Visibility

I've discussed visibility a fair bit lately. One thing I haven't mentioned in the "motorist claims (s)he didn't see me" bit is that as I travel Westport Road, I am able to notice how far back people pay attention to my presence. When they see me, some even use their turn signals to indicate to others their intention to change lanes. Many motorists see me far enough back that they are able to integrate into the left-lane traffic as far as a couple hundred yards behind me.

Rhetorical question time: If they can see me that far away, why can't the rest?

To play with that question a bit, one possible answer is that so many motorists simply don't think that far ahead. They are too busy fiddling with the doo-dad of the moment, whether it be their cell phone, their fast-(urp!)food, their GPS navigation, radio, electric razor, makeup or what-the-hell-ever to pay attention to their surroundings in a meaningful way. As a result, they are surprised to see a slower road user, and their surprise leads to their anger, which in turn becomes a tirade at me when the real problem is their own inattention.

Think they are mad at themselves? I doubt they would admit it. They are too busy blaming "that d@#$%! cyclist" for making them pay attention to their driving.

One of the reasons I like my Vanguard is that visibility from the bike is wonderful. I'm in a fairly natural seated position, with my head upright--much like the position of an automobile driver. I have good lateral vision, and excellent long-range sight lines without neck strain. My view to the rear is a bit different than what someone on a conventional bike would have, but I'm also pretty adept at using a helmet-mounted rear view mirror. Since I'm not wrapped in a glass, steel and plastic coccoon, I can hear other traffic from far enough away to tell something about the intentions of the operators.

Given that folks so often change lanes so far back from me, I have to believe I'm fairly easy to see as well. I've made it easier, certainly, with the large reflectors I made and my habitual choice of brightly-colored shirts, not to mention the various "be seen" active lights I use (I counted the Planet Bike Superflash lights in my garage the other day--not counting the two on Jenn's Peugeot that are now in Sarah's keeping, we have about a dozen). All of the bikes used for commuting have reflective stripes on the tires (the lone exception being the front tire on my Vanguard, and if that tire ever wears out...). All of the utility bikes have extra reflectors in addition to the CPSC stuff. And Jenn's bike has those Halo rims...

In short, anyone who cannot see me is either a) not looking, b) is vision-impaired enough that they shouldn't be driving or c) lying about it. I've had reports that I was hard to see in certain situations, even from a fairly astute driver. Those situations included a fair number of reflective barrels lining the roadway (construction zone) on which the speed limit was 25 (and was not enforced, but that's a separate issue), and where motorists are supposed to be going slower and watching for unusual things to happen. What do I need to add there? A Xenon strobe? How irritating is THAT for a motorist who gets stuck behind me at a long traffic light?