Hi viz clothing

[Graham O]

There is some evidence to suggest that high vis yellow is no longer noticed as it is so common. Some local authorities are considering going to high vis orange to improve visibility. There is a cyclist near here with orange and it is really stands out. My next jacket will be orange.

[RickH]

There is some evidence to suggest that high vis yellow is no longer noticed as it is so common. Some local authorities are considering going to high vis orange to improve visibility. There is a cyclist near here with orange and it is really stands out. My next jacket will be orange.

Ditto - when I replaced my Altura Night Vision jacket I bought the orange one because there are a lot fewer of them so far. The Hi-viz pink ones are stand out too but I'm not sure I'm up to one of those (but maybe if orange jackets get too popular )

Rick.

[sirmy]

One thing I found was that fluorescent clothing doesn't work at night, not enough UV light form street lighting to cause the fluorescent effect.

I had a quick look at the study last night and the Wikipedia entry is misleading (who'd have thunk it). It turns out to have been based on responses to an online questionaire, a link to which was posted on cycling and driving sites. It appears that Australians are sure hi viz makes them more visible and that oddly cyclists who wear hi viz spend less time off work after accidents than those who don't.

It also looks like the causes of accidents are very different down under - "In his examination of fatal bicycle crashes in Victoria (Australia), Hoque (1990) noted that although a greater proportion of all fatal bicycle crashes were initiated by the cyclists themselves, in 90% of night-time crashes the cyclist was hit by an overtaking motorist" however drivers were less likely to consider an incident a near miss than a cyclist is - much like over here

[Audax67]

By day a fluo vest stands out, by night reflective strips are much more effective if they're wide enough, i.e. around 2". The reflective piping, dots, lettering etc that some manufacturers put on their stuff are as good as useless.

WRT councils switching to orange because there are so many yellow vests that theirs don't stand out: so what? Are motorists specifically trying to target council workers? (Mind you, if they could clobber a few of the buggers that gravel our roads I'd be all for it.)

WRT Hoque (1990) and Oz stats, in 1990 a cyclist in any kind of special clothing at night was a rarity. Even in 2005 when I first tried to buy reflective clothing, the only thing going in the shops around here was a Sam-Browne-like effort made of Velcro & fluo tape that nobody could figure out how to get into.

[Big T]

Very interesting, I was going to buy this for the darker winter days, what do you think
http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/p ... nge_jacket

I have one of those. good for daytime and dusk, but not so good for nightime. I also have an older design full RBS jacket, which has a lot more reflective material on it.

However, I was wearing it this morning and still almost got wiped out by a SMIDSY who turn across me.

[onyerbike]

I wear a hi-vis orange top, muddy fox (don't do full lycra yet ) the orange is SO "bright". However at night you would need reflective strips, although i've not researched it i don't think the hi vis top would show out much more than any other colour.

[sevenhills]

I have one of those. good for daytime and dusk, but not so good for nightime.

As a driver, hi-vis are good for daytime, but night-time its down to your lights. I usually wear something similar, with more silver stripes, but I dont think that they work after multiple washes in the machine.
I have two lights at the front and threee at the rear. Lights can be as cheap as £3 in my local Morrisons, and not bad too.

[Graham O]

A high vis fabric is only high vis when it's daylight. It absorbs light and then radiates it back at a different colour, in our case yellow or orange. In the dark, it is no brighter than any other colour which is why the retroreflective tape is on true high vis clothing, i.e. conforming to EN471.

[The Mechanic]

One thing I found was that fluorescent clothing doesn't work at night, not enough UV light form street lighting to cause the fluorescent effect.

You are completely misinformed here. The "reflective material on clothing is actually "retro-reflective". That is, it is designed to reflect light back to the source. Therefore, it lights up in car headlights since the light is reflected back to the driver. Street lighting has no bearing on it at all.

Hi-viz colour is designed for daylight. The retro-reflective material on hi-viz clothing is designed for night time. That is why British and ISO standard hi-viz has both bright colours and retro-reflectives.

[meic]

Sirmy is talking about fluorescent material, you are talking about reflective material they are two different things.

The jacket is made of fluorescent material with reflective material bands sewn onto it.

[The Mechanic]

Sirmy is talking about fluorescent material, you are talking about reflective material they are two different things.

The jacket is made of fluorescent material with reflective material bands sewn onto it.

Which jacket is made out of flourescent material. Hi-viz clothing made be termed "flourescent" colours but they most certainly do not glow in the dark or reflect ambient light any more than anything reflects ambient light (I undersatand that this is how we are able to see things). The colours are designed to be highly visible to the eye, not anything else.

[The Mechanic]

For clarity, "Flourescent" material is available and is usually used for such things are emergency signage where it needs to be seen in the dark (Fire signs etc). This material absorbs light and glows in the dark. Hi-viz clothing does not glow in the dark..

[wirral_cyclist]

For clarity, "Flourescent" material is available and is usually used for such things are emergency signage where it needs to be seen in the dark (Fire signs etc). This material absorbs light and glows in the dark. Hi-viz clothing does not glow in the dark..

Nah that's luminous surely?

Sent from an Android by a human

[The Mechanic]

For clarity, "Flourescent" material is available and is usually used for such things are emergency signage where it needs to be seen in the dark (Fire signs etc). This material absorbs light and glows in the dark. Hi-viz clothing does not glow in the dark..

Nah that's luminous surely?

Sent from an Android by a human

I agree, that is a more correct term but I think a lot of people think that so called "flourescent" colours glow in the dark. My original comment to the post by SirMy still stands.

Edit: My dictionary defines "Flouresence" as "the property of a substance, as flourite, of producing light when acted upon by radiant energy." Hi-viz clothing most certainly does not do this.

[Graham O]

Fluorescence means that something absorbs radiation and emits it at another wavelength, i.e. absorvb UV and emit visible light. Turn off the exciting radiation and the fluorescence stops.

Phosphorescence is very similar, but the emision of the lower wavelength is much longer and it may last for seconds or hours after turning off the exciting radiation.

Luminous means that light is being emitted due to a (usually) chemical reaction without external stimulus. (Apart from you pressing the on button!)