Check out this interesting article on bikeradar.com regarding high visibility jackets and then see my take on it below.
This is a very interesting article. To me the most important thought in the article is the third paragraph; “…there is little that cyclists can do with their wardrobe to influence motorists’ behavior once they’ve been seen.” I agree completely, that’s why getting you seen is our mission at see me wear. Motorists’ behavior will not be changed by our clothing, but by our actions and by drivers understanding of the implications of hitting a cyclist.
We have two objectives at see me wear: 1. Getting you seen with the brightest fluorescent clothes on the road or trail. That includes a high vis jacket, which we also sell here. 2. If you are unfortunately hit by a vehicle, we want to take away the excuse that the driver never saw you. I want the District Attorney to stand up in a reckless endangerment lawsuit and hold up our clothing and tell the jury, “If this driver didn’t see this cyclist wearing this clothing, he wasn’t watching the road and his irresponsible actions directly caused this incident. It may be an accident, because the driver didn’t intend to hit the rider, but there is fault and guilt here and the driver must pay monetary damages and serve jail time.”
As cyclists we must press our local police to start prosecuting drivers who hit cyclists. Too many times they simply walk away with no penalty at all. I urge every one of you to wear fluorescent clothing, whether that means high visibility jackets or hi vis cycling jerseys. If not ours, there’s some solid color fluorescent clothing on the market. They are generally not made in the US and not the same quality as see me wear, but they are a lot better than wearing fashionable, but deadly black.
Another thing that will influence drivers’ attitudes toward us is our behavior on the road. I have written about my personal philosophy of riding safely on the BIKE SAFETY page on our website: www.seemewear.com. Just click on BIKE SAFETY, not the drop down feature on DISTRACTED DRIVERS. And get yourself a high visibility cycling jacket. Do everything you can to be seen.
