Hi-Viz. I'm a Believer

[cloudbase]

I recently completed my annual Houston-Minneapolis-Houston ride and this year wore a hi-viz vest over my Roadcrafter jacket. The riding conditions ranged from sunny to foggy to thunderstorms. This was the first trip that nobody tried to kill me out on the road, especially the first and last fifteen miles in Houston where it almost never fails to have some driver try to take me out.

Y'all stay safe out there.

[EX500rider]

1. It can be a life saver. here's a study on hi-vis:

Motorcycle rider conspicuity and crash related injury: case-control study
"Results Crash related injuries occurred mainly in urban zones with 50 km/h speed limit (66%), during the day (63%), and in fine weather (72%). After adjustment for potential confounders, drivers wearing any reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.94) than other drivers. Compared with wearing a black helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.76, 0.57 to 0.99). Self reported light coloured helmet versus dark coloured helmet was associated with a 19% lower risk. Three quarters of motorcycle riders had their headlight turned on during the day, and this was associated with a 27% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.73, 0.53 to 1.00). No association occurred between risk and the frontal colour of drivers' clothing or motorcycle. If these odds ratios are unconfounded, the population attributable risks are 33% for wearing no reflective or fluorescent clothing, 18% for a non-white helmet, 11% for a dark coloured helmet, and 7% for no daytime headlight operation.

Conclusions: Low conspicuity may increase the risk of motorcycle crash related injury. Increasing the use of reflective or fluorescent clothing, white or light coloured helmets, and daytime headlights are simple, cheap interventions that could considerably reduce motorcycle crash related injury and death.

http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7444/857.abstract

[SeattleVet]

2. I've converted a few friends to Hi-Viz.

I have a Scorpion helmet in the Hi-Vix green/yellow, and after a ride one day where we got somewhat separated in traffic one of the guys said that he could see my helmet above the traffic when I was about a mile ahead of him. He and a few others went out and got some more-visible gear. I still have to occasional idiot that tries to merge into me, but far fewer than there use to be. My wife wears an Olympia riding suit in Hi-Viz, along with a bright yellow helmet. I had to settle for the grey suit (if I didn't want to wait for a long time for the Hi-Viz in my size to come in), but the helmet is definitely visible.