Blood on the streets

This is exactly what I was worried about coming from the recent media stuff.

Anyone who spends any time in the saddle will realise that fluoro (or, let's be honest, a helmet) isn't going to do much against an inattentive driver. Hi viz will just blend into the background against all the rest of the hi viz the streets are littered with these days (building workers, maintenance workers, I even saw schoolkids on a walk the other day wearing sodding hi viz tabards).

This is a pathetic police response - particularly the mention of a driver 'not wearing their glasses'

And yes, cycle training - did it the other week and it was so good I went back for another session.

Absolutely, I don't wear hi-viz because I'm not on a building site or signalling to planes on a runway. I'm on a bike, on a well lit road, with lights on IN THE DAYLIGHT. Hi-viz is not going to save me, or anyone else. If you're in driver's blind spot you could have the Batman call sign shining on you and you won't be seen. And that's being generous to drivers - you don't have to be in the blind spot not to be seen, as "not looking" seems to be the unifying feature of drivers, on my commute at least.

Kids wearing hi-viz - yes, I see this a lot and definitely agree that it becomes an indistinguishable fluro sea. When I was a teacher and took my kids out on trips it was good if they wore something so I could spot them from afar - perfectly easy to do without hi-viz though, particularly if your school has a uniform...

(Incidentally, I've only just started wearing a helmet full time after I got run over by a bus and had to watch the CCTV of the incident and don't want my mum to have to watch CCTV of me with no helmet on - I'm aware it does the square root of fuck all when you're under a bus but I don't want my mum to worry any more than she already does).

What ludicrous BS.
Road CC are asking people to mail in about their experiences - info@road.cc

Great, I'll email them. Thanks.
I've already tweeted it and had no response yet.

had a similar discussion with my parents last night. i don't wear hi-viz but i always wear a helmet, have a backpack with reflective stuff on and have pretty decent lights. my stepdad was talking about the reduced visibility he has when driving a van but in my experience if a cunt isn't going to see you, hi-viz is not going to make much of a difference. and the idea that all cyclists NEED to be clad in bloody fluro lends itself to an attitude that it is the cyclist's responsibility to make themselves safe regardless of lane drifting, non-indicating, inattentive and aggressive vehicular arseholes.

but yeah, lowest hanging fruit etc... :(

Exactly. If you have reduced visibility it is YOUR responsibility to drive more carefully. Not other people's to accommodate you. If you're not safe to drive, get out of the fucking vehicle (sorry - no offence to your stepdad). I can never decide whether drivers just DON'T see, CHOOSE not to see, or SEE but decide it's not worth paying attention. Either way, yes, cyclists should make themselves safe by cycling responsibly and ensuring they can be seen (lights, road positioning etc) but motorists have just as much responsibility to make sure they don't turn their vehicles into killing machines in the interests of shaving 10 seconds off their commute or sending that important text message or eating a ginsters pasty or whatever.