At lunch I took my MC down to the local bank and while I was pulling into the parking lot (very slowly I might add) an old guy in a car almost ran me over. I pulled up to his driver's window and asked (very politely) to watch out for motorcycles. Mind you this is a very busy parking lot as it is a strip mall parking lot and every time I pull into this lot I am on extra guard.
The part of this guy almost running me over was not that surprising but his response to me was very though provoking - his response was "Sorry I didn't see you - your too black..." Even tho I had my head light on - (mandatory in NY) - checking out my self, I'm riding a black bike with blue jeans and a black leather jacket and a black and grey helmet...
I started to think he might have something there - could the color black be the urban camouflage that stops car drivers from seeing someone coming on a motorcycle? I know it's a poor excuse but short of having a rotating orange light mounted on top of the helmet, I'm thinking riders may want to take extra care depending on the color of their ride and clothing and how it blends in with the surrounding area.
This is a poor analogy. Fire trucks are usually red. red vehicles are involved in more accidents than any other color. Yellow is the safest and most visible color for a vehicle and are involved in the fewest accidents.
Well, Yes I have seen a black fire truck ,on GEARS tv show about two weeks ago. Not that it makes sense or I thought it was cool,it's just that you asked.
Do you think its wise that most surfers/divers dress in black wet suits AND that seals, which are a sharks favorite food are also almost all black in color ???
People just dont see black as there isnt enough contrast..and sharks, they just love black...lol
I know.. off on a tangent but cars VS.bikes, sharks VS. seals somehow relate in this case....get some color!!!
I have to believe that breaking the colors up would help with bike ( both motorcycle and bicycle) riders awareness. Never understood the I'm a individual on my Harley but I'll wear all black because (insert answer here mentality. Sadly a auto driver texting or dialing or updating his GPS destination would probably run over someone wearing red leathers on a lime green Kawasaki with a blue rotating beacon.
ed
I have been hit on a bright red bike in red white and blue leathers also hit on a white and blue bike wearing a white, neon orange, and purple jacket. I suspect I was not seen due to my blue helmet.
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I don't seek to wear all black, some of the stuff I have is black. I think that wearing bright colors may be the difference of not getting hit in less than a majority of cases but I concede that even that is better than not wearing bright colors. The thing I have trouble with is that people see themselves as being safe because they look like their about to go hunting or pick up litter. RELYING on that bright color is not safety, I believe it's not safe at all. Safety happens between the ears in cars and bikes. Turning that cautious mindset off because you are wearing bright colors can get you in more trouble than the benifits of being bright. Always drive like you are invisible.
There was a proposal about a year ago over here to make it mandatory for motorcyclists to wear high visibility safety colours. It got quashed pretty quickly.
Every where you look nowadays someone is wearing high visiblility clothing. From the postman to the guy mowing the park to emergency services....they're literally everywhere.
I think people are so conditioned to seeing hi viz clothing it wouldn't make a scrap of difference to people on motorcycles - they'd still be "unseen" and hit accordingly.
I would argue that the color of automobile involved in the most/least accidents has as much to do with the personality of the driver as the visibility of the auto. The person that must have a bright red car may also be inclined to drive faster (like a Ferrari?), while the person who settles for a yellow one may be inherently more cautious?
Maybe checkers aren't such a bad idea after all? At least it breaks up the blackness.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have a black helmet with a big checker stripe running fore-aft, and one of those reflective halos around the bottom rim.
The car I've owned that got hit the most was a BRIGHT yellow 72 beetle.
I think that fella just had the same knee-jerk reaction we all have when we eff up. Like when you trip over something while you're walking in public and you look back at the floor like it's not up to code or something. No one likes to take the blame. He wasn't looking. Black isn't invisible.
So in what way do you fear being hit by a car ? I've always worried about being rear ended while stopped behind a car at a red light. Also when riding I always stay out of car blind spots.
ed
Kinda reminds me of the stereotyped 80's Volvo driver. There were two types - one was scared shitless of having an accident so they had to have the safest car in the world.....and the other was the guy that thought he had the safest car in the world, so he drove like a dickwad.
Both were equally unpredictable and dangerous to encounter on the road.
I was thinking of this thread when I was riding in to work this morning and thought about what I was wearing - black full face, black jacket, black pants, black boots, and black gloves....on a black bike. Then I realised this bike is my first (ever) black bike.
Funnily enough, I've had more instances of not being seen on my old flouro orange and green fighter than I have had with the black bike.
I have bright yellow rain gear, on my cross continent ride I wore partially KTM orange jacket and my white helmet got a treatment of plenty of reflecting tape.
here in Finland its very common to see touring riders wearing high viz yellow jackets/vests.
I do think being visible helps. Of course it doesn't always help.
Dressing like Bozo the clown will never trump well developed traffic awareness...
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