Originally Posted by
Peter Aawen
:agree: Wot 'e says! :thumbup:
And all of that also applies when it comes to lights &/or hi-vis colors etc. Mention was made earlier of how running your lights on high beam might make a driver think that you're a 'normal vehicle' that's a lot further away than you really are because of how close your left & right headlights are when compared to those other 'normal vehicles', altho I believe that's generally a lot more of an issue at night time/in the dark; but there's a lot of evidence & research out there to support the likelihood that lights &/or bright colors, especially bright lights, are far more effective at making you visible at a distance than they are when they're close up!! The premise is that once you get within about 30 metres of another vehicle, the number & brightness of lights or colors you have on you/your machine MAY NOT HELP YOU BE 'SEEN' in quite the manner you expect!! :lecturef_smilie: . In fact, having a lot of lights or extra bright lights might even make the brain of a viewer at least partially block out that sector of said viewer's vision once you get up close ie, where you are most ast risk of a collision - so that other driver who blindly pulled out in front of you may well have been unable to 'see' you BECAUSE of all your bright lights, rather than 'despite' them!! :shocked:
The technique of weaving a bit in your lane & so continually changing your 'range & bearing' in their field of vision, so that you don't just appear as a 'gradually increasing in size object' that could be mistaken for a car further away than you as a rider actually are has been proven to work in a wide range of conditions/circumstances at increasing how soon & how close other drivers really do get to 'notice' you enough to warrant avoiding; so given the earlier info about lights & how bright they are, even if you do ryde with your lights on high during daylight hours (like me) or if you have extra bright lights/wear hi-vis colors etc, you really might want to include that 'weaving a bit in your lane' thing as you approach other vehicles/intersections etc just to be sure to be sure! :thumbup: