Hi-Vis or Not

Stu - Any idea how much these are gonna cost in total? See it's £4.70 for the jacket and then the P&P is less than £1 if split.

Is there a re-post or perhaps a meet and pickup?

[embee]

I wear one of these
http://www.niton999.co.uk/new/produc...asp?query=1344
which is basically like the "used" ones except it's made specifically for motorcyclists so has some detail differences in shape, collar etc.

As for being noticed, put it this way, on the Deauville wearing this stuff I guess 50% of drivers give a double-take before deciding I'm not H.M.Plod, and if they notice me that's fine. I still don't assume they've seen me, and there's always one who pulls out on you anyway so expect it.

The "used" ones are great value for money!

Flexothane is super stuff, I have found it 100% waterproof yet it breathes so there's no condensation problem, and it's a slightly stretchy material so ideal for sitting and moving on a bike.

If I was doing a lot of winter riding I'd be tempted to go for
http://www.psf.co.uk/


My own observations, and various bits of research have come to the same conclusion, is that white helmets have a much greater effect on visibility than you might expect from the area presented. I suspect it's to do with contrasts against the background and being at the right height to be noticed, but whatever the reasons I always have white helmets. I've ridden in bike convoys and when you follow a hundred or so other bikes, the ones that stand out are the white helmets.

Similarly I've had occasions when on the motorways in filthy weather and a bike comes past with all black clothing and helmet, they effectively disappear after 50yds

At the end of it all, it's up to you what you wear and how you ride, just try to keep it shiny side up.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by MR K

Stu - Any idea how much these are gonna cost in total? See it's £4.70 for the jacket and then the P&P is less than £1 if split.

Is there a re-post or perhaps a meet and pickup?

All I can say is I'm not looking to make a profit on this.
Parcel post is £3.85 up to 1Kg - surely can't be heavier than this?
2nd class maybe cheaper.
I can bring to Soho or the Guildford Massive's Anchor.
Or I may just know someone with connections to a courier business that can do it better than Royal Snail.

Either way, I'm pretty confident it will be less than everyone paying £8.17 themselves.

Originally Posted by Kate

*sigh*
*One quick search later*

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.ph...ht=high+vis%2A

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.ph...ht=high+vis%2A

Unfortunately I can't find the thread that details the the stats of accidents for riders with and without high-vis, quite frankly I can't be arsed finding it either. The attitude of a number of people on this thread doesn't exactly make me want to go out of my way to find information.

Apologies, you've made me feel both lazy and incompetent at searching , and to make up for it there's a vaguely relevant, if somewhat cryptically-worded pdf at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ety_035422.pdf
that seems to mainly agree with what you're saying; the statistics dont show any noticeable benefit to wearing hi-vis clothing It does seem to be a far more controversial issue than i gave it credit for, so im not gonna push my opinion on it any more, guess everyones got to make the decision for themselves.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by embee

I wear one of these
http://www.niton999.co.uk/new/produc...asp?query=1344.

£95
but then does it come with a free licence to have "POLICE" written on your clothing? :

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...i?artid=387473

Crash related injuries occurred mainly in urban zones with 50 km/h speed limit (66%), during the day (63%), and in fine weather (72%). After adjustment for potential confounders, drivers wearing any reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.94) than other drivers. Compared with wearing a black helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.76, 0.57 to 0.99). Self reported light coloured helmet versus dark coloured helmet was associated with a 19% lower risk. Three quarters of motorcycle riders had their headlight turned on during the day, and this was associated with a 27% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.73, 0.53 to 1.00). No association occurred between risk and the frontal colour of drivers' clothing or motorcycle. If these odds ratios are unconfounded, the population attributable risks are 33% for wearing no reflective or fluorescent clothing, 18% for a non-white helmet, 11% for a dark coloured helmet, and 7% for no daytime headlight operation.

Well, that contradicts the other nicely, 37% lower risk wearing hi-vis, that's a pretty big number. More diggeng required methinks...

Originally Posted by shao

Do you hold the same viewpoint for seatbelts, for example? and crash helmets?

Acutally there IS some truth to this. One of the cause of moronic driving is people having no fear. Install a foot long spike in everyones steering wheel and watch driving standards improve...

Oh and the reason why Hi-Vi is really rather pointless is that anyone who values the infintely small improvement in safety that they may provide should sell their bike and get a car.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Oh and the reason why Hi-Vi is really rather pointless is that anyone who values the infintely small improvement in safety that they may provide should sell their bike and get a car.

Tbh the only thing that makes me disagree with this is the comment by xlewdx

The truck driver who stopped said if I hadn't have been wearing it he would probably have driven over me as I was unconscious on the side of the road.

Pretty hard to argue with the benefits in that (unlikely maybe) situation. And i dont really fancy a car, i reckon the increase in blood pressure from sitting in traffic would probably knock more years off my life on average than the risk of dying on my bike

Stu, PM sent.

[northwind]

All getting a little testy, isn't it?

With the statistics there, unfortunately there's a major and irreducable hygeine factor (bias)- riders who wear hi-viz are more likely to be safety conscious riders, which in itself reduces the number of accidents they'll suffer. If you take the statistics as proof, it also proves that you're less likely to have a single-vehicle accident, ie crash through rider error, if you wear hi-viz. The correlation's the same.

Not to say that it doesn't make you safer... But, just be careful with the statitstics.