See Me Wear Cycling Apparel

Cycling Safety

Some other thoughts on cyclist safety - From Earle Bower, Developer of see me wear™

There seems to almost be an adversarial relationship between drivers and cyclists. Some drivers resent cyclists being on the road at all, and some make it a point to drive as close to the cyclist as possible to ‘teach them a lesson’. This seems crazy, the cyclist has every right to be on the road, BUT he or she should obey the rules of the road.

Some cyclists don’t follow the rules, ride through red lights, ride on the wrong side of the road, etc. This simply annoys drivers and endangers all cyclists.

The courteous rider is the safer rider.
I’ve noticed a certain amount of arrogance by some riders, especially on a group ride. If you’ve driven behind a string of 60 cyclists, three abreast, strung out for hundreds of yards, you understand the frustration this causes. The motorist is stuck going 15 mph until a long enough straightaway for passing.

Sure the riders are within their rights, but how smart is to annoy or anger motorists? It’s pretty fundamental, no matter whose fault it is, if a car and a cyclist collide the cyclist always loses.

Be friendly and courteous
For that reason, I am the friendliest, most courteous and considerate cyclist you could ever meet. I want motorists to identify with me as an individual human being, not an anonymous annoyance. I do this, by strictly obeying all rules of the road and by helping motorists, waving them by when I can see over a hill or around a curve and they can’t. I also yell thank you and give them a big salute for any act of kindness; in general I try to make it easier for them to get by me and get on with their day.

Please don’t ride after dark.
I, personally, think it’s very dangerous to ride at night, no matter what you wear or how you light your bike. I base this on two factors,

Data shows that half (49%) of all bicycling fatalities occur between the hours of 6 PM and 6 AM. Yet, only a very small percentage of total cycling is done during those hours.

a.	52% of all fatal traffic accidents occur in the same 12 hours; despite the fact that overall driving is also dramatically reduced at night.

Bicycling Magazine in their December 2010, issue, p. 34 looked at night riding. Their testing showed, “When cyclists wear fluorescent clothing, a driver’s perception distance (when the driver first spots something on the road) increases from 400 feet to 2,200 feet during the day and from 150 feet to 560 feet at night.” Look at the difference in perception distance from day to night,

Your safety has less to do with you than with the drivers. The incidence of alcohol related crashes is much greater after dark. The NHTSA reports for 2009:

a.	“Fatal crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers occurred four times more at night than during the day.” And,

b.	“For fatal crashes occurring from midnight to 3 AM; 66% involved alcohol-impaired drivers.”

I’ve been accused of being a fear monger because of my attitude. That’s silly. I am simply stating my opinion that night riding is more dangerous than riding in the daytime and I personally recommend against doing it…After all, my whole purpose in developing see me wear clothing is to make cyclists more visible to drivers. If they are already killing us during the daylight hours, it’s just going to be worse in the dark.

See safer cycling ideas at our blog: www.seemebikesafety.com

Profits from the sale of see me wear products will go to support bicycle safety projects.