Soap box Ian Kerr
An ex police motorcyclist gives his view on high viz
Once again somebody (possibly well meaning?) has decided what is best for the motorcyclist without thinking through the whole subject or looking at any research.
Everyone is of course entitled to their opinions, but when they are in a position to influence legislation things become somewhat dangerous. Take this idea that we should all wear hi-visibility clothing whilst riding our motorcycles.
For some time now it has been law in some countries to carry a hi-viz vest in your car to be used if you should breakdown at the side of the road. Quite sensible really, especially if that puncture occurs at night on an unlit road. Nobody would possibly argue the safety benefits, but that is a whole different scenario to having to look like a toffee wrapper from a tin of sweets every time you decide to ride your bike. Apart from the fact that eventually such clothing becomes dirty and worn, like headlights being on all the time, the effect is negligible because people’s brains adapt and expect to see it, so can still miss it. Don’t believe me? Well at a recent motorcycle event I was involved in running, I was unable to spot the marshals who were all decked out in hi-viz as per our H&S man’s instructions, because a whole host of riders rode in wearing identical vests!
As a result we end up with no safety benefit and even worse we then start getting into the contributory negligence scenario whereby a court apportions part blame. Insurance companies may well dock any compensation in the event of a crash because either you were not wearing high viz or it was dirty. Work out a table for degrees of dirty and the only winners are the legal profession as usual! Take it a stage further and we get into what standard (if any) did it meet? Obviously if it meets one it will be more expensive and then we get into cost verses benefit in that you can be led to believe the more
you spend the safer you are.
Does the reflectivity have to be part of the main garment, or is it an over garment? If the latter; imagine the rider wearing just a pair of shorts or bikini and flip flops with a hi-vis vest over the top. No doubt our safety zealot who came up with this idea would be satisfied! Besides who exactly is going to police all this legislation? We have too few traffic police as it is and surely they have better things to do than root through people’s clothing to find a Kitemark or ECE standard number and see if they can remember the right one! Don’t get me wrong, I am not against people choosing to ride with various conspicuity aids, that is their choice and at present they do stand out from the crowd because not everyone does it. However, I regularly see riders of beautiful black classic bikes wearing hi-viz in the belief it will make up for the fact that their reactions and eyesight have often aged along with the bike they rode in their youth. Younger traffic and drivers/riders will move at a faster pace and a hi-viz is not a substitute for taking care.
Instead of governments wasting money on unnecessary legislation they would be better off offering better training in the first place, along with the provision of advanced training afterwards to allow riders to hone their skills. There is no substitute for proper training; wrapping a rider up in hi-viz is no better than wrapping a leaky exhaust with a bandage - eventually you have to replace it.
And if you have got this far and think I am talking rubbish –fine, but I rode a big white police bike for nineteen years the latter part with a big green jacket on and it made no difference, people still rode at me or pulled out on me. What kept me alive was training and in answer to your question, no I do not ride with any hi-viz aids such as a vest or belt and will not do so!
82 The ROAD
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