Hi Viz clothing makes you less visible in bright daylight

Hi Viz clothing makes you LESS visible in bright sunshine


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Ginge Crosby

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Agree or disagree?? involved in a debate re- hi viz on fb, someone has just stated that hi viz makes you less visible in bright sunshine. I know where I stand on the subject - never hack out without at least a tabard on - but what do you think about that statement?
 

stencilface

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What happens when they ride under the shade of a tree? The effect is then worse for drivers, and you are practically invisible without hi vis :eek:
 

Goldenstar

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I think the commonest yellow colour is least good in bright sunlight and the pink is better but that's not the same as saying its worse than nothing.
 

Ginge Crosby

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Rule 50 of the highway code, on the BHS website
Rule 50: Other clothing
You should wear boots or shoes with hard soles and heels, light-coloured or fluorescent clothing in daylight, and reflective clothing if you have to ride at night or in poor visibility.

http://www.bhs.org.uk/our-charity/working-with-the-law/highway-code

I ALWAYS wear hi viz out, no matter what the weather. I've just never heard someone say that it makes you less visible in bright sunshine, and now there are a couple of other people on fb with the same theory.

Patterdale, i'm sorry I don't understand your comment, could you explain please? First time i've posted a poll and welcome cc.
 

JustKickOn

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Jeez really?? I suppose it is called high visibility clothing because of the characteristics of making people harder to see?

I'm not going to stop wearing high viz, end off. How irresponsible.
 

Ginge Crosby

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ok, thread title was not meant to be irresponsible in ANY way - I am actually scratching my head at the thought of hi viz making you less visible.... I am passionate about making myself visible to other road users, and think that the statement is completely ridiculous. I was just suprised that other people on the fb thread had said the same and wondered where on earth they had got the idea from!

Apologies for an irresponsible thread title - had no idea how to pose the question differently!
 

Shantara

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ok, thread title was not meant to be irresponsible in ANY way - I am actually scratching my head at the thought of hi viz making you less visible.... I am passionate about making myself visible to other road users, and think that the statement is completely ridiculous. I was just suprised that other people on the fb thread had said the same and wondered where on earth they had got the idea from!

Apologies for an irresponsible thread title - had no idea how to pose the question differently!

Possibly by making it a question instead of a statement? :p

I'm glad you do where hi-viz (Sorry, I think I read it wrong, I thought YOU were saying that!), I can't believe some of the things people say on facebook! Makes me wonder where all these people are, I don't think I've met that many idiotic people in real life!
 

touchstone

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If it makes you less visible in daylight, then surely the police, highway maintenance etc wouldn't bother wearing it until night time.
 

Goldenstar

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ok, thread title was not meant to be irresponsible in ANY way - I am actually scratching my head at the thought of hi viz making you less visible.... I am passionate about making myself visible to other road users, and think that the statement is completely ridiculous. I was just suprised that other people on the fb thread had said the same and wondered where on earth they had got the idea from!

Apologies for an irresponsible thread title - had no idea how to pose the question differently!

You could have put a Does at the beginning of it.
Don't worry about it don't let it put you off.
 

Ginge Crosby

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Possibly by making it a question instead of a statement? :p

I'm glad you do where hi-viz (Sorry, I think I read it wrong, I thought YOU were saying that!), I can't believe some of the things people say on facebook! Makes me wonder where all these people are, I don't think I've met that many idiotic people in real life!

LORD no, oh god i'm in for a bashing, all for the lack of a question mark :eek:! Just to clarify-

The statement 'hi viz clothing makes you less visible in daylight' is in NO WAY my opinion, I always wear hi viz when hacking out, I am a responsible road user and I request all my girls wear hi viz when they hack out as they are representing the yard as well as themselves.

The thread title and poll should have read:

'hi vis clothing makes you less visible in bright daylight??' (two question marks as that's how ridiculous I think that the statement, made by someone else, is!)
 
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Goldenstar

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In bright sunshine, pink or orange hi-viz is better than yellow.

I have seen a chart somewhere saying which colour is best in what light conditions and in which environments but can't remember where .
But it's common sense isn't it
Green good in cityscapes less good in fields
Pink would think good all the time except in a barbie tinted world .
Orange not so good in autumn
Yellow yes I can understand it may be less good in bright sunlight than others but don't think it's any reason not to wear it.
 

Shantara

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LORD no, oh god i'm in for a bashing, all for the lack of a question mark :eek:! Just to clarify-

The statement 'hi viz clothing makes you less visible in daylight' is in NO WAY my opinion, I always wear hi viz when hacking out, I am a responsible road user and I request all my girls wear hi viz when they hack out as they are representing the yard as well as themselves.

The thread title and poll should have read:

'hi vis clothing makes you less visible in bright daylight??' (two question marks as that's how ridiculous I think that the statement, made by someone else, is!)

Haha, you have to watch your punctuation on here! If you don't litter your questions with !!?!?!?!?! then how will we know what you mean?!?! (I kid!)

Goodo, I think the road needs more people like you. I see too many people without it!
 

hnmisty

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I dont know where i stand with this but my insurance states that i must wear hi vis so i do.
Can't hurt in a court case.

Oo, I didn't know anyone actually does that, I've always said they should. Why on earth wouldn't you want to minimise the chance of being hit?

Heaven forbid I am ever in an accident on the road and my horse is injured, I would like to at least know I had done pretty much all I could to try to prevent it from happening.
 

jenni999

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Ginge Crosby - unfortunately there are a number of muppets on this forum who seem to like shooting people down in flames... I get quite angry at some of the comments I read. You don't need to apologise for your punctuation. Some people just like being obnoxious :-(

Anyway, I always wear hi-viz - orange vest and flashing LED lights. My horse wears pink. A pink neckstrap and a pink lightweight sheet in case we part company.

I have lost count of the number of drivers who've taken the time to stop and comment on how visible I am - that tells me I am doing the right thing.
 

diamonddogs

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I dont know where i stand with this but my insurance states that i must wear hi vis so i do.
Can't hurt in a court case.

Hi Jessie - out of interest, who do you insure with?

I wish ALL insurance companies would insist on hi-viz. But then I'd like to see it made compulsory for everyone - riders, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians!
 

Irishcobs

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Do they say why?
I could understand if they said reflective strips aren't as good in bright sun light as they can reflect the sun in to the drivers eyes (I'm sure we've all had a road sign or similar do that) but I don't understand how something bright yellow can be effected by sun light.
Visibility in direct sun light is reduced anyway and drivers should drive accordantly so wearing a hi viz won't change that but surely catching a glance of something bright ahead will make drivers react.

On my way to work on Monday I saw two horse riders on the lane ahead, round a bend, I saw them a good 500m away through the hedge. The rider in front had a yellow tabard, the rider behind a pink one. I saw the yellow rider first, through the hedge and a second later the pink one. This wasn't a bright day but it was sunny enough that I was wearing sunglasses.

I think I will stick to wearing my yellow tabard.
 

Ginge Crosby

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Irishcobs I believe they were referring to the yellow viz... I can sort of see how in very bright sunlight yellow might not be the best colour, maybe pink or orange would stand out more, but still yellow is better than none in my mind.

And I understand about the reflective strips in sunlight, but that's probably why BHS recommend flouro (sp) in the day/bright sunshine and reflectives in dusk/poor weather, so they reflect car headlights.

Jennie999 i'm one of those drivers - if its safe to, I tend to stop and commend riders if they're wearing hi viz, someone has done it to me and it's nice to be appreciated in that way :)

Also thanks for the nice comments - I know how easy it is for it all to go wrong over an innocent misunderstanding on HHO but I hope i've cleared it up with my other posts!

One of the girls from my yard was hit out hacking on her own, just clipped with a wing mirror, but the driver didnt stop, she was wearing trainers and no hi viz, she got thrown and horse had a bad stifle injury from the mirror. Police weren't terribly interested, possibly because she wasn't wearing hi viz, so now I make a point that the girls must wear at least a tabard out on the roads. That way, a driver can't really say 'I didn't see you'.
 

mandwhy

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People are silly, sometimes there's no educating them, just hope none of us have to meet them on the road.

I'm not really bothered about people not wearing hi vis on bright sunny days, but on any kind of dark or grey day I think they definitely should. I just have a yellow vest and leg bands for the horse that I put on as part of routine really.
 

armchair_rider

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I would have thought a mix would be better anyway because that would cover you in all light conditions. I've certainly heard that yellow is not good in bright sunlight and my company has issued drivers with hi-vis that is a pink/yellow mix
 

Garnet

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Anyone that suggests that hi viz clothing makes you less visible in bright sunlight is probably trying to think of any reason to avoid wearing it - give them a Darwin Award for lack of common sense!

Sensible people will wear hi viz in all weathers - the police, railway staff and building site staff do.
 

hnmisty

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Irish cobs- interesting that you say that about pink hi viz, I've hacked out with a friend before in my pink hi viz running gillet, and my friend in her yellow hi viz jacket, and I felt that she was more obvious than me.

Going back to good old yellow now!
 

quirky

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A driver told me some weeks back that I wasn't very visible, it was a low winter sun. I did have my hi viz on!
 
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