meic wrote:It is a sign of how bad things are when you have to call on your army training in camouflage and apply it in reverse, just to ride a bike on the UK roads. The best you can achieve from doing this (or buying an off the peg Hi-viz to tick the box in another way) is to not be blamed for the driver not having seen you.
Even (especially?) on this forum.
What you can not achieve is to actually shift the blame where it rightfully belongs, on the motorist for not having seen you.
Now in this particular case, it was the cyclist who didnt see the motorist, so I think we are on the wrong track discussing what he should be wearing. Road positioning might be of much more use, that helps both being seen and seeing.
I am not as critical of cyclists who dont look as carefully as they should, as it is normally them rather than others who pay the price, as it was in this case.
We may have debated this before, on the Forum. I agree with all you say meic (except for not criticising cyclists who don't look what they're doing), but I see high-viz as doing the best I can to protect myself - I think that most drivers will avoid hitting us, if they know we're there, and whilst there's no doubt that drivers have the moral responsibility to look what they're doing and where they're going................they don't always, do they?
The last time one of them hit me (braking my leg and destroying my 531 Pennine frame) I was wearing a high-viz cycling top - he did it by driving into the back of me. To be honest, he was quite upset, but he still did it. The driver behind him, who was my police witness, said that she'd seen me clearly enough - and she said that with my high-viz on, how could anyone miss me? This was almost three years ago - on a straight road - in very good light conditions.
What does that prove? - well,high-viz doesn't give 100% protection, but I do believe that it does alter the odds a bit.