Now is the time of year that visibility becomes a real issue more frequently when driving or riding. The main road users at higher risk are pedestrians and motorcyclists. They are just not so easy to see as a lorry or car!

Darker morning and evenings, rain, fog, to mention a few conditions that affect how you might see the road and other road users. Add in to this blinding headlights, misted windscreen or visor and human factors such as time pressures; you get a higher risk environment for the more vulnerable road users.

Consider coming up to a junction and deciding if it is safe to move out on to the main road. A lot of factors can limit how long or how well the driver or rider may spend looking to see if it is safe. Even how much focus they have when looking.

I have used two pictures to highlight the differences between someone not wearing high visibility clothing and someone who is. If you look quickly without spending much time seeing…

The colour of the high visibility clothing can also make a difference. Orange doesn’t blend in as well as say yellow. Pink is even better at standing out. High contrast, being a solid shape and not blending with the background is what you are looking for.

I will leave it to you to decide if high visibility clothing is worth using for your safety as a pedestrian or motorcyclist, but I would have to say; any advantage I can get to reduce my risk of someone else making a mistake, is worth having.