The Hi Vis Story – Part Two
by Gavin Grewal on Oct.24, 2012, under Gavin Grewal, Team Blogs
Thank you to all of those of you who commented on my first blog about the merits of wearing Hi-Vis, there are some great ideas on how you can stay safe.
Having recently filtered with a chap on a Ducati Monster sporting twin Termignoni pipes I am sold on the ‘loud pipes’ point. It was quite cool watching the traffic part for us both and made the journey a lot easier. However, having seen other YZF-R125’s with ‘sport’ pipes I am not convinced I have the right machine for this; as such I will save this idea for next year when I upgrade my bike.
Some of the other comments made me think long and hard about my road positioning and riding style i.e. to ride more defensively. Again, thank you for those comments as a result I have gone and booked myself on a BikeSafe course. I will update you all with how the course went and the riding tips gained.
French Law on Hi-Vis for Motorcyclists
On the subject of Hi-Vis I looked more closely at what other countries were doing to promote safety for motorcyclists. It seems that France has not implemented the mandatory wearing of Hi-Vis jackets as I first thought. Instead the powers that be have passed a law meaning that from early 2013 it will be mandatory to wear reflective material on their vests.
The total size of the reflective material has to be 150 cm2. It does not have to be one piece; it can be several pieces, as long as the sum of the pieces is 150 cm2. So if you wear one or two Hi-Vis armbands for example you are fine. Apparently this applies to all motorcycles, scooters and trikes except for mopeds and 125cc machines!
It is already law that all motorcycle helmets in France need to have reflective stickers on the back. However, I think everyone in France missed that memo as I have not seen one biker sporting reflective stickers on their motorcycle helmet. Oh and by the way these stickers are in addition to the 150 cm2 sum of reflective material explained above.
A Hi-Vis Experiment
The discussion on Hi-Vis has also been going strong at White Dalton HQ. We have a good mix of bikers here; those who always wear it and those who think it does not make a blind bit of difference. It was suggested that in this day and age the ‘typical’ yellow Hi-Vis is so common that it is not as effective as it once was. I note that someone suggested ‘Orange’ Hi-Vis as an alternative which I think may be a good idea.
Mandy has gone one further and bought herself bright pink Hi-Vis vest – not only in a bid to stay fashionable but also to see if it makes any difference to her daily commute (which takes her from Central London along some of the busiest motorways in the UK and later through rural towns and unlit rural roads) Watch this space for her thoughts…
About Gavin Grewal
Trainee Solicitor at White Dalton and Special Constable with the local constabulary. Rides a 2011 Yamaha YZF-R125.
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October 26th, 2012 on 5:06 pm
Deja vu I remember somewhere being explained as your brain subconsciously picking something up. So I recon that the more senses you trigger the better. I wear hi vis and loud exhausts, my bike is new enough to to have headlights on all the time so that is 3. Movement makes it easier to spot some thing so advanced road positioning covered that one. In short dont rely on the other drivers seeing you make them se you by the way you present yourself/your bike.
October 26th, 2012 on 7:39 pm
Something `different` (pink amongst yellow) will help, as will loud pipes if they have time to hear you and are not deaf/radio up loud. Just to show what we are up against I was speaking to a lady driver today who was wearing glasses with very deep side arms which were acting as effective blinkers (like they used to put on horses SO THEY COULD NOT SEE THE TRAFFIC !!) Absolutely no peripheral vision in her case.
November 10th, 2012 on 5:04 pm
Loud pipes are NOT the answer. They may or may not be heard by someone in front, but will definitely be heard by everyone at the side or behind after you’ve gone past. Antisocial and environmentally unfriendly, they simply play into the hands of those who would like to see biking banned altogether or severely restricted. Hi-vis and headlights-on, although helpful, aren’t foolproof either, both rely on other road users actually looking properly and taking appropriate action. Hence rider and driver education together with defensive riding give the most benefits.