how much high vis

[BentMikey]

.but car drivers are just so dangerous it's not worth the risk

You see this is where I differ from most. Cycling is not a particularly dangerous activity at all, it's certainly intimidating at times, but dangerous? Nope.

 

[historyman]

I belong to a swimming lobby and we are always being told that swimming is 'dangerous'. We always reply that it's less dangerous than sitting on the sofa watching telly. Not exercising is more likely to shorten your life. Maybe hi-viz should be made compulsory for people who don't do it.

 

[Tynan]

I've had two bad accidents in 14 months, both very unavoidable, not sure I'd agree with not dangerous, if you ride at any sort of speed in London rush hour I think you have to accept you're going have the odd smash

 

[summerdays]

Hopefully as more people cycle they maybe will question why someone is riding in a different manner to them - for example the number of people who zoom round the edge of a roundabout - on one of the big ones in town, I am usually the only person who rides it in primary position. I suspect all they really think is why is she wasting her time going slower, not undercutting the cars.

Forget I said that... went around that roundabout today - in primary position and had a car cut me up totally and not even seem to have noticed me... luckily I noticed her and slammed on the brakes. I wasn't wearing Yellow Hi Viz - just my grey night vision and I did have my lights on even though it was about 10 am. Only conclusion - she wasn't looking or assumed I would move over.

 

[BentMikey]

I've had two bad accidents in 14 months, both very unavoidable, not sure I'd agree with not dangerous, if you ride at any sort of speed in London rush hour I think you have to accept you're going have the odd smash

I suspect that you've had more than your fair share, for whatever reason. The stats show that in fact cycling is incredibly safe, far far more so than the perception.

 

[Tynan]

hope so, I'm good with the traffic, very few issues, it's the peds that worry me, I've had a fair few iffy encounters in the last few months since I started riding through the city, building to the last accident, hopefully something to get used to although people launching themselves into the road from blind positions strikes me as acts of god you can do very little about

I'm certainly not disputing the overall stats but I suspect London rush hour commuter stats will be very different to the 'average' rider

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

hope so, I'm good with the traffic, very few issues, it's the peds that worry me, I've had a fair few iffy encounters in the last few months since I started riding through the city, building to the last accident, hopefully something to get used to although people launching themselves into the road from blind positions strikes me as acts of god you can do very little about

I'm certainly not disputing the overall stats but I suspect London rush hour commuter stats will be very different to the 'average' rider

.. and that's the trouble with stats: they can be a bit one-size-doesnt-quite-fit-anyone. A London rush hour commute is almost certainly going to be dodgier than the same length commute down a couple of bridleways and a few back lanes out in the sticks where your biggest danger will be getting taken out by a badger.

 

[Moose]

I only have one piece of hi-viz clothing and it's my cap. I have a Brooks nightlife cap with a built-in red LED at the back.

Most of my rides are on unlit country roads, any driver would need to be pretty much blind not to see a cyclist with a good amount of light and so hi-viz is a bit of a waste seeing as though I have two front lights and two rear lights (more than a few of the car drivers out there).

I do have clothing/bag with reflective piping and my tyres have reflective strips as well.

 

[roadiewill]

No hiviz, but I do wear a yellow jersey and have a flashing tail light

 

[historyman]

driving around last week (yes, I drive a car occasionally), I was impressed by hi-viz on some cyclists' rear haunches. Tracksuit bottoms? sports socks? Dunno, but just two bright white vertical stripes down bottom half of backs of legs. Excellent idea esp. because they move vigorously when cyclist pedals, in the position most visible to the driver behind. Highly visible; and yet relatively discreet.