Reflective Jackets



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May 7, 2015
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How important are reflective jackets while cycling? I do wear reflective clothing while cycling. It is advisable to wear in the evening or when fog so that you can be visible to other road users. Do you consider wearing reflective clothing?
 
I never wore ones since I didn't have any, but if I had it I surely would. If you cycle in the evening or at night it is a necessity.
 
Reflective clothing is for your safety. It is not in any way a burden. Don't put all you faith in the little reflectors they have on a bike. If a thick jacket isn't in your liking, you can easily get reflective shirts and stickers.
 
How important is it? It could be a life and/or death matter. That's how important it is. You want to be visible when you out there biking on the roads. It's very easy to get hit by a speeding car or truck without them realizing you are even there without reflective gear.
 
I'll never understand how some riders to this day will still say "I don't need reflection gear". There is no such thing as being alert 24/7. So there can easily come a time you can get side swiped or backsided by a car if you don't have SOMETHING to let them know you're there.
 
First off, those roads are dark as hell at night. Half of the time drivers can hardly see directly in front of them let alone a cycler on the side of the road. So you want to give yourself every chance possible to survive. Only a lunatic would disregard a reflective jacket or anything similar.
 
You can't put a price on safety nor can safety be stressed enough. Reflective Jackets should be one of those things that fall under "common sense". And yes, I have at least four in my closet. I ride at night a lot. And well, you see, I WANT to live so.. :)
 
I don't ride a lot at night, but I probably will soon. I should probably look into getting a reflective jacket. At night, if I'm walking around, it is hard to see cyclists on dimly lit streets. I do have a reflective backpack that I often take out with me when I'm walking for that reason. It works pretty well, but a vest would be better.

Do you guys think reflective vests are more or less important than having a bike light? Obviously, you'd want both if possible.
 
I don't wear reflective jackets or vests, but I do stick a little bit of reflective tape on the shirts I wear while riding at night or in cloudy weather. It definitely makes a difference for drivers, and they can see you a lot better with even the smallest amount of reflective tape on your person. I'm not going to wear a jacket or vest, though. I find them a little annoying to wear, whether or not they make myself safer or not. A little extra reflective tape is such an easier option.
 
When I buy cycling jersey or shorts, I would prefer those design with reflective piping on. Of course it would help. For our own sake, it is important to consider this.
 
Very important. If you don't have a reflective jacket during night hours or early morning hours, I recommend not going out at all. It is a big risk that you should not be willing to take.
 
I hardly ever cycle in the evenings, just too dangerous to be around in a bike. Also, it hardly ever gets foggy in my area as the weather is dry almost all year round. Therefore, I've never needed to wear any reflective clothing. However, I do wear bright clothing such as a white t-shirt and light-beige bermuda shorts so that other road users can see me. It's also because it's so sunny around these parts and it's best to wear clothing that reflects the sunlight.
 
I'v tried reflective cycling vests at night and found they are not all that visible imo.

When we ride in traffic, day or night, we use a bright red rear blinkie and a headlight. When we descend a fast road around traffic, we put the front light on strobe. The strobe really catches the eye of surrounding drivers.

When I do turn to reflective items, I prefer the tri color ankle bands, Now these are really noticeable because of the movement and they are much brighter than the reflective cycling vests.

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In this night shot, you can see the ankle bands are just as bright as my headlight. The movement of my legs while pedaling is really eye catching.

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I don't own any reflective clothing, but when I'm riding at night I have multiple lights that clip all over my bike.
A headlight and then a bunch of red lights on the back and sides, blinking lights and everything. I'm actually super paranoid about biking in the dark because where I live there aren't a lot of streetlights, no bike lanes, and a lot of roads don't even have a shoulder or sidewalk.
My buddy teases me and says I look like a UFO when I'm biking at night but I'd rather be visible haha.
 
Reflective jackets are useful when riding at night. I've seen firsthand the effectiveness of these jackets when I was following another guy riding in a road bike, the reflective parts become very bright with the slightest light coming from cars. It is especially obvious in the dark as the jacket would light up like it was battery-powered or something. Although, I don't have a reflective jacket as I use battery powered blinking lights at the back of my road bike, I can see the usefulness of these jackets.
 
Anything that will make a rider more visible is a big help particularly when you ride at night. The rider faces a high risk riding at night even with the benefit of lighting that's why a backlight was invented to warn vehicles coming at the back on the presence of the bike on the road. So it appears that the bike light is more important than the headlight and a reflective jacket is another good invention for safety purposes. At least the risk of accident from reckless vehicle drivers is greatly lessened.
 
If I do not have any available I just make sure I wear something light and my bike has some reflective stickers too. I still think though safety should be first and make it a point to have some reflective clothes available as much as you can. Otherwise avoid riding at night or on a foggy day.
 
I can see the benefit of reflective jackets and to be honest I did consider wearing one for a time when I went out for night rides, but after I got my light set-up finished that I stopped considering it because I feel my lights are more than good enough.

I do have two small reflectors in the pedals though.