A different kind of one-percenter

[BumbleBeeDave]

Interesting story on road.cc . . .

http://road.cc/content/news/99660-high-vis-clothing-doesnt-make-cars-pass-you-more-safely-says-new-study

Looks like this story primarily concerns the UK. I wonder if the same applies here in the US? There's also some interesting visuals of the different outfits he used in the research.

BBD

If you feel like some drivers will pass too close no matter that you wear and that you’re being given less space on the road than you used to, a new study says you’re right, and indicates very strongly that you’re not safer if you wear high-vis in the daytime.

Researchers from the University of Bath and Brunel University found that no matter what clothing a cyclist wears, around 1-2% of drivers will pass dangerously close when overtaking. They also found that compared to Transport Research Laboratory findings in 1979, drivers today on average pass 61cm (2ft) closer to cyclists - 118cm compared to 179cm.

The researchers conclude that there is little a rider can do, by altering their outfit or donning a high-visibility jacket, to prevent the most dangerous overtakes from happening. Instead, they suggest, if we want to make cyclists safer, it is our roads, or driver behaviour, that need to change. (continued . . . )

[Louis]

So how many of them pass closely because they don't see the cyclist, and how many see the rider and purposely pass as close as possible?

[buddybikes]

Too busy on their phones

More than once almost taken out passing my middle school by oversize SUV driving mother on her phone

[Louis]

Many of my rides are on narrow twisty roads. They have their own set of challenges, but one of the benefits is that drivers really do have to pay attention, otherwise they'll end up in the ditch or a creek. I think that hopefully discourages some of the texters. At a minimum, the curvy road and the omnipresent deer force them to watch what they're doing.

[ultraman6970]

Dunno know why this doesnt surprise me at all..

[thwart]

This is priceless (from the comments section):

Now I think its possible that if the penalties for not paying attention were far, far higher for the driver, that _then_ high-viz might make a difference. If cyclists were known to explode with the force of a IED if you hit them even at low speed, for example, then motorists would concentrate fully on looking for them and take full advantage of any aid to spotting them, and so high-viz might then make a difference.

[peanutgallery]

don't get caught in their wheel well, they'll be upset

We have a soccer complex near our neighborhood, super dangerous area as many of the parents are focused way too much on where they need to be and you are but an irritant and delay in the process of growing the best white kids

Too busy on their phones

More than once almost taken out passing my middle school by oversize SUV driving mother on her phone

[onekgguy]

I think the number suggested in the article is much too high. In my experience I don't find that it's anywhere near that. I can usually say that at the end of the year I can count on one hand the number of drivers who passed me dangerously close and that's out of hundreds of thousands of drivers. All of my biking is done on roads and not on bike paths outside of my fat-biking. But that's my experience in Minnesota.

Kevin g

[David Tollefson]

Maybe it just doesn't bother me as much as the next guy, maybe I just got used to riding in close quarters from racing. Cars passing "fairly" close just doesn't get my hackles up, as long as it doesn't seem deliberate. Sure, I've had the occasional car buzz me, but that's far less than 1%.