Wear reflective clothing while cycling
A post-doctoral fellow, Philippe Lacherez in an Australian university conducts a research which involves 184 Australian cyclists who had been in an car accident, and he finds that cyclists are easy to get into danger of being struck by a car due to inability be seen on the road, particularly at dawn, dusk or at night. In addition, the research says that wearing high visibility is not equal to wearing reflective clothing. Wearing the reflective clothing is the answer to being seen in the hours of darkness.
In the research, the researchers find that the most dangerous times of day were between 7am and 9am, and from 3pm and 8pm, which is during almost the sunrise and sunset time. The investigators’ responses emphasized that in most of the instances the riders are in dark that did not give drivers sufficient time to avoid hitting them. Sometimes, the drivers could not see drivers when the cyclists were dressed in dark clothing that made the drivers unable to notice them, even in the daytime.
In the United Kingdom, Rule 59 of the Highway Code says, among other things, that cyclists…should wear…
- light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light.
- Clothing and/or accessories with reflective tape (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark.
From the research and the Rule 59 of the Highway Code in the United Kingdom, we can see that preparing some light-colored or fluorescent in home is not enough. Reflective clothing plays a significant role in dark night. For cherishing your life and your family, we recommend every cyclist to have reflective clothing at least for avoiding traffic accident.
