Cyclists, one question: why wear all BLACK?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. And add the commuters walking in the street wearing long black puffy coats and black caps in the dark in the winter. You are in the street and you are invisible. Why?

TY for this perspective. I am a commuter walking to work and I never thought about the long, black puffy coat not being visible. Although I walk in the downtown area in day light most times. But afterwork it can get dark quickly in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a cyclist and I think it’s stupid to wear all black. People are not perfect, and I hate coming up to walkers or cyclists that are in black at night. They are almost invisible. Dumb.

This kinda means that people, in general, should not wear an all black outfit at night, right? Anybody who expects to be crossing or near to a road way should not wear black?

True. Maybe in an urban setting you are fine.
I wear all black a lot but I'm a suburban car driver. In winter walking the dog I have a light up vest that I deliberately put on over my black. Black dog has one too!

When I shop I now choose a few white outerwear garments. It's not my favorite but it's a sensible choice.

I have not liked the white coats that are harder to keep clean, but it is a minor issue when you consider everything.

[Anonymous]

Pedestrians and Cyclists
Reflective Vests

"Be sure that you (and your children) are visible in the dark or that your clothing and bicycle has sufficient reflective elements so that motorists can see you clearly.

Wear reflective vests.
Put on reflective elements and/or LED lights on your wrists, arms, head, ankles, bags, etc.
Don a headlamp.
Wear clothes or use accessories with reflective elements.
LED leash and collar for dogs
Equip your bicycle with reflective elements and lamps.
Extra tips

Reflective elements which dangle/move around, when you are in motion, are more effective in increasing your visibility.
Reflective elements should hang around your knee level in order to reflect light from vehicle headlamps.
Use several reflective elements so you can be seen from different angles.
Scratches decrease the effectiveness of your reflective elements, so be sure to replace them when necessary."

[Anonymous]

Pedestrians walking their dog in my neighborhood are the worst. All black clothing at night and walking in the street instead of sidewalk. So hard to see them. So stupid. All it takes is one distracted driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pedestrians walking their dog in my neighborhood are the worst. All black clothing at night and walking in the street instead of sidewalk. So hard to see them. So stupid. All it takes is one distracted driver.

The driver doesn't even need to be distracted. Simple cataracts can make those folks impossible to see. If the person isn't moving it's even harder to see them. What I don't understand is why they don't get out of the road when they know a car is coming. More concerning is that some are wearing headphones, so they don't even hear the car.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Do you wear special clothes to get from place to place in your car?

No. Because I’m IN my car. My car has lights on all the time. And it’s a bright color.

People should be able to walk from place to place, or roll from place to place, without the obligation being on them to change clothes for that purpose. As long as they are following traffic rules and the motorist is following traffic rules, their should be no problem.

The breaking of traffic rules is the problem. Not what people are wearing.

“Here lies the body of William Jay, Who died maintaining his right of way— He was right, dead right, as he walked along, But he’s just as dead as if he were wrong.”

Wear what you like. It’s your life.

But here is the thing. There is a not a whole lot of evidence of "people wearing all black" being killed while walking or biking on a road at any higher rate than somebody who took the time out of their life to change into a reflective flashing vest..
There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence of drivers being annoyed that they actually had to pay attention and couldn't actually roll through a right turn or a stop sign because hey had to break at the last minute for one of these people.

Seems to me we need more drivers acting cautiously and paying attention, not more people in neon clothes.

There is a lot of evidence that reflective clothing reduces the chance of a pedestrian being struck.

I have not seen any evidence of this. There are studies that tracked eye focus that showed that drivers SEE pedestrians at a further distance if they are wearing reflective clothing than when they don't. But there is no evidence that pedestrians without reflective clothing are struck at a higher rate.

This isn't really as pedantic as it sounds. The behavioral change required is in driver speeds and caution, not in attire of people trying to get from place to place.

Pedestrians are more likely to be hit during evening and night hours of low visibility.
"Several studies established that wearing retroreflective materials increased recognition distance (Luoma et al., 1995; Owen and Sivak, 1993). Research shows that pedestrians usually overestimate their own visibility to drivers and underestimate the benefits of retro-reflective materials in dark conditions (Tyrell and Patton, 1998; Tyrell et al., 2004a; Tyrell et al., 2004b)".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same with the jaywalkers crossing streets in the dark wearing dark clothing.

If the complaint is about people wearing all black while cycling, that same applies to pedestrians.

Unless, of course, the complaint is from one of our rabid anti-cyclist posters. Shocking.

Pedestrians - the very worst ones of all, are the ear-bud idiots.

Why are they even on the trail at all, with their ear buds cranked up to 11 ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same with the jaywalkers crossing streets in the dark wearing dark clothing.

If the complaint is about people wearing all black while cycling, that same applies to pedestrians.

Unless, of course, the complaint is from one of our rabid anti-cyclist posters. Shocking.

Pedestrians - the very worst ones of all, are the ear-bud idiots.

Why are they even on the trail at all, with their ear buds cranked up to 11 ?

YES! So done with these people.

I mean, you politely announce your pass from a distance, but get nothing back because they can’t hear you. So annoying !

[Anonymous]

Are these people wearing black cycling gear? Or just black clothing in general?

If cycling gear, yeah, IA... pick a different color!

If wearing regular black clothing, I assume they are on their way to or from work at a restaurant job since most require all black outfits. I wish more would add a reflective vest to their outfits on their walks/rides home late at night. So dangerous since most don't even have reflective shoes on since they are required to wear all black non-slip shoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these people wearing black cycling gear? Or just black clothing in general?

If cycling gear, yeah, IA... pick a different color!

If wearing regular black clothing, I assume they are on their way to or from work at a restaurant job since most require all black outfits. I wish more would add a reflective vest to their outfits on their walks/rides home late at night. So dangerous since most don't even have reflective shoes on since they are required to wear all black non-slip shoes.

OMG