Hi vis discussion thread (read post #1)

RainyDay

Someone has a bit of a hi-vis fetish here, for the dangerous activity of walking around a town;

https://twitter.com/fionamacky

Carawaystick

ThisRegard wrote: »

Similar discussion arose some time ago in the Athletics forum. If I'm out running around the city at night, I'm always on footpaths and don't bother with hi-vis. Some people are of the mind that I'm putting myself in danger by doing so, because who knows, what if a car on the road was to try avoid hitting something on the road by swerving onto the footpath and driving over me because I'm not wearing high-vis.

Do they wear helmets while running on a footpath in hi-viz?
Because they might be putting themselves in danger of a car not seing them and hitting them and they might bang their head.

Actually they could get road rash from being knocked down, do they wear leathers and a back protector?
ya can't be too careful ya know.

:rolleyes:

To play devil's advocate maybe the hi vis vests come in handy at a pedestrian crossing for example? The evenings are very dark and heck most motorists barely slow down if they see someone crossing on one during the summer!!

Yeah I can't see any point in wearing one when walking along but for crossing the road they might be slightly worthwhile.

CramCycle

Deleted User wrote: »

To play devil's advocate maybe the hi vis vests come in handy at a pedestrian crossing for example? The evenings are very dark and heck most motorists barely slow down if they see someone crossing on one during the summer!!

Yeah I can't see any point in wearing one when walking along but for crossing the road they might be slightly worthwhile.

In an urban environment they are more than likely well lit or have pedestrian controlled lights. Considering that cars in urban environments should be driving with dims, if you cannot see the person without hi vis, you won't see them with hi vis.

Not intentional but your post does read as victim blaming, it's not a pedestrians fault that a vehicle is not travelling at a speed suitable for the conditions, it is the drivers fault. It would have been part of their test to slow and prepare to stop coming to any and all junctions.

The issue is with motor vehicles driving to fast, as you said, they hardly slow/stop at summer time even when your presumption is they are seen easier, do you really think a hi vis will change this if they are not in your view slowing when in your opinion the pedestrian is clearly visible during the summer time.

tomasrojo

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah I can't see any point in wearing one when walking along but for crossing the road they might be slightly worthwhile.

It's one of those things: the benefit is imaginable, but not measured as far as I know, and perhaps not measurable. If you're careful crossing the road, it's relatively unlikely you'll be hurt. How much less likely are you to be hurt if you're wearing hi-viz? Well, you'll be visible from maybe 100m away (if the car headlights can reach you unimpeded), which a pedestrian without hiviz might not be. However, a car 100m away is not likely to collide with you in the short time it takes to cross the road, unless the person behind the wheel is speeding (50km/h is 14m/s). Certainly unlikely to take you by surprise if you look both ways as you cross (seven seconds before the car reaches where you're crossing).

The scenario you have in mind, I imagine, is a car that's closer than that; you begin to cross but the driver doesn't see you and drives into you. This isn't that likely if you wait to make sure oncoming drivers have stopped or are slowing significantly before walking into their path.

The one time I really had a close one was when a cyclist stopped for a red pedestrian light, I stepped out (and so did my pregnant wife) but a car blew straight through the red light and I felt the breeze as it shot past. Very close. A mistake I won't make again; a "vehicle" had stopped, I had the green man and I started to cross.

This happened in broad daylight and I guess my wife and I were obscured by the cyclist. The pedestrian light wasn't at a junction so the motorist didn't even notice the light (no risk of cross-traffic colliding with him).

Not sure what lessons to draw from this, except make sure that a motorised vehicle is blocking the road before crossing.

In this case, I don't think hiviz would have made any difference, as the driver just wasn't paying attention. Even if it had, I'm not wearing hiviz every time I walk out the door, day or night. I'm willing to take small risks (assuming there is some additional risk) for the pleasure of a life not spent draped in chartreuse advertising The Farmer's Journal.

RobertFoster

I saw three primary school classes out walking at various points today, one decked out and hi vis and the other two in uniforms/coats. Other than initially thinking the hi vis group were a bunch of short builders, all three were equally visible as humans from a distance, even on a dull day like today. At least not every school has a hi vis fetish.

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

To play devil's advocate maybe the hi vis vests come in handy at a pedestrian crossing for example? The evenings are very dark and heck most motorists barely slow down if they see someone crossing on one during the summer!!

Easy solution. Just have a spare jacket on each side. Don the jacket, cross and hang it back up on the other side for the next person.

Or maybe have distinctive markings or even illumination at pedestrian crossings ??

Capt'n Midnight

Has anyone ever been prosecuted for not having a light when walking ?

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1964/si/294/made/en/print

Rules for pedestrians

35.

(3) During lighting-up hours at least one person from a group of twenty persons or more walking along a road shall carry a lamp showing a white light visible for a reasonable distance in the direction in which the group is walking and a red light visible for a reasonable distance in the opposite direction.

ThisRegard

I don't have 19 friends to test it out, sadly.

How's it supposed to work anyway, should the 2 lights be stuck on the head of the tallest person of the group?

Cookie_Monster

To play devil's advocate maybe the hi vis vests come in handy at a pedestrian crossing for example? The evenings are very dark and heck most motorists barely slow down if they see someone crossing on one during the summer!!

so the solution to bad driving is to force pedestrians to wear high vis and not deal with the bad driving?

Deleted User wrote: »

To be called a criminal for not wearing high viz is just bat shít crazy.

This, a million times this!!!

hardCopy

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Easy solution. Just have a spare jacket on each side. Don the jacket, cross and hang it back up on the other side for the next person.

Or maybe have distinctive markings or even illumination at pedestrian crossings ??

Or flags, bright orange flags.

http://www.kirklandwa.gov/depart/Public_Works/Transportation_and_Traffic/Pedestrian_Flags_-_FAQs.htm

Pinch Flat

hardCopy wrote: »

Or flags, bright orange flags.

http://www.kirklandwa.gov/depart/Public_Works/Transportation_and_Traffic/Pedestrian_Flags_-_FAQs.htm

jesus wept

tomasrojo

hardCopy wrote: »

Or flags, bright orange flags.

http://www.kirklandwa.gov/depart/Public_Works/Transportation_and_Traffic/Pedestrian_Flags_-_FAQs.htm

I assume one FAQ they omitted was: are you nuts?

Pinch Flat

tomasrojo wrote: »

I assume one FAQ they omitted was: are you nuts?

I have another faq:

"How come drivers are so dumb that THEY NEED A FRIGGIN FLEG to see pedestrians? (Capitals for emphasis)

Tenzor07

Crossing the main road yesterday(as a pedestrian), the lights went red yet some guy in an 08 Golf GTi decided to absolutely floor it as he approached the amber, and broke though the red light at the junction at speed... no amount of hi-vis would have saved your life in that instance...

check_six

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Crossing the main road yesterday(as a pedestrian), the lights went red yet some guy in an 08 Golf GTi decided to absolutely floor it as he approached the amber, and broke though the red light at the junction at speed... no amount of hi-vis would have saved your life in that instance...

I don't like to be a Contradictory Colin, but this just wrong wrong wrong if the new RSA sponsored Leaving Cert Applied Maths course is to be believed (which, of course, it is).

Rebranded as RSAology (pronounced arr-ss-ol-o-ji) this stuffy old subject has been jazzed up to be made more appealing to the modern student.

Gone are dreary old equations like Force = Mass x Acceleration, and in are exciting new ones like Force = (Mass x Acceleration)/Safetollix.
Safetollix is a precise measurement of the natural aura of safety a hi-vis jacket emanates. Naturally, a RSA Branded vest will emit infinite safetollix and will therefore render the Force calculation to tend towards zero.

That speeding car would simply cease movement as it came to rest against your hi-vis bedecked frame. Happily, the Safetollix field coming from your vest will also nullify any pesky conservation of energy concerns. This is primarily achieved by simply eliminating the conservation of energy section from the new RSAology course.

Newton was wrong! Rejoice!

Pinch Flat

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Crossing the main road yesterday(as a pedestrian), the lights went red yet some guy in an 08 Golf GTi decided to absolutely floor it as he approached the amber, and broke though the red light at the junction at speed... no amount of hi-vis would have saved your life in that instance...

But if you had a hi-vis fleg, you'd be ok.....

Tenzor07

If I had one of these you mean:

NiallBoo

Tenzor07 wrote: »

If I had one of these you mean:

I don't know if the outcome would be any safer, but it would certainly be more interesting!

Tenzor07

Every pedestrian should have a stinger, failing that, just put traffic cameras triggered by red light breakers and a nice €80 fine plus 2 points on the licence...

cdaly_

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Every pedestrian should have a stinger, failing that, just put traffic cameras triggered by red light breakers and a nice €80 fine plus 2 points on the licence...

Or 4 points if the lights are in a pedestrian phase when you run the red.


Actually, if we could have a pedestrian phase at every change of the traffic lights, that would be nice...

tomasrojo

check_six wrote: »

I don't like to be a Contradictory Colin, but this just wrong wrong wrong if the new RSA sponsored Leaving Cert Applied Maths course is to be believed (which, of course, it is).

Substantial changes are due to Biology and Optics. The only wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum perceptible to the human eye during daytime are in the yellowy-green part of the spectrum, known as the Zone of Infinite Safety. At night time, reflective stripes blaze brighter than the most powerful lights on the market, even without incident light.

check_six

tomasrojo wrote: »

Substantial changes are due to Biology and Optics. The only wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum perceptible to the human eye during daytime are in the yellowy-green part of the spectrum, known as the Zone of Infinite Safety. At night time, reflective stripes blaze brighter than the most powerful lights on the market, even without incident light.

Absolutely correct. Here's a dayglo star for your copybook.

You must have aced your Mocks the other week!

buffalo

On the way into the office this morning, I was waiting at a pedestrian crossing alongside a couple. A Garda car with hi-viz stripe, no sirens, arrived from the right and traffic from the left paused to allow it to cut across for a right turn.

The couple promptly walked out in front of the car which was following the Garda car, which had to slam on the brakes. My conclusion is that obviously the hi-viz stripe allowed them to see the Garda car, but because the following car didn't have any hi-viz, it was therefore invisible.

Solution: paint all cars hi-viz!

tomasrojo

buffalo wrote: »

My conclusion is that obviously the hi-viz stripe allowed them to see the Garda car, but because the following car didn't have any hi-viz, it was therefore invisible.

Rods and cones only work within the Zone of Infinite Safety.

NiallBoo

buffalo wrote: »

Solution: paint all cars hi-viz!

perfect

but then nobody will see anyone because everything is hi-vis and nothing stands out, so we'll all have to have mad flashing lights all of the time.

but then everybody will have mad flashing lights and nobody will be able to see what's what - so we'll need to install lasers.

but then everyone will be blind from the lasers so we'll all need to have blaring sirens constantly on

but then nobody will be able to hear anything over the din so we'll all have to wear hi-vis ear-plugs...

^^FYI, that's a summary of RSA policy for the next 20 years.

ThisRegard

Was in the Phoenix Park today when a big group cycled by me, on the footpath, on bikes from the hire place.

They were all wearing bibs, but not exactly high vis but rather those orange types. Where do we stand on these, are they just gang colours?

Pinch Flat

Guided bike tours around Dublin use blue bibs. Maybe when they meet somewhere they have a stand off?

CramCycle

Which side are the jets?

galwaycyclist

CramCycle wrote: »

Which side are the jets?

Officer Krupke could make them all wear tte same colour. That would stop that gang malarky.