and putting a bright shiny flag on it wont solve the problem, may not even help in this case. What is causing the problem, why do we need to make ourselve more visable? I ride a bright green bike with a dark jacket with semi reflective strips but I still have people fail to see me. How does bright and shiny help if:
they don't look,
they glance but don't look - blind spots no excuse but neither is ridding in a bad place,
they fail to see - happens might help here but,
I indicated - I'm bigger why are you still there,
I was busy - best was watching a lady get changed,
general road issues - no idea of road rules / bad luck,
illegal such as speeding running red lights.

But also what are we doing wrong bout the same list
that jogger looked good,
speed, bad passing on and on,

You'd be better off adressing the cause of WHY not wrapping us in wool. Look into how a road rule every ad break would increase the skills and knowledge of road users from bikes to trucks, or maybe a reward program for dobbing in unlicensed drivers.

[Berries]

Well here’s my tuppence worth seeing as the University bods are at least monitoring this thread, which is a good thing.

I have been working in road safety in NZ for over 15 years and over that time have done numerous crash analyses as well as investigated scores of fatal and serious crashes. I have worked with both the University and the IPRU in a variety of road safety related research projects. As a rider I have always had a personal interest in motorbike crashes. I have come to the conclusion from my work in the field and as an everyday, all weather rider that hi-viz would do very little to improve my safety on the road. My safety is in my hands, and that’s about it.

If hi-viz is the answer, then the question has been worded wrong. If the assumption is that you are in their line of sight and hi-viz may be of benefit then ‘they’ are in our line of sight as well. The answer is defensive riding. Whatever the results of future research or this survey, and I wasn’t surprised to see MotoNZ behind it, I for one will not be wearing hi-viz.

Long rant cut short. But big ups for coming on here and asking. You’ll probably find the comments on the survey and responses in this thread will be of more value than the survey itself because it was loaded.

[Oblivion]

Hi viz vest usually mean a fluoro colour, with a small patch of reflective material. If they are after reflective material, whats wrong with having a black jacket with a small patch of reflective material?

[Maha]

what do you define as a hi-viz vest then?

Not the kind that you spoke of earlier, the kind that can make your eyes turn just by looking at it...My wife has/wears one.
You have spend more than $15.95 for one that is effective.
And I agree..the ''Your gay coloured roadworker/building site cloaks'' are useless for anything more than turning a stop/go sign.

http://www.fc-moto.de/epages/fcm.sf/...hos-Veste-0001