High Visibility

In the BRC we talk about safety gear. It can be used to accomplish two important things: firstly, to protect your head and body from damage in the event of a crash; secondly, to make you more visible.

Being seen is critical. It can make the difference between someone saying, "Oh, look at that flashy gear!" or, "I didn't even see him!" (after they've run into or over you).

As I taught my first few BRCs, I started to question the fact that my helmet was black (black is an extremely popular color for motorcycle gear and accessories, perhaps because of some "cool" type association with black leather). I had also just purchased a black and dark gray touring jacket. My longtime riding jacket before that was a leather Hein Gericke (a great, purpose-built motorcycle jacket but also black).

So here I was telling people to be visible and I was riding around in black, dark gray, and... more black. Hmmm.

I decided to do something about it.

Soon after, I found myself in a cycle dealership scoping out good deals on a brighter jacket. I found a big off-season sale and went for it. I also got a steal on a brightly colored matching helmet (Snell approved, no less. I later realized why it was on sale: It's noisy! I'm working on that).

The photos below approximate daytime appearance (no flash, just ambient light) and nighttime appearance when headlights are on you (flash used). They show how my dark gear compares to my new, bright gear.



Old helmet - day




New helmet - day




Old helmet - night
Since I started "Project Vis' " I have added some retro-reflective strips on this helmet to increase visibility. These orange strips are leftover from registration stickers that I trimmed because they are a bit too big to fit on the license plates

Even so, the new helmet still wins out...





New helmet - night




Old jacket - day



New jacket - day
It's so different!



Old jacket - night
The large retro-reflective trim helps




New jacket - night




Rain gear can be used anytime, but will definitely be worn when it's raining and visibility is low. For some reason (public preference, I guess) a lot of rain gear is also made in black. In fact, at the store I went to, the only colors on the rack were black and black with dark green. I decided to order the yellow jacket.


Day



Night


I like the features of the gray and black touring jacket. It's to late to return it but I've got a solution. I'm going to incorporate additional retro reflective material and safety lime-yellow or orange material into the shell. I've seen some silver or gray with lime-yellow jackets and even all lime-yellow jackets in the shops, in catalogs, and on the road and they look pretty cool.

And you can see them from a mile away!