Open Face Crash

[HikerToo_imp]

You know I could buy into all the guys saying dress for the crash, not for the ride, but it seems to me that if one were REALLY, and I mean really, interested in being safe, all the ATGATT guys would be wearing more Hi Viz..jackets, helmets etc, and although I am seeing more of it these days, very few are giving up their black or bike matching colored jackets and helmets for Hi Viz.

Isn't it better to try and avoid the crash in the first place than to just wear gear to help in case of?

Isn't the number one excuse for drivers pulling out in front of motorcyclists the old "I didn't see him" line?

On my recent tour out west I wore a high viz vest over top of my regular gear 100% the time. I was in strange areas, looking for hidden roads, with unfamiliar traffic patterns. I wanted people to see me. I also had extra reflective stickers on my helmet and bike ( seems many on this forum immediately remove the side reflectors on their bikes). I saw lots of bikes on our trip out west. Jim's jacket and my vest were the only Hi Viz gear I saw,

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/Calitrip416_zps937cbbec.jpg.html]

I can tell you from working 25 years in the highway traffic safety field, that Hi Viz is the most important thing you can wear if you want to be seen on the highway. Without question, the greatest thing you can wear from a safety stand point.

So, many of you safety first guys, what is your excuse for not wearing Hi Viz gear?

Good question, just like compromises on how much gear to wear, same with what it looks like I guess....I rely on the head light and red color to help me be seen, and I don't think too many HiViz motorcycle paint jobs sell very well either.

[Tripod_imp]

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituar...0604110210

[Dengie Boy_imp]

I know that I am in a minority both on the road and at this forum, but I am a hiviz white hat biker. No, it does not look cool, but then I am an old fart whose days of looking cool have long past anyway.
Let me tell you hitting the side door of a ton of metal at 60mph is not cool either. I swear to this day (30 years on) that I heard my femur break on the handle bars of my RD400. "I just didn't see you chum, sorry". I wrote the bike off, the car off (bloody good job) and three months of my life off with my leg in traction. I did return cautiously to biking, but a few years later marriage, kids and a mortgage forced me to sell up.
Five years ago, after a long classic restoration project I returned to the saddle. A couple of days before my planned return my best mate had his knee smashed to pieces by a woman with a car full of kids who literally aimed her tin shed straight into the side of his GS1100. I asked him from his hospital bed exactly what had happened "I can't remember a thing but coming around on my back with this woman leaning over me in floods of tears repeating over and over I didn't see you, I just didn't see you". He is back on the road now with a hiviz top and a terribly uncool limp, that he is now told after numerous operations will need a replacement joint.

Since my hiviz return to biking, having covered some 5k miles many on the busy streets of London and other congested UK roads I can honestly say that I have not been threatened - no clever remarks please! In fact most motorists clearly go on their best behaviour when I pull up behind them, much to my amusement!

I have campaigned with others to make hiviz jackets a legal requirement, but I am selfishly now off the opinion that if every biker on the road was forced to wear one I would again become inconspicuous.

Sorry to bang on, but it is a pet subject of mine.

Given the above, I think my opinion on open face helmets is obvious.

Cheers
Dengie
PS
Saw these for sale at a recent bike show that mimick UK police bikers jackets



No I didn't buy one. Even I am not that uncool!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Dengie

[Tortuga_imp]

Careful Dengie, campaigning to enforce your sensibilities and views on others is not cool.

In the workplace it has become ridiculous how people behinds desks are now wearing hi viz vests in case they need to call some one in from the factory.

I have worn hi viz, when I was a learner, and again when I was an instructor. I even wore it to pick up my CB as the weather was bad.

Making it a legal requirement, not on my watch!

[shdwghst457_imp]

For real. Can you imagine the HD crowd being told this? Those guys lobby against helmets! I say every person's face is their own responsibility to protect.

[Cormanus]

For real. Can you imagine the HD crowd being told this? Those guys lobby against helmets! I say every person's face is their own responsibility to protect.

I agree, BUT ... in countries like the UK and Australia where taxpayers make significant contributions to public health, the cost of patching up people who acquire long term brain injuries from accidents (not just on motorcycles) falls on everyone complicating the issue somewhat. Hence we have laws that make wearing helmets compulsory and also make some form of third party person insurance mandatory.

Careful Dengie, campaigning to enforce your sensibilities and views on others is not cool.

In the workplace it has become ridiculous how people behinds desks are now wearing hi viz vests in case they need to call some one in from the factory.

I have worn hi viz, when I was a learner, and again when I was an instructor. I even wore it to pick up my CB as the weather was bad.

Making it a legal requirement, not on my watch!

Tortuga, somewhere on this forum is a link I posted to a piece on why wearing hi-viz vests doesn't help at all.

Ah, there it is, http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....4#pid27724

Dengie Boy, I guess you won't agree but, as I said in my earlier post, there is something to be said for contrarians.

[the Ferret]

Lol seems to me the piece said he hoped people would quit wearing hi viz because he didn't want to and didn't want it to become mandatory. He didn't say it didn't work.did I read it wrong both times?

[tomas_imp]

I ride with a open face helmet. I just can't stand wearing a full face helmet, They fog up, their hot and hard to breath inside for me anyway. I also think they take away from the freedom of the ride. Their will always be some risk of riding a motorcycle anyway.

[pechorin75_imp]

I won't get involved in arguments about mandatory safety equipment....but that said, having just read the anti-hi-viz article linked in a previous post, I'm a bit disgusted. I mean, I'm all for personal freedom/responsibility, but in a world where drivers often "never even see" the motorcyclists they kill, I find arguments against hi-viz from a safety standpoint pretty ludicrous.

The proof that it works is right there before your own eyes.

I was driving a car the other day when I saw a BMW rider waiting at an intersection further up the road. He was wearing a bright yellow hi-viz jacket. I'd wager I saw him literally hundreds of yards earlier than I would have otherwise, and continued to be aware of his presence. How can that possibly be a bad thing for the motorcyclist?

When I myself have worn a high-viz vest, it's been very obvious to me that drivers have given me more room. Is that a bad thing?

As to this guy's contention that motorcyclists are apt to become more reckless if they wear hi-viz--i.e., the "transfer of responsibility" argument--I seriously doubt it. You could argue against any safety device of any kind on that basis! I mean, have riders really become more reckless since they started wearing helmets?

I may ride like I'm invisible, but that doesn't mean I actually want to be invisible!

But I think what bugs me about the article more than anything is this: He's telling people not to adopt safety equipment that may well save their lives one day because--get this--as more of them do, the greater the odds it'll end up becoming the law for everyone. What a selfish, dishonest argument! His personal whims force him to argue that hi-vis is useless--something I'll bet he doesn't actually believe--so that he can then argue against people wearing it.

But it's a counterproductive argument, at least with me. After reading it, I wanted to go out and buy some more high-vis gear just to spite the guy.

[Firstfour_imp]

I won't get involved in arguments about mandatory safety equipment....but that said, having just read the anti-hi-viz article linked in a previous post, I'm a bit disgusted. I mean, I'm all for personal freedom/responsibility, but in a world where drivers often "never even see" the motorcyclists they kill, I find arguments against hi-viz from a safety standpoint pretty ludicrous.

The proof that it works is right there before your own eyes.

I was driving a car the other day when I saw a BMW rider waiting at an intersection further up the road. He was wearing a bright yellow hi-viz jacket. I'd wager I saw him literally hundreds of yards earlier than I would have otherwise, and continued to be aware of his presence. How can that possibly be a bad thing for the motorcyclist?

When I myself have worn a high-viz vest, it's been very obvious to me that drivers have given me more room. Is that a bad thing?

As to this guy's contention that motorcyclists are apt to become more reckless if they wear hi-viz--i.e., the "transfer of responsibility" argument--I seriously doubt it. You could argue against any safety device of any kind on that basis! I mean, have riders really become more reckless since they started wearing helmets?

I may ride like I'm invisible, but that doesn't mean I actually want to be invisible!

But I think what bugs me about the article more than anything is this: He's telling people not to adopt safety equipment that may well save their lives one day because--get this--as more of them do, the greater the odds it'll end up becoming the law for everyone. What a selfish, dishonest argument! His personal whims force him to argue that hi-vis is useless--something I'll bet he doesn't actually believe--so that he can then argue against people wearing it.

But it's a counterproductive argument, at least with me. After reading it, I wanted to go out and buy some more high-vis gear just to spite the guy.

That anti-hi-viz guy is a complete idiot.