Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I assume you are already wearing a high visability jersey.
I commuted for many years on a motorcycle. One conclusion that I reached from that was that on sunny days I was quite visible, even if I was not trying to be. But overcast days, all the car drivers treated me like I was invisible. There is nothing you can do to fix the weather, but it does tell you when you need to be much more alert.
And riding into sunrise or sunset when the car driver behind you has a dirty windshield and is struggling to see you when they have the sun in their eyes, they will have trouble seeing you. This is near one of my exercise rides, about a week old news.
https://www.channel3000.com/bicyclis...spect-ongoing/
Based on the time of day and direction I would not be surprised if the driver had the sun in their eyes when they hit the bicyclist. I avoid going east into the sun in early morning and west into the sun in evening as much as I can, but sometimes there is no choice.
Flashing taillights are good to attract attention, but you can't get any depth perception off of them. Constant on lights are less noticeable, but when you see one you get a better sense of where it is. In low light conditions I sometimes will have both a constant and also a flashing taillight. And I really hate those flashers that are so bright that you lose all track of where anything is, my taillights are bright enough but not obnoxious.
And last, if you have a taillight that has a very narrow beam, mount it on your bike in a way that it is well aimed straight behind, not shining at the tree tops.
Lots of good points here!
The brightly colored clothes are visible from all directions, as opposed to lights being mostly visible to the front and rear. In an urban environment where you need cross traffic to see you, it can be very helpful. In fact, there is usually so much going on in urban traffic that you need everything available to get noticed.
The position of the sun relative to you and traffic is important, as noted. Do what you can to avoid having traffic behind you facing into the sun, since it's much harder for them to see you against that bright light.
Similarly, be aware of when you are moving from a well lit area into the shadows. Once you are in the shadows, anyone still in the sun will have a much harder time seeing you.
In many of these situations of questionable visibility, it can be important to keep an eye on the traffic behind you, in order to judge whether they can see you properly and are actually going around you. I use a helmet mirror to glance back quickly at traffic behind me, and it has allowed me to move off of the road when I could tell that a car approaching from the rear (at night) was not moving to the left to go around. Even as I was moving onto the shoulder, the car clipped my left pannier as it went by me and knocked it off. The driver, to his credit, came back to see if I was okay. The driver was a young high school kid, and said that he saw my taillight. I didn't bother asking why he still clipped me.... I assume it was "target fixation", or maybe texting while driving, or ?? Some folks tend to drive towards whatever they are looking at, so maybe a new driver would be prone to this?
Anyway, I think the OP is covering the basics well. Future improvements might depend on the specific environment or threats
Steve in Peoria