Do auxiliary lights help you be seen?

[The Spin Doctor]

This is what I saw.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Lights serve to ATTRACT attention... then we have to MAKE SENSE of what we're seeing... too many lights, too bright, aimed in your eyes don't help figure out what's behind them.

[Cousin Jack]

This is what I saw.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Lights serve to ATTRACT attention... then we have to MAKE SENSE of what we're seeing... too many lights, too bright, aimed in your eyes don't help figure out what's behind them.

"IDGAS what it is, I don't want to hit it" is my first reaction to something I don't recognise.

Some drivers may disagree, but IMHO they should not be on the road and I can do little about them or their stupid attitude.

[Mr Moofo]

Is a yellow headlight legal in the UK?

Yes. (Beaten by Horse!)

I think I may have seen that video !!

[Scootabout]

If you want max contrast, go for the colour that's OPPOSITE your riding environment... so look what's on the other side from yellow/green.

Is there scope for somebody to invent a garment that changes colour according to the environment? A sort of chameleon jacket, or amazing technicolour dreamcoat? If you patent it, I think a 10% royalty to me for the idea would be fair.

[Horse]

This is what I saw.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Lights serve to ATTRACT attention... then we have to MAKE SENSE of what we're seeing... too many lights, too bright, aimed in your eyes don't help figure out what's behind them.

It might be worth (and I've started now) restating the 'hierarchy':

Visible if I asked you to look for something, you can see it

Search conspicuity if I ask you to look for something, you see it more quickly

Attention conspicuity if you're not actively looking for something, its appearance attracts your attention

Cognitive conspicuity you understand what you see

There's another level: insight


Example
You arrive at my house. I point you into the sitting room while I go into the kitchen. But I forget to mention the hungry pit bull terrier.

You decide to walk across the room to look out of the window. Although the dog is clearly visible, your attention is on the view.

The dog growls. He gets your attention.

You know - cognitive - what a dog is.

You know - insight - that he could have you leg off ...

[The Spin Doctor]

Is there scope for somebody to invent a garment that changes colour according to the environment? A sort of chameleon jacket, or amazing technicolour dreamcoat? If you patent it, I think a 10% royalty to me for the idea would be fair.

Dual sided would be easy enough... yellow for urban environments, pink for rural.

[The Spin Doctor]

"IDGAS what it is, I don't want to hit it" is my first reaction to something I don't recognise.

Some drivers may disagree, but IMHO they should not be on the road and I can do little about them or their stupid attitude.

But you still have to recognise it as something you don't want to hit in time not to hit it.

I'm sure no-one wants to hit a stationary vehicle on a motorway... but Horse will tell you all about the road maintenance vehicles and emergency services that get clobbered.

[Horse]

Is there scope for somebody to invent a garment that changes colour according to the environment? A sort of chameleon jacket, or amazing technicolour dreamcoat?

Dual sided would be easy enough... yellow for urban environments, pink for rural.

I've seen (hah!) fluro / retroreflective.

And shouldn't it be anti-chameleon? Which leads to another aspect: understand camouflage to improve conspicuity.


e.g.
The 7 S's of Camouflage: Shine, Shape, Shadow, Silhouette, Spacing, Signature & Sudden Movement

Picking some:
- Shine - increase contrast by light or colour (or darker)
- Shape / Silhouette - maintain by avoiding combinations of shapes and colour (such as the Home Office colour scheme for police). Also 'contour marking' such as the rear of HGVs
- Sudden Movement - Z Line or SMIDSY weave



Unintentionally, the Pan's darker lowers emphasise 'shadow'.

[The Spin Doctor]

I've seen (hah!) fluro / retroreflective.

And shouldn't it be anti-chameleon? Which leads to another aspect: understand camouflage to improve conspicuity.


e.g.
The 7 S's of Camouflage: Shine, Shape, Shadow, Silhouette, Spacing, Signature & Sudden Movement

Picking some:
- Shine - increase contrast by light or colour (or darker)
- Shape / Silhouette - maintain by avoiding combinations of shapes and colour (such as the Home Office colour scheme for police). Also 'contour marking' such as the rear of HGVs
- Sudden Movement - Z Line or SMIDSY weave



Unintentionally, the Pan's darker lowers emphasise 'shadow'.

Absolutely - understanding camouflage is crucial...

Re shadow - many camouflaged animals have darker upper sides and lighter undersides as part of their camouflage strategy. This is known as countershading, and helps to break up the animal's silhouette making it more challenging for predators (or prey) to spot them.

Police bike Battenburg.jpg (22.47 KiB) Viewed 586 times

The police have got this wrong in the past...

[Horse]

Re shadow - many camouflaged animals have darker upper sides and lighter undersides as part of their camouflage strategy. This is known as countershading, and helps to break up the animal's silhouette making it more challenging for predators (or prey) to spot them.

I'd got as far as searching for an image of a fallow dear, then had a coffee instead

But here's an image contrast, re maintaining a consistent silhouette:

20231202_081354.jpg (824.31 KiB) Viewed 584 times

[Dodgy69]

This is what I saw.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Lights serve to ATTRACT attention... then we have to MAKE SENSE of what we're seeing... too many lights, too bright, aimed in your eyes don't help figure out what's behind them.

Maybe, but as long as you've seen those lights, it's more likely you'll wait and then see what there attached to. I'd of thought it's the front end view of bikes that needs to be attracting attention, multi coloured side panels have little purpose I would imagine.

[Horse]

Maybe, but as long as you've seen those lights, it's more likely you'll wait and then see what there attached to.

@The Spin Doctor care to explain 'look but forgot'



I've certainly had it where a driver has arrived at a give way line, looked at me, and waited. Then looked again and decided 'still not got here yet' - and pulled out.


A couple of my bikes had white full fairings. Several times, drivers pulled out then panicked, obviously thinking 'fark - I've pulled out in front of a police bike'.


Ex-filly was getting a lift to work. She said to the driver "you've just pulled out in front of a bike". Reply? "It was only a scooter."


A copper I knew was filtering through static traffic on a dual carriageway. A driver looked in his mirror, saw the bike, then edged his car to block the space.

Shortly after, they had words.

"Sorry, officer, I thought you were an ordinary motorcyclist."*


Are you sure you want to trust them?


* Another police rider, travelling along at 30mph, car pulled out in front. Chat. Same reply from driver.

I'd of thought it's the front end view of bikes that needs to be attracting attention, multi coloured side panels have little purpose I would imagine.

Same applies to the front.

Most bikes (ie those without a large fairing) have fairly 'fragmented' design, so colours. Add in some riders' gear, with assorted blocks and stripes = itty bitty



But! 'Solid outline' is in the 'marginal gains' territory.

[Dodgy69]

I'm thinking then...there's folk who's brain hasn't seen us and pull out in front of us, and then there's folk who have seen us but are just arseholes and don't like bike's. Both out of our control.

[Horse]

I'm thinking then...there's folk who's brain hasn't seen us and pull out in front of us, and then there's folk who have seen us but are just arseholes and don't like bike's. Both out of our control.

You have to be visible - line of sight to the driver. Not obstructed by A pillars, street furniture, other vehicles, etc.

Driver has to:
- Look, some won't
- See you
- Correctly assess your speed and distance
- Make an appropriate decision based on that assessment
- Not just say 'Fugg it' and pull out anyway ...

Unfortunately, you don't get to choose your background (conspicuity) or the driver.

[The Spin Doctor]

Maybe, but as long as you've seen those lights, it's more likely you'll wait and then see what there attached to. I'd of thought it's the front end view of bikes that needs to be attracting attention, multi coloured side panels have little purpose I would imagine.

The side-on view is quite important when a police vehicle is parked in such a way as to protect a scene.

It could also be vital in detecting a motorcycle (and preventing a collision) where both vehicles are MOVING towards a single point such as at a roundabout or X roads with roads converging at 90 degrees. Actually, that's probably something I should do an article on.

[The Spin Doctor]

I'm thinking then...there's folk who's brain hasn't seen us and pull out in front of us, and then there's folk who have seen us but are just arseholes and don't like bike's. Both out of our control.

ISTR you attended one of my online SOBS presentations not too long ago... maybe a refresher is needed

In SMIDSY collisions:

1 in 5 - look but CAN'T SEE the bike
1 in 3 - look but FAIL TO SEE* the bike
1 in 3 - look, see but MISJUDGE speed and distance of the bike

But... to put that in to context.

EACH YEAR... 1.2 million bikes covering around 3 billion miles on roads with 40 million drivers - no-one has ever attempted to estimate the number of times those riders encounter those drivers at junctions.

HOW OFTEN DOES IT GO WRONG... each year there are roughly 100 fatal junction collisions, 1000 serious injuries. If we add 10,000 minor bumps and 100,000 near-misses that still means 39,888,900 driver see EVERY bike they need to.

Our job's actually easier - we just have to see the cars and think "it might pull out - if it does, what do I do about it?"

* recent research suggests there is also looked, saw then FORGOT - down to the limited buffer for holding mental images that only copes with a max of about eight different visual images simultaneously. After that it's first in, first out.

[Horse]

Maybe, but as long as you've seen those lights, it's more likely you'll wait and then see what there attached to. I'd of thought it's the front end view of bikes that needs to be attracting attention, multi coloured side panels have little purpose I would imagine.

The side-on view is quite important when a police vehicle is parked in such a way as to protect a scene.

Although the high quality microprismatic retroreflective materials don't work at shallow angles - such as 'fend' parking!

This is because they 'shadow' rather than reflect

20231202_151213.png (73.32 KiB) Viewed 541 times

It could also be vital in detecting a motorcycle (and preventing a collision) where both vehicles are MOVING towards a single point such as at a roundabout or X roads with roads converging at 90 degrees. Actually, that's probably something I should do an article on.

Along with constant bearing decreasing range issue.

Another place where improved side conspicuity could be beneficial is if the bike is waiting to turn out and a driver turning right into a side road cuts the corner. Classic A pillar scenario.

One of the Welsh crash investigations programmes covered this, a pedestrian getting clattered.

[Scootabout]

HOW OFTEN DOES IT GO WRONG... each year there are roughly 100 fatal junction collisions, 1000 serious injuries. If we add 10,000 minor bumps and 100,000 near-misses that still means 39,888,900 driver see EVERY bike they need to.

Our job's actually easier - we just have to see the cars and think "it might pull out - if it does, what do I do about it?"

That puts it into context nicely.

Funnily enough, just before I read that, I was thinking how rare it is for me to experience someone pulling out in front of me. Admittedly, years of reading stuff on here has made me pretty aware of what can happen, and why, and maybe therefore helped me avoid some potential events (eg by z-lining, slowing or whatever). Or maybe I've just been lucky. Except in relation to rapidly decelerating 3-tonners, but that's another matter

[The Spin Doctor]

Although the high quality microprismatic retroreflective materials don't work at shallow angles - such as 'fend' parking!

This is because they 'shadow' rather than reflect

20231202_151213.png

Hmm. I read this and wasn't convinced it was entirely right. It will depend on just how the reflective element is constructed.

"Retroreflectors reflect incident light back toward the direction of the light source, operating over a wide range of angles of incidence."

https://spie.org/publications/fg11_p31- ... reflectors

As far as I know the 'ghost jackets' work by using irregularly shaped spheriods rather than perfect sphere so that the 'retro-reflective' properties are deliberately degraded. Rather than bouncing light straight back to the source, the incident light is scattered randomly - hence they 'glow' under streetlights and light scatter from dipped beams, not just under direct illumination from the headlights you're sat behind.

[Horse]

Although the high quality microprismatic retroreflective materials don't work at shallow angles - such as 'fend' parking! This is because they 'shadow' rather than reflect
20231202_151213.png

Hmm. I read this and wasn't convinced it was entirely right. It will depend on just how the reflective element is constructed.

You don't have to be convinced by words

The surface is not flat. It's easiest, perhaps, to visualise the 3M version. This is described as 'cube corner'. Each individual micro reflector is a 'sliced off' corner from a cube.

Put a sheet of them together, you'll get something like this:



Cut a slice through and you will get a series of peaks and valleys /\/\/\ - the peaks cause shadowing at low angles = reduced light returned towards the source.

First photo is of a van, microprismatic markings on the side & rear:

20231213_103703.jpg (564.84 KiB) Viewed 424 times

Next is of two figures in full hi-vis gear near a full chevrons & battenburg vehicle. Both vehicle and PPE use microprismatic materials.

Note that the only part of the side of the vehicle which reflects is part of the front wheel arch.

This picture was taken using a luminance camera. The scene was lit by overhead lighting and a single vehicle's dipped beam headlamps (note that the ankle bands reflect more light than the bands higher up the PPE).

20231213_104950.jpg (52.12 KiB) Viewed 424 times

Edit: the vehicle's roof beacons were far too bright for the luminance camera.