No love for Hi-Viz?

Hivis and lights should be worn by cyclists too.
I am very careful driving as I know around mine there are lots of ppl who go without...and they almost blend into the hedges esp in the glare of a car coming the other way
 
Why would cars need to be in day glo colours...the occupants are relatively safe in their metal box, whereas others such as riders, cyclists do not have that protection.
Being seen is a step to help protect yourself.
 
Pearlsacarolsinger said:
That doesn't really make sense. I've taught children with red/black colour-blindness who *could* see pink and the more usual green/orange colour-blindness who had no trouble seeing red or pink. The vibrancy of the colour would make it stand out anyway and most hi-viz also has reflective strips.
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That's what I thought, but this guy said the pink high vis didn't do the job because he had trouble seeing it. Maybe different people have different vision when it comes to colour blindness? In fact, here's a paper on it http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sullivan/bike/colorbv.html

The reflective straps are helpful but they on their own are not sufficient as they are too dependent on the light hitting them in the right way.
 
We had a bit of a wake up call recently when two horses were killed by a drunk driver in the middle of the day on a straight road. A lot of people who previously were non-hi-viz went out and bought the Equisafety equipment - not just a tabard, but leg wraps and sheets.

Personally I never hack without it and am a proud "Bertie" - even though I still get teased by some people, at least I know I am visible.
 
I believe yellow is the most efficient at getting riders noticed by drives as yellow hiviz naturally is associated with coppers by drivers, particularly those who may be going faster than the limit for that road so more likely to hit the brakes IMO
 
Gaaaah - drives me mad when people don't use hi vis - riders, cyclists or walkers.

We nearly ran over a neighbour and her small kids just before Christmas - they were walking through the village (rural, no street lights, no path) in the dark, in dark coats, no hi viz, no torch oblivious to the danger they were in.

For summer use the Parsons Rumps are excellent - great for winter on hairy cobs too :)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/160688770722395/?fref=ts
http://www.parsonsrump.co.uk/
 
McW said:
I believe yellow is the most efficient at getting riders noticed by drives as yellow hiviz naturally is associated with coppers by drivers, particularly those who may be going faster than the limit for that road so more likely to hit the brakes IMO
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Yellow is most effective (unless oil seed rape is in full bloom - then orange or pink are better).
 
From a health and safety p.o.v (just checked with my dad who is high up in H+S) ORANGE is the best as pink doesnt show in fog and yellow is bad in sunlight treed areas......

OP can I suggest you print the pics on page 1 off and stick on your tack room notice board?
 
I agree with RainbowDash - my hiviz waistcoat makes a big difference with dog walkers calling their dogs back, especially the 'weekend owners' who have a little less control over their dogs :)

We're lucky to have direct access to moorland hacking, but the downside is that we have to share it with dog walkers, fell runners, mountain bikers, paragliders, model aircraft, racehorses on exercise - and the local air ambulance flies low over us too. So I now consider hiviz a must for hacking and it gives all these other potentially scary to my horse moor users plenty of chance to spot us. As a bonus, it seems to give me a lot more authority when for example I politly enquire whether perhaps the model aircraft man is done for the day so I can ride past.
 
Second nature to where hi viz now. Whilst the pink looks pretty it isn't as effective. I was driving behind two riders at dusk recently and could clearly see the yellow but the pink may as well not have been worn until I got closer.
 
piebaldsparkle said:
Spot the rider!:eek:

hi%20vis%20pic%20web%20crop.ashx
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Wow, this is really effective!! :eek:

I'm a hi-viz user too, I don't really like how it looks and I get laughed at for having so much of it, but I'd never forgive myself if my horse was hit because someone hadn't seen us in time. We go out in an exercise sheet (waterproof in winter, mesh in summer - doesn't heat the horse up at all, it's fab!), woof reflective boots, a hi-viz neck band, hat band for me & I have an equisafety jacket (or waistcoat in summer). I have a yellow set and a pink set - yellow gets used 99% of the time because it shows up a lot brighter than the pink, but I use the pink when the fields surrounding us are yellow ;)
 
I always wear some HiViz usually orange for many years. Glad to report that it is a lot more common round here now than when I first moved here 6 years ago.

Wore my new equi-safety orange jacket for the first time today and I know there are not a lot of cars on the road in Scotland on the 1st Jan but folks did seem to be passing 'slow and wide' a lot more than with my previous plain jacket.

I prefer orange to yellow now as after the local farmer started to wear a fluorescent yellow jacket - his cows and sheep were just too interested in us for my horses liking!

I think pink can fade quicker than orange and yellow for some reason. Yellow can not always be as visible in certain light conditions and against yellow fields.
 
Not horse related but I was shocked on the drive home this evening to come accross a man jogging wearing completely black clothing, no high viz whatsoever and with a black dog which was running ahead off its lead!

This was around a blind bend in an unlit country lane. :eek:

Fortunately I always take care not to speed, especially in lanes but many don't. I dread to think what would have happened if someone had been speeding!

I just can't understand what goes through people's minds sometimes! :mad:
 
I always wear hi-vi (usually yellow), whether Im riding or leading. I`d rather be safe than sorry.....if not for my own sake then my horses..!!!
I cannot see how anyone can say its stupid to wear it, beggars belief..!!! :eek::confused:
 
RainbowDash said:
I'm happily a member of the Hi-Viz brigade even whilst hacking out in summer. It helps other riders and also walkers and cyclists see us coming - esp. dog walkers who can see us coming and call their dog back in good time.

My pony is Flaxen Chestnut but i'm under no illusion that we wouldn't blend into the background.
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P.S.

Me and two other ladies at our yard have a friendly contest to whom can get hold of the brightest hi-viz - currently i'm the winner - awarded the 'special coffee cup' award for the brightest yellow gillett :D:D Boyo gets the carrots for his bright yellow exercise sheet.

The contest isn't over - we're the eldest ladies at our yard and hopefully the younger lads and lassies may well join in too - but Hi-Viz aint a fashion statement :rolleyes: so we'll live in hope :(
 
sidesaddlegirl said:
I was getting ready to go on a hack today and I always tart ourselves up with pink Hi-Viz for safety and because I love pink. I find the pink colours make drivers more friendlier and it seems to make people happy out.

One of my friends at the yard said that my pink hi-viz looked stupid so I told him that we wear it for safety and that it looks good on my dark bay (almost black) mare! He said "no, it doesn't" but I guess him being a bloke, he would say that, lol. He argued that if a driver couldn't see someone 5 1/2 foot off the ground on a large animal that there was a problem. Another livery piped in at the same time and said that "she never uses hi-viz either".

It surprised me really with these comments as I thought that as horse riders and being VERY vulnerable users of the road that all riders would want to be as visible as possible.

To illustrate a point, later on when my OH and I went for a drive, there were some horse riders riding on one of the country roads we were on riding bay horses. It was the colours of their hi-viz that we noticed first as the natural colours of the horses blended in with the hedges, trees and dark tarmac of the road.
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As a rider and a car driver of many years standing I must say that it often isn't easy to see riders even in good visability. In any case, any precautions that riders can take or never wasted. My insurers have told me (I enquired specifically about this having rad about it in a magazine) that if a rider was involved in an accident and wasn't wearing hi-viz they would not pay out on a claim even if the rider and horse were not to blame ".

My best answer to your yard acquaintance is "I wear hi-viz because I'd rather look a live prat than be a dead fashion victim" or "More fool you" to the people who boast about not bothering with hi-viz.
 
HeavyHorseHugger said:
I always wear hi-vi (usually yellow), whether Im riding or leading. I`d rather be safe than sorry.....if not for my own sake then my horses..!!!
I cannot see how anyone can say its stupid to wear it, beggars belief..!!! :eek::confused:
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Interestingly, yellow is the best colour to wear for this purpose. It can be seen from a greater distance than any other colour and is the last colour to go when losing one's sight.
 
I used to wear a hi-viz tabard with "Caution Disabled Rider" - I'm deaf and can't always hear vehicles I can't see. It had an amazing effect. Cars would give horse and me such a wide berth they practically went through the gardens of the houses across the road! Sadly the writing wore off.

Incidentally, keep your hi-viz clean. Dirt prevents the reflective strips reflecting.
 
I wear yellow hiviz ... however I do believe that orange is meant to be more noticeable ..... something about the brain reacting to it quicker.... i think there was a piece about it in the HH magazine in the autumn....
 
criso said:
I didn't see a cyclist in dark clothes on a dark bike on a dark wet night.
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Once it's past twilight, Hi-viz isn't much use anyway. The yellow just looks a murky beige in the street lights and the reflective strips only work if there's something for them to refelect (so pretty much direct, white light like headlights). If it was dark, the colour of the cyclist's clothes and bike is moot. The fact that the cyclist didn't have any lights on and didn't bother to slow down approaching a crossing where there was a ped waiting to cross makes him a knob. The lack of hi-viz is irrelevant.
 
As a rider and road user I am always in high viz - I like being alive so am happy to invest a few £ in some high viz to ensure I stay that way!

Re an exercise sheet for the horse in warm weather, we use these (pones are radiators so we use these most of the year! They come up a smidge on the large size so if you are between sizes I'd go down one.)
....urgh can't find them! Will hunt and re-post!
 
At the end of the day I don't look attractive in my hat, big winter coat and waterproof over trousers so may as well finish it off with high viz!

Just kidding its not even about that. It takes 2 seconds to put on a tabard so why would you even not?

I do tend to only wear a tabard, though will use my high viz exercise sheet if it's raining
 
Mythical said:
Once it's past twilight, Hi-viz isn't much use anyway. The yellow just looks a murky beige in the street lights and the reflective strips only work if there's something for them to refelect (so pretty much direct, white light like headlights). If it was dark, the colour of the cyclist's clothes and bike is moot. The fact that the cyclist didn't have any lights on and didn't bother to slow down approaching a crossing where there was a ped waiting to cross makes him a knob. The lack of hi-viz is irrelevant.
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Even murky beige would have been better than black and would have made the difference between me seeing him and not. In built up areas I find hi viz much easier to spot and had already waited for others to go past before i crossed. This was the one dressed in dark clothing and that was the one i didn't see and stepped out.

I live in London and cyclists don't stop at zebra crossings, you can argue they should but they don't so I look out for them.

There's always traffic and a bit of light around and I find the ones wearing hi viz do jump out. The tiny light on the front of a bike doesn't stand out in street lights and puddles reflecting and headlights.
 
I wont' go out without hi viz and can't understand riders going out without.

It makes such a difference to how quickly you can spot a rider.

At our yard most do hack out with hi viz but quite a few go out on dark horses, in dark clothes... I'd rather look stupid and be visible, sorry!
 
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