I rode to the local police station yesterday to report a lost camera. The guy behind the counter started quizzing me about how many miles I ride and thinking he was just an interested roadie I confessed I ride often, but not usually very far. I scoot around town, commute to work, mountainbike etc, but no epic distances. Then he asks me if I always wear black? What’s this, the fashion police?
Turns out the officer in question had a head-on with a car (on a road I ride regularly) and is lucky to be alive. The resulting head-injury forced him out of uniform and behind a desk. He was friendly guy, looking out for my safety after all, but I still felt like a naughty six year old as I stood there getting a lecture on the importance of blinkies and fluro.
Nice bike-racks outside the bacon factory, I was pleasantly surprised.
My only come-back was when shown the big dent in the side of his head I piped-up with “well your helmet didn’t do you much good then, did it?†Pathetic I know, but it was a one-way conversation to that point!
It was only when unlocking my bike outside I realized that not only was my t-shirt black, my helmet, gloves, sunglasses, back-pack, socks, shoes and bike were of the same hue. This is no fashion statement, I missed-out on the fashion gene, it’s just a practical colour for dirty bike-ride’n boys. Black things tend to smell offensive before they look offensive in my experience, an admirable trait.
So I took his advice, switched on my rear blinky and pedaled away confident in the fact my poo-brown boardies would keep me out of trouble!
Damn, even the tyres are black on my bike.
I wear fluro at night, unless I know the route I will go along is pretty safe, like the Northwestern Cycleway. But talk about making it mandatory, like during the coronial inquest, scares me. They probably will make it mandatory during the day too, IF it ever gets that far.
Thought we should remember that the coroner was ASKING the question – what do people involved think of the idea of mandatory high-viz? – as he probably should, exploring all angles, and soliciting comment on the ideas. It’s whether it will be in his recommendations at the end of the inquriy to make it mandatory, that’s where the rub is, that’s where we will see whether the bull in the china shop is being ignored or not.
Also, when do we get mandatory bans on black cars? There’s clear statistics that they are involved in more crashes than brighter-coloured cars. Bring out the mandatory pink cars!
I can understand he line of questioning by the Coroner, but there are so many arguments against a mandatory law (and no real evidence elsewhere either). It did prompt CAN to develop a policy on this however – see http://can.org.nz/canpolicy/high-visibility-clothing. In our discussions with NZTA/MoT I didn’t detect much enthusiasm for such a move by them either, but it would help to also disabuse the Coroner of the notion.
Note that you can be both (1) FOR encouraging use of hi-vis clothing and (2) AGAINST a mandatory law – that’s a perfectly consistent approach (rather like another perennial topic sitting on our heads…). It’s a bit like agreeing that wearing sunscreen and a hat makes a lot of sense on sunny days, but not thinking that a mandatory law requiring it is sensible (and far more people in NZ die each year of melanomas than cycling).
Visibility is super important BUT their are a lot of ways to do this:
1. Ride 1m from kerb – this makes you more visible and predictable for traffic from behind
2. Blinky lights
3. Clothes that are NOT black. My personal favourite being a business shirt with a strong coloured Icebreaker jumper
Personally I feel less human wearing fluro ie a road cone; combine that with a helmet and the research that indicates cars pass 9cm closer to helmeted riders and you are starting to look like a slalom pole to SOME drivers
Actually, Glen, for the sake of the argument – making sunscreen mandatory is actually far more sensible than mandatory high-viz, because sun-screen, correctly applied, ensures pretty much 100% of all sun-caused cancers are prevented.
Can’t say that 100% of all cycle crashes could be prevented by high-viz… far from it, not even all of those related to “not seeing” the cyclist.
And if it ends up discouraging cycling, and encouraging riskier driving – suspicions I agree with – then the benefit will be be negative anyway.
They will hit you no matter what you wear ,your not a threat to there safety there bigger than you its just human nature .I was highly visible when a BLACK VW 4×4 drove into my right leg I was wearing a bright yellow jacket blink lights front and back on my helmet, lights on handle bars seat post and seat stays and all she said to me as I lay on the road with a broken neck “I DIDN’T SEE YOU”guess that parking place was more important to her than someones life .
This is only a theory i haven’t tested the idea yet
Antoine use the stealth theory ……if your wear black on a black bike they can’t see you, if they can’t see you they can’t hit you
Hey – ‘Claim the lane’. I am one of those VERY ANNOYING PERSONS who rides in the middle of the lane so that they can REALLY see me, and they will not rear end me in front of so many witnesses. And yes, I have a well used fluro jerkin that I put on – ‘be safe- be seen’.
Those bike racks are too narrow. You should be able to secure your front wheel with a krypto too. Sorry, pedant alert.
Didn’t mean to start a fluro debate guys, just recounting a little incident that was awkward at the time and kind of funny immediately afterwards.
I have been thinking about red or white when I replace my helmet although grey & black are my favourite colours. (shows lack of imagination!)
I am however lit up like a christmas tree on my nightly commute with two blinkies front and rear (plus a little one on the back of my helmet) and reflective bits on my bike, gloves, jacket and ankles. I can’t bring myself to wear Fluro and you can’t see it in the dark anyway.
Don’t women always say black is slimming?…..perhaps lighter colours (that don’t have to be fluro) would have the opposite effect? The bigger you appear the easier you are to see- that’s assuming that the driver is bothering to look.
@Marty. Hey, you might be on to something there with your “stealth” theory. I rode a big black 1000cc motorcycle for 20 years dressed head to toe in black leather (and helmet) and never had an accident. Mind you, riding motorcycles my whole life has taught me a thing or two about defensive riding.
Like Antoine said, you can’t see fluro in the dark. Reflective is the only way to go and blinking lights. The amount of people all fluroed up at night with no lights, thinking they stand out like the proverbials, is unbelievable!
“shown the big dent in the side of his head I piped-up with “well your helmet didn’t do you much good then, did it?†”
How about the fact that he probably wouldn’t be there talking to you without that helmet?
Motorcycles, I rode them from 1974 until last year, yes they taught me defensive riding but I’ve also had some horrific accidents.
Here’s a test. hold an egg in your left hand & then punch it with your right.
After cleaning up, hold an egg inside a helmet with your left hand & then punch the helmet with your right.
Jeez Hurben, how do turn a light-hearted black t-shirt anecdote into a helmet debate?
Substitute that right fist for a 2,500kg Toyota and let’s see how the egg holds up.
Sorry Antoine, I must have missed the light-heartedness.
I believe it was you who told a man who’s been confined to a desk job but still alive that his helmet didn’t do him much good, I could go on with that train of thought but it’d be nasty.
I got taken out on the North Western by a car changing lanes without indicating, in the rain at 100kms an hour.
The only reasons that I’m still sitting here is that while sliding down the road:
1. I didn’t hit anything solid.
2. Nothing solid ran over me.
3. I was wearing a helmet, granted I had to throw it away because the abrasion of the road had worn right through the fibre glass & into the liner but I don’t want to think what my head would have looked like without it.
My full leathers, (black of course), wore through in several places so that was a bit uncomfortable for a while..
@morecityplease just a trick I use with narrow bike racks remove front wheel and put it on the other side of bike rack then you should be able to secure frame back wheel and your front wheel with a krypto lock. You don’t need to lock your bike at those bike racks, there at the front door of the Police Station and all the bad people go in the back door . Just another thought Antoine next time you go to the police station take your unicycle It will fit against the bike racks and you don’t have to wear a helmet !
@Marty: I have a u-lock that is so huge it would just about fit through both wheels without removing the front one. A bit heavy to lug around every day though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79498713@N00/6058582170/
@Hurben: Find your happy-place, life doesn’t have to be so miserable.
I had a very similar accident on a Suzuki Katana in my younger days. Hit the road so hard it smashed a hole by my ear and much like you the fiberglass was ground down on the side and all the way around to the front of the chin-piece. I used to alternate between full and open-face helmets but never wore an open-face again after that accident. The bike caught fire as it slid, came to rest on the verge and ignited the summer grass. I got the fire engine/tow truck/ambulance trifecta that day with a police car bonus.
I have a “helmet-saved-my-life” mountainbiking anecdote also, but yes, you’ve got me, I don’t think they should be mandatory. That’s alright, we can still be friends.
Ride safe – Antoine
@Antoine,
Agreed.
Take care out there.
Question, your Pugsley, what running gear did it come with?
I’ve recently bought one off Trademe & it came with a smorgasbord of parts.
Sram rear derailleur, Shimano front derailleur & Sram grip shifters with Shimano cable disc brakes.
(do not spell check Shimano on this site, the suggested alternative is a sick joke)
@Antoie. Wow your U lock is BIGGER than mine
That looks like an old school Kryptonite motorcycle lock.
Just like what’s securing one of my Bauer Softrides in the garage.
@Hurben: I built mine up from a frame-set as a singlespeed. Surly bought out “complete” bikes a couple of years later. The stock component spec is on the website.
Lots of fatbike information to be found on the MTBR forums and fat-bike.com.