My jacket, chaps, helmet are black. At night, I put on an orange transportation net vest with the reflective stripes. My wife tells me the stripes really light up. At least you tried to prevent the "I didn't see you" excuse.
How Visible Do You Feel You Need To Be?
- Thread starter Mr_Incredible
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Personally, I think it's wrong to run bright lights on a motorcycle or any other vehicle in the day or night if traffic is coming the other way. I've found that cycles with bright lights on are blinding to me in the daytime as well as the night. I think it should be outlawed.
Low beams are IMHO plenty bright enough to make yourself more visible to oncoming traffic. That's why most cycle makers have made the bikes to have their lights on full time for the last several decades.
Low beams are IMHO plenty bright enough to make yourself more visible to oncoming traffic. That's why most cycle makers have made the bikes to have their lights on full time for the last several decades.
Originally Posted By: spidermann59
My jacket, chaps, helmet are black. At night, I put on an orange transportation net vest with the reflective stripes. My wife tells me the stripes really light up. At least you tried to prevent the "I didn't see you" excuse.
I used to have a black & white 1978 Suzuki GS1000E and wore a black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots, black gloves, and a black full face helmet with a dark smoke shield. I used to love to play Darth Veda. People could not see my face under that shield.
My jacket, chaps, helmet are black. At night, I put on an orange transportation net vest with the reflective stripes. My wife tells me the stripes really light up. At least you tried to prevent the "I didn't see you" excuse.
I used to have a black & white 1978 Suzuki GS1000E and wore a black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots, black gloves, and a black full face helmet with a dark smoke shield. I used to love to play Darth Veda. People could not see my face under that shield.
50/50. Some drivers will not see you no matter what. You're on your own to avoid their stupidity. Some drivers might start to notice you and conspicuous clothing and helmet will bring you more to their attention. Conspicutity saves lives (not noisy pipes).
If you ride in an area with leafy trees or other foliage, I'd avoid the lime green colors. They look just like sunlight shining through bright green leaves. The highway-worker bright orange shows up much better. White helmets seem to be seen as readily as bright yellow, orange, or red.
One day last winter I was driving near a rider in black on a black bike with the headlight off. At a highway get-on that is poorly designed and a bad sight line for the oncoming driver he was just about driven off the road by someone coming into his lane. Yes, bad spot, but also the rider did nothing to help the driver see him.
If you ride in an area with leafy trees or other foliage, I'd avoid the lime green colors. They look just like sunlight shining through bright green leaves. The highway-worker bright orange shows up much better. White helmets seem to be seen as readily as bright yellow, orange, or red.
One day last winter I was driving near a rider in black on a black bike with the headlight off. At a highway get-on that is poorly designed and a bad sight line for the oncoming driver he was just about driven off the road by someone coming into his lane. Yes, bad spot, but also the rider did nothing to help the driver see him.
I wear Rukka similar to this one,the reflective parts are highly visible when hit by light.No way i'm putting on something that looks like the stuff the guys working on the roads or a crossing guard wears.
Big $$ but after owning 4 Rukka jackets and pants i wont go back to leather.These are unbelievable.
http://www.adventuremotogear.com/rukka-armax-jacket-p-202.html
Big $$ but after owning 4 Rukka jackets and pants i wont go back to leather.These are unbelievable.
http://www.adventuremotogear.com/rukka-armax-jacket-p-202.html
Not high-vis at all unless you're riding at night and the headlights reflect off you.
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Those of us who use hi-vis know that it doesn't provide perfect protection, but it does help. However, it does nothing for the guy who just cruises along texting, oblivious to everything around him. The other day I stopped at a 4-way intersection and watched as the SUV to my right slowly rolled across the middle of the intersection, ignoring his stop sign, with the driver completely lost in concentration as he stared at his phone. He finally woke up when half way across, quickly took a glance around to make sure he wasn't about to be smashed, and then bent back down to look at his phone as he slowly rolled on out of the intersection.
Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Those of us who use hi-vis know that it doesn't provide perfect protection, but it does help. However, it does nothing for the guy who just cruises along texting, oblivious to everything around him. The other day I stopped at a 4-way intersection and watched as the SUV to my right slowly rolled across the middle of the intersection, ignoring his stop sign, with the driver completely lost in concentration as he stared at his phone. He finally woke up when half way across, quickly took a glance around to make sure he wasn't about to be smashed, and then bent back down to look at his phone as he slowly rolled on out of the intersection.
Wow....what a way to take your life (and others) with no regard.
Those of us who use hi-vis know that it doesn't provide perfect protection, but it does help. However, it does nothing for the guy who just cruises along texting, oblivious to everything around him. The other day I stopped at a 4-way intersection and watched as the SUV to my right slowly rolled across the middle of the intersection, ignoring his stop sign, with the driver completely lost in concentration as he stared at his phone. He finally woke up when half way across, quickly took a glance around to make sure he wasn't about to be smashed, and then bent back down to look at his phone as he slowly rolled on out of the intersection.
Wow....what a way to take your life (and others) with no regard.
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Wow....what a way to take your life (and others) with no regard.
Yeah, I'm afraid the driving was distracting him from his texting.
Wow....what a way to take your life (and others) with no regard.
Yeah, I'm afraid the driving was distracting him from his texting.
I was riding beside a woman driving a hacked out mini van. She had her head down pretty much all of the time, lifting it occasionally as we approached intersections. I couldn't believe how casual she was about the driving aspect of her multitasking. I was riding right beside her and she never looked once to the side and only intermittently forward. I will say however that she was driving very slowly, which was of no real consequence at the time because traffic was very light and no one was behind us. Out of curiosity, I followed her to an apartment building where she pulled in to park the mini van. I stopped to watch what her next move would be. She opened the van door, still staring down at her cell phone, closed the door behind her, kept staring and texting and walked across the parking lot and into the building using what appeared to be peripheral vision only.
People like that are driving hazards. I'm thankful that laws have finally been enacted to deal with these idiots.
People like that are driving hazards. I'm thankful that laws have finally been enacted to deal with these idiots.
Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Those of us who use hi-vis know that it doesn't provide perfect protection, but it does help. However, it does nothing for the guy who just cruises along texting, oblivious to everything around him. The other day I stopped at a 4-way intersection and watched as the SUV to my right slowly rolled across the middle of the intersection, ignoring his stop sign, with the driver completely lost in concentration as he stared at his phone. He finally woke up when half way across, quickly took a glance around to make sure he wasn't about to be smashed, and then bent back down to look at his phone as he slowly rolled on out of the intersection.
Yep. We need to learn to shoot a flare gun left handed.
Those of us who use hi-vis know that it doesn't provide perfect protection, but it does help. However, it does nothing for the guy who just cruises along texting, oblivious to everything around him. The other day I stopped at a 4-way intersection and watched as the SUV to my right slowly rolled across the middle of the intersection, ignoring his stop sign, with the driver completely lost in concentration as he stared at his phone. He finally woke up when half way across, quickly took a glance around to make sure he wasn't about to be smashed, and then bent back down to look at his phone as he slowly rolled on out of the intersection.
Yep. We need to learn to shoot a flare gun left handed.
On the other hand, I've noticed a lot of motorcyclists lately who seem to ride with a death wish. I was driving my car in the slow lane of two on a limited access road when I saw in my rear view mirror a pack of motorcycles (sportbikes) coming up very fast. As they got close I noticed they were very tightly packed--way too tight for their speed at maybe 20 mph over the limit--and some of them were riding right on the center line between the two lanes with no room to move over because of the tight pack. I squeezed as far right in my lane as I could and they screamed by overhanging my lane and missing the side of my car by inches. What would they have done if I hadn't moved over or if one of them had to swerve? They seemed to think the pack gave them protection or something.
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