Gear Visibility - Noob Question | GTAMotorcycle.com

Gear Visibility - Noob Question

ay33

ay33

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I'm new to riding and researching new gear.
I feel visibility is very important.
My question is high-viz yellow better than red?
Personally, as a driver I find it hard to see road workers, etc wearing high-viz yellow on sunny days, unless their shirts or jackets are outlined by a darker border.

Back in the day fire departments switched their trucks back to red from yellow for visibility purposes.

Ultimately, I want to be as safe as I can be, and make the best choice on gear for that.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
Ride like your invisible. Anticipate what other drivers are gonna do and have an escape plan.

I prefer not to dress up like a safety cone...
 
Which is better in fog, at night, and other various conditions.

Your helmet may make more of a difference, since it's higher and easier to see.

I prefer to be actively visible, over passively assuming I'm not; that makes no sense to me.
 
A couple tips from when I commuted...

* hi-viz such as a Vest does help, and they may well see you, but often they will still do stupid things. I know someone who was wearing a full hiz via jacket etc and was hit from behind by a driver expecting him to roll through an intersection with a stop sign.

* a white coloured helmet Is very noticeable and what I started to use when I had a chance to change helmets.

* like splatter said, ride like you're invisible. Expect the unexpected.

* Watch for the people with "bobble heads". They're distracted looking at their phones.

* beware of "camouflaging" yourself with a vehicle behind you when you ride in the tire tracks. Especially important with left hand turners.


* Look up the SMIDSY video on YouTube.

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kiwi said:
A couple tips from when I commuted...

* hi-viz such as a Vest does help, and they may well see you, but often they will still do stupid things. I know someone who was wearing a full hiz via jacket etc and was hit from behind by a driver expecting him to roll through an intersection with a stop sign.

* a white coloured helmet Is very noticeable and what I started to use when I had a chance to change helmets.

* like splatter said, ride like you're invisible. Expect the unexpected.

* Watch for the people with "bobble heads". They're distracted looking at their phones.

* beware of "camouflaging" yourself with a vehicle behind you when you ride in the tire tracks. Especially important with left hand turners.


* Look up the SMIDSY video on YouTube.
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I agree. Unfortunately for motorcycle riders, there are humans on the road with us, and with it the foibles of human physiology. SMIDSY and inattentional blindness means that the brain filters out what they unconsciously consider "unimportant" visual input. This means a driver could unconsciously "remove" a motorcycle from their brain processing. Yes, their eyes see us, but their brain filters us out. Have you ever gotten into a car, arrived at a destination, but don't remember how you made the trip? How did this autopilot happen?

Old motorcycle riders often believe that even if you ride in a bright pink bunny suit, there will be someone out there that will not see you. Cars hit trains, buses, ambulances all the time. Ride in something comfortable, with armour, that will protect you from the elements. If you like fluorescent then go for it, but there is no silver bullet for motorcycle visibility.

I do find that a reflective vest at dawn does wake up drivers. We need to do something, anything out of the ordinary, that will grab the attention of the driver, and snap their brain out of autopilot. The more we do these "unique" things, the more drivers will get used to it and it becomes part of everyday life and their filter.
 
ay33 said:
I'm new to riding and researching new gear.
I feel visibility is very important.
My question is high-viz yellow better than red?
Click to expand...

I believe majority-yellow is better than red because our eyes are more sensitive to yellow than red:

MmiJr.png


While I agree with the others saying ride like people can't see you, I don't believe it's an either/or proposition. I think you can enhance your visual conspicuity -- i.e. your chances of being seen -- while also practicing defensive riding.

Don't pay attention to snide remarks about looking like a traffic cone or a Power Ranger; it's your personal safety and well-being in play here. AFAIK, all "good" motorcycle safety educators, authors and advocates put conspicuity near the top of the best-practices heap when it comes to safe riding.

Personally, as a driver I find it hard to see road workers, etc wearing high-viz yellow on sunny days, unless their shirts or jackets are outlined by a darker border.
Click to expand...

Most hi-viz motorcycle gear is not a monolithic block of one colour. An Alpinestars example:

alpinestars-t-jaws-air-jacket.jpg


Most also have retro-reflective strips on them to enhance night-time visibility.
 
As demonstrated by the above photo MOST hi Viz jackets are not 100% yellow or green, they have black areas as well plus reflective piping for night time. Personally I sport a hi viz jacket and a hi vis helmet, (again not 100% green). Regardless of what your wearing your still going to be invisible to a greater number of cagers than you would think. Your choice of gear colour, (Unless you opt for all black and ride at night), will not be the deciding factor in weather someone sees you or doesn't do something stupid.

Just as some think loud pipes will save their life, it is ALL about YOUR riding skill and ability to anticipate the unexpected that is MUCH MUCH more likely to save you from a collision or death. Plus as a newbie you should be aware that many fatal and serious bike incidents are actually SINGLE vehicle collisions. So again your level of skill is paramount over the colour of your gear or how loud your pipes are...
 
Blackfin said:
While I agree with the others saying ride like people can't see you, I don't believe it's an either/or proposition.

Don't pay attention to snide remarks about looking like a traffic cone or a Power Ranger
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Agreed. Too many people take things around here as all-or-nothing.

Really....this is along the same lines as the loud pipes save lives argument where some suggest that "sound" is irrelevant so far as having others know you are there...which is as ridiculous as suggesting "actually being seen is irrelevant" since you should just ride like you're invisible.

I agree...ride like, and assume you're invisible, but don't automatically discount every effort to make yourself visible/safe as well.

For the record, I'll admit I don't wear hi-vis stuff through the day, but I do carry a set of strap-style reflective neon yellow strap-style vests on both of our bikes for night riding. Easy, simple, cheap, effective - BE SEEN is the critical argument here so it's ironic that people talk about using SMIDSY in one breath, but then in another don't care to actually wear anything that would aid in the effectiveness of such.

5592_large.jpg


Splatter said:
I prefer not to dress up like a safety cone...
Click to expand...

Vanity above safety then, huh? There is a happy medium.

OP, Kudos for wanting to be safe and being willing to put vanity behind safety. You'll quickly learn that a lot of people in the MC crowd don't subscribe to that theory which is a big part of why there's so many squids out there. I agree with Hedo above for the most part, defensive driving and not putting yourself in dangerous situations to begin with is a big part of staying safe as well, but it's naive to discount being seen as part of the equation, especially as a beginner.
 
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As an answer to the question you asked, I have owned yellow and orange hi-viz, but never red. I didn't even know they offered red as a hi-viz colour.
I found that while the yellow was very noticeable, it was really tough to keep clean. It was an Olympia AST jacket. I have a different Olympia jacket that has the orange on it and the dirt comes out with every washing. The orange was equally noticeable as the yellow.

When I am riding, I also see any riders in hi-viz from a really far away distance, so personally I feel it certainly makes you more evident on the road. If I had to choose a hiviz jacket now, I would probably go for something that had some hi-viz on the jacket, not the entire jacket covered, so as you pointed out, there is a contrast of colours on the clothing to increase visibility. http://www.revzilla.com/hi-viz-motorcycle-jackets

For increased visibility you could also think about the reflective tape. 3M and perhaps other brands offer the reflective tape in black or a variety of colours. You could put a stripe or something down the back of your helmet, which will make you more visible at night from the back. You could put the tape on various spots on your bike like side cases and frame to increase nighttime visibility or even on your rims.
 
While on the topic, one of my customers at work is a manufacturer that does MTO compliant road signage and I occasionally pickup huge bags of their end cuts and small scraps of this reflective material. This is the $$$$$ 3M material that they use on stop signs, the overhead signs on the 401, etc - the stuff that lights up like a Christmas tree with any light.

I have a ton of it and it's free to any members here who want a piece or five to use on their bike/helmet/whatever.

reflective.jpg
 
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I have neon green rain jacket and black reflective pants.

Honestly different things will attract different people's attention.
 
Oh wow, that would be great to have! Ill keep you in mind lol
 
Splatter said:
Ride like your invisible. Anticipate what other drivers are gonna do and have an escape plan.

I prefer not to dress up like a safety cone...
Click to expand...

A safety cone helmet would be pretty dope, though lacking in the aero-dynamics. Brighter coloured gear is just part of the formula but remember in many cases riders are TOTALLY obscured by virtue of their size. Adjusting speed/lane position to your sight lines gives you and the potential collider time to react. Keep that horn button handy. Had a ditzy lady nearly drive into me on Friday. Dead stop traffic, car edges up from the side street and decides to merge. This was in broad daylight, 10 feet away. Remember to thank rubber trees and brake vines every day.
 
I do a combination of the above posts. I ride with a reflective vest when commuting during the week and when I'm out at night. I also have reflective tape placed around my bike. I need to put some on my helmet and hard luggage soon. I also installed rim tape on my bike, which is reflective.

This isn't my bike but I think it looks awesome

135145_440159.jpg
 
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Don't forget that reflective gear and tape need a light source. Hi-vis doesn't.

Police tend to use yellow.
P7100104_2094-e1438839257891.jpg
 
I buy best gear I can afford. Comfortable, protective, and properly fit is more important than colour.

I actually wear all black...black helmet and bike too. A jumble of colours in indistinguishable shapes and patterns is what you call camouflage. No matter the colour. Me as a monolithic big black blob provides excellent contrast against backgrounds and the reflective piping and Dainese logos look extra cool at night. Wait...Did I just call myself a blob...? :lmao:
 
@PrivatePilot when I'm over visiting my sister, I'm gonna have to stop by for some of those pre cut clear reflective stripes, if you don't mind. I think they would be perfect for the helmet.

Sent from my custom purple Joe Bass mobile device using Tapatalk
 
I picked up a few patches from these guys to add unto my low vis Jackets, attach with velcro
 
Joe Bass said:
@PrivatePilot when I'm over visiting my sister, I'm gonna have to stop by for some of those pre cut clear reflective stripes, if you don't mind. I think they would be perfect for the helmet.
Click to expand...

Yeppers, PM me and we'll make a plan for coffee. My daughter works at DQ and I might be able to get discount ice cream as well. I know you'd hate to have to go for ice cream. ;)

For all those who've PM'd me about the reflective material, I'm trying to catch up on replies - a bit overwhelmed with the number of interested people, but it's all good - there's lots to go around and I can get more anytime, so aside from finding times that work for everyone I'm happy to give it all away in the name of safety. :)
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