There has been a bit of a hoohar lately because certain police forces – Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire – have started offering advice to motorcyclists on how to be better seen and to this end two out of the three of them are handing out hi-viz motorcycle gear.

The justification for handing out this gear is apparently to cut motorcycle accidents by making us easier to see.

Hmmm, what do we think to that?

On the surface of it, and probably to non-motorcycling folk, it probably seems like a jolly good idea. If they can see us through the little bit of steamed up window they have cleared in their car windscreen, whilst just supping their morning coffee, talking on their mobile phone and putting on their lippy, then great, it means their responsibility for any accident in which they didn’t see us is reduced.

And so say those against this campaign.

For my part, I agree.

There is only anecdotal, at best, evidence that wearing any kind of dayglo motorcycle gear, or using daytime headlights for that matter, reduces motorcycle accidents due to the ‘sorry mate I didn’t see you’ excuse.

One of the best things you can do to prevent yourself being a victim of this kind of accident is to ride defensively. In other words, expect everyone else on the road to do something daft. When you approach a junction take extra care because every now and again some idiot does pull out and at least if you are anticipating it you have half a chance of avoiding it.

One of our friends got knocked off his motorcycle when he pulled around to the outside of a large van who was turning left and someone pulling out of the same junction just didn’t see him. The van driver said he gesticulated to the car driver but even so the inevitable happened.
Now in that instance I have to say if I had been on a motorcycle I would have been expecting that especially if I couldn’t see the junction because of the van and would have rode accordingly.
So you can see with just a bit of forethought and preparation you can at least do something to prevent your next accident.

Ian Mutch, president of the Motorcycle Action Group, in his editorial in this month’s Road Magazine (the magazine for MAG members, which I assume you read as you are all MAG members aren’t you?) puts forward the argument that increasing acceptability of Hi Viz gear whether by motorcyclists themselves or by insurance companies insisting on their wear as a way of increasing liability of those motorcyclists who refuse to conform, is the way forward to compulsion, like motorcycle helmets before them, it’s a fine line.

He also argues that why shouldn’t those at fault for the ‘sorry mate I didn’t see you’ type accidents (here’s a clue: the car driver/some other larger vehicle than a motorcycle) should be made to take responsibility for actually looking and being aware of motorcyclists.

Hear! Hear!

The letters page is also full of motorcyclists reporting their experience of riding with Hi-Viz, none of it good. This includes a now retired Traffic Police Officer who rode in ‘plain clothes’ for ten years having only one accident in that time and who believes, in agreement with the views expressed above, that there is no merit to Hi Viz.

So, what to do to prevent this scourge spreading?

Here’s some options, I’ll let you choose:

• Join MAG, did you know that only 1% of the UK’s motorcyclists are members of either MAG or the BMF? That is shameful as they are our best chance of fighting this madness now that they are taken seriously in the corridors of power. Click here to join

• Start a petition go to: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk

• You could write to your MP click here

If you happen to get stopped by the  police forces operating the scheme you could counter their arguments with your own by asking them to justify the necessity of hi viz motorcycle gear.

What will you do?

Anything?

Let me know your thoughts below: