On a Bike it's the 'Survival of the Brightest'!

Survival of the Brightest!

On your bicycle, at night by UK law you must use white front & red rear lights. But this is not sufficient to be seen by motorists at night. Cyclists also need to use reflective products (they reflect back the motorists headlights to the motorist) to get noticed and be seen at night.

During the day, cyclists often don't take any special measures to be seen. That can be dangerous!

During daylight cyclists should wear fluorescent gear to get noticed and be seen. Fluorescent gear is fluorescent yellow or fluorescent orange or fluorescent pink clothing eg. waistcoats, jackets or trousers.

Inattentional Blindness

Now watch the video (left) - to understand why fluorescent & reflective products are needed - before reading on!

The reason that cyclists must wear fluorescent gear during the day is that drivers can be 'blind' to cyclists & other road users. Drivers may be looking but sometimes they just don't see cyclists!

Drivers often day-dream and don't give their full attention to road users. This is known as 'inattentional blindness' (wikipedia).

Inattentional Blindness means that we may not see something at all unless we are paying attention to it.

Typically 50% of those who view the video don't report seeing the gorilla. Dr. Daniel Simons interprets this by stating that people are mistaken with regard to how important events will automatically draw their attention away from current tasks or goals. What is in our visual field and what is perceived is based much more on attention than was previously thought. Motorists see other cars and buses but often miss the cyclist, who is equivalent to the 'moonwalking bear' in the video.

Being very vulnerable, cyclists must make extra special efforts to get motorists attention. Wear reflective clothing at night, fluorescent clothing during day.

When you are cycling it's not about the 'Survival of the Fittest' but the 'Survival of the Brightest'" says Chris Street, Managing Director at BeSeenOnABike.