Dear Matthew, I have noticed joggers have taken up the neon vest in some numbers locally, and a few of the local commuters have as well.
I look forward to the day when, in addition to "s/he was/wasn't wearing a helmet," we'll get to read "s/he was/wasn't wearing reflective anklebands and a safety vest conforming to ANSI standards" in our local newspaper's online edition. The EU countries have road regulations requiring reflective gear be used by cyclists after dark outside of urban areas (conforming to EN1173 or higher), which have been in place since (around) 2010. The military requires motorcyclists (another group with serious SMIDSY problems on the road) to wear ANSI vests, and has for thirty years now. I've not seen any data indicating that these requirements have changed crash rates. Has anyone seen a study? We don't tend to wear safety gear for activities that we consider normal, ordinary and not "dangerous", regardless of the actual risks involved. "Danger" (perceived risk of an event) doesn't necessarily map well to risk (probability of an event). Consequently, we get obese and tolerate distracted driving but we aren't embarrassed to hassle cyclists who aren't equipped with our personal standard for safety gear; this latter behavior extends well beyond the cycling community. Disclosure: I've been hit by a distracted teen driver in my non-chartreuse automobile while waiting at a stoplight. I was not wearing a reflective vest nor was I wearing a crash helmet at the time. Best Regards, Will William M. deRosset Fort Collins, CO On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 7:20:48 AM UTC-7, Matthew J wrote: > > I don't understand why more cyclists don't use safety vests - either cheap > ones like the Ikea or more pricey purpose made Nathans and the like. > > My Nathan has a loud neon green base that stands out in the day time and > reflective stripes that really catch the light in the evening. The > material is light and packable enough there is no problem stuffing it into > my bag or even a pocket when I reach my destination. > > Safety vests afford cyclists the luxury or wearing whatever color they > prefer while still being conspicuous on the bike, > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
