Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Campaigning
Pensioner buys hundreds of hi-vis vests to hand out to cyclistsProviz Light Emitting High Visibility Vest

Pensioner buys hundreds of hi-vis vests to hand out to cyclists

89-year-old says she wants to save cyclists from collisions
by Sarah Barth
Sat, Dec 24, 2016 10:45
43

A pensioner in Cambridge is handing out free high-visibility vests to cyclists, after seeing injured people in hospital.

Janet Slade, 89, said she struggles to see people dressed in black, and that talking to drivers confirmed her suspicions that others do too.

Armed with a shopping trolley full of vests, she hands them out at shopping centres and near a hospital.

She told Cambridge News: “I went into hospital for another reason and they were saying they have wards full of people who have been in accidents.

“I hear the ambulances every day and I guessed that many of the calls out were for accidents. Then I met some ambulance crew and they said ‘yes you are right,’ so here’s the wards taken up with people who are invisible.

“I’m in my 90th year this year and I still have the advantage of age and ability, physical ability, to walk about with a shopping bag and trolley full of visibility vests and if I see a shadowy figure in black fleet before me and prop a bike against a wall, I say ‘you all in black, yes? ...well nobody can see you and all the drivers complain.’”

She says she hasn’t had a bad reaction yet.

She added: “Some say ‘really, how much? I haven’t got any money now’ and I say ‘look take the so and so thing put it on, wear it: it’s a Christmas present.

“I simply go around being a busybody to people and challenge them,” she said. “I just hope to be completely logical about people’s dress code.”

The vests cost Janet £1.49 a piece, and she buys in bulk, 50 at a time.

She added that she never goes anywhere without a pair of white boots.

“If you have got white boots you can be seen on a dark rainy day, you can be seen at night and you can be seen in the early morning light,” she said.

Add new comment

43 comments

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to matchfit | 7 years ago
12 likes
matchfit wrote:

As a cyclist and a motorist I would much prefer any vulnerable group to wear hi-viz.

I'm sure you would. As a cyclist and a pedestrian I'd much prefer motorists to drive more slowly and to pay a lot more attention to what they are doing (and a to drive a lot less, and to be barred from a lot more roads). And the same for cyclists on shared paths. We just have different preferences, I guess.

Avatar
Simon E replied to matchfit | 7 years ago
6 likes

matchfit wrote:

Any cyclist who thinks hi-viz makes no difference is just arguing for the sake of it.

That defintive statement suggests you know better than the rest of us. Do you have any proof of this? IMHO you are woefully misinformed. Many people - cyclists, researchers and others - realise that making cyclists wear fluoro yellow vests is not the solution.

matchfit wrote:

As a cyclist and a motorist I would much prefer any vulnerable group to wear hi-viz.

What you prefer and what is best for the population in general are two very different things. You should pay proper attention to your surroundings while travelling then no-one would need hi-vis clothing.

Do you make / sell hi-vis products?

Avatar
martib replied to matchfit | 7 years ago
2 likes

matchfit wrote:

Any cyclist who thinks hi-viz makes no difference is just arguing for the sake of it. As a cyclist and a motorist I would much prefer any vulnerable group to wear hi-viz.

If someone can't see my Hope R4 on my bars, my Exposure Joystick on my Helmet & my Exposure Flare flashing on the rear on dark unlit rural roads, wearing a hi-viz vest isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference & they shouldn't be holding a driving licence in the first place.

Avatar
samuri replied to matchfit | 7 years ago
3 likes

matchfit wrote:

Some cyclists really do themselves no good at all. She isn't victim blaming, she isn't making a point, she is merely concerned for OUR safety and is making a nice gesture to keep US safe. Any cyclist who thinks hi-viz makes no difference is just arguing for the sake of it. As a cyclist and a motorist I would much prefer any vulnerable group to wear hi-viz. I see a guy walking his greyhounds on the road each morning, in the dark, with no lights or hi-viz and I have to make an effort to look out for him every day. It's not fair, I'd gladly hand him a jacket to save his life and protect both me and his family from the anguish a collision will cause. People knocking a good gesture is what prevents people from making the gesture in the first place. 

 

Oh give over. You, like her have bought into this myth and while it's continued, the focus will be drawn away from the real problem. It's a lovely gesture, sure but if she really wants to cut road deaths, she should target people with poor eyesight and encourage them to stop driving. Or even just target bad drivers, you know, where the real harm comes from. There is absolutely no evidence (and your own anecdotal story destroy the myth quite nicely), that high viz makes the slightest bit of difference. I've been using this image for a while now.  My bike. Bright yellow with reflective stickers, bright yellow pannier the size of a small microwave, 4 bright lights. Everyone must see me, right?

 

Do they hell. It makes no difference. 

Avatar
Bluebug replied to samuri | 7 years ago
0 likes
samuri wrote:

matchfit wrote:

Some cyclists really do themselves no good at all. She isn't victim blaming, she isn't making a point, she is merely concerned for OUR safety and is making a nice gesture to keep US safe. Any cyclist who thinks hi-viz makes no difference is just arguing for the sake of it. As a cyclist and a motorist I would much prefer any vulnerable group to wear hi-viz. I see a guy walking his greyhounds on the road each morning, in the dark, with no lights or hi-viz and I have to make an effort to look out for him every day. It's not fair, I'd gladly hand him a jacket to save his life and protect both me and his family from the anguish a collision will cause. People knocking a good gesture is what prevents people from making the gesture in the first place. 

 

Oh give over. You, like her have bought into this myth and while it's continued, the focus will be drawn away from the real problem. It's a lovely gesture, sure but if she really wants to cut road deaths, she should target people with poor eyesight and encourage them to stop driving. Or even just target bad drivers, you know, where the real harm comes from. There is absolutely no evidence (and your own anecdotal story destroy the myth quite nicely), that high viz makes the slightest bit of difference. I've been using this image for a while now.  My bike. Bright yellow with reflective stickers, bright yellow pannier the size of a small microwave, 4 bright lights. Everyone must see me, right?

Nope.

You forget depending on the distance away from you and whether you are at a junction, vehicle drivers either spot your torso or your bike. You need to ensure both are visible.

And yes I see lots of near misses between cars.

Avatar
Simon E | 7 years ago
5 likes

I rode into town and back today, wearing a black jacket and black trousers. I did not have lights, nor did I wear a helmet or hi-viz. So it's a bloody miracle that I survived (so God MUST exist, right?) and, judging by some perspectives, I should be forced to travel in an overpowered metal box for my own safety.

Perhaps someone can explain the facts of (cycling) life to this well-intentioned old lady.

Avatar
SteveTheFish | 7 years ago
0 likes

I commute to work on my bike and in the winter it is shocking to see other cyclists without any high-vis and often only minimal lights.

True a driver should see you regardless however making it 'difficult' or 'easy' to be seen does make a difference.

Pedestrians tend to be working worse, trend seems to to walk along the side of dark roads dressed as a ninja, I can generally pick them out with the bike lights but only when I'm nearly on top.

Avatar
HarrogateSpa | 7 years ago
6 likes

Thinly disguised victim-blaming. Buying people cheap crap as a way of making a (misguided) point is not generous. It's about as well-intentioned as an irate football fan buying the ref a pair of Specsavers' finest.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 7 years ago
5 likes

89 and probably with an average 89 year olds eyesight and it's the cyclists that need to make themselves visible......

Avatar
burtthebike | 7 years ago
11 likes

A well intentioned, but misguided lady.  If she still drives but can't see other road users it might be time to stop driving.

The hi-viz myth is just that, a myth, and no amount of hi-viz, bright lights or anything else will make any difference if the drivers aren't looking.

My local paper is full of drivers complaining about the hundreds of black clad cyclists that they see every night, that they can't see.  They can't see the irony of their statements either.

Perhaps she could buy the Volvo magic paint in bulk and hand it out free as well?

Avatar
davel | 7 years ago
7 likes

I infer she still drives? If that's the case, a more effective gesture would be to give that up before definitive confirmation that she's too old.

Avatar
Guanajuato | 7 years ago
12 likes

Well intentioned, but missing the major factor. Its not that we're not visible - I don't have too much trouble spotting someone on a bike on unlit country lanes at night without their lights on or reflective clothing. Surprisingly, my headlights tend to pick them out.  Maybe its because I'm actually looking where I'm going and paying full attention to the task at hand.

Yes, we shoud make ourselves conspicuous, but the responsibility to observe is surely with the observer?

We need to be educating drivers of their responsibilities whilst in control of 1.5t of speeding steel.

Avatar
WillRod | 7 years ago
10 likes

A nice gesture, but it's yet another person caught up on the idea of high-viz.

Plenty of commuter cyclists near me have high viz, but seem to have the dimmest set of lights imaginable. Also, I have been told by several police officers that they have colleagues who have been hit by cars whilst wearing high-viz, and even had their high-viz covered cars hit despite having the blue flashing lights on.

High-viz should be considered as an addition to bright lights, but not an essential item.

Pages

Latest Comments