Colour thing ...

At the end of my street there is one of those mirrors on a pole .You have to use it because it is a blind corner . The other day ,i looked ,saw
nothing ,and went .To my surprise ,around came a car i hadnt seen . Not a real problem as i was across but it did make me jump .
The colour of the car was DARK GREY ,yep, asphalt colour .I have seen more and more of this colour around .
I commented to my passenger "i'd never buy a car that colour ".Not the worlds greatest comment considering .
If had a choice my bike would be black and i have black leathers .I do think black would stand out more than asphalt colour ,but .
Should we think about safety when choosing a bike colour ? Well we should, thats obvious ,but WILL WE ? I doubt it .
Worrying and strange .

I can never figure why car paint the colour of a wet road is so damn popular.

I maximise my visibility with a fluoro vest and helmet and a red bike. The bastards still don't seem to look.

I have hi-vis fluro black bike, helmet, pants, jackets, gloves and boots.

Being one solid colour makes you stand out a bit more than being a moving technocolour kaliedascope (sp?) in my opinion, and black hides the dirt.

I would have thought those pink Bandits would stand out Gus.

i have no problem with the colour of the car...

But if it isn't white then it should have to have the lights on ALL the time..... if only they would change the law :-(

chips wrote:i have no problem with the colour of the car...

But if it isn't white then it should have to have the lights on ALL the time..... if only they would change the law :-(

It's funny but it always seems to be the grey and black cars that are last to put on their lights at sunset. Pet gripe.

I saw a program on tv a while ago about why motorcycles aren`t sometimes seen by other motorists & the findings were that people are generally geared to only see what they expect to see & that as a rule that doesn`t include motorcyclists .To give an example there was a group of people throwing a basketball around to each other & you had to count the throws of the ball . nearly every one watching completely missed a guy in a gorilla suit walk through the middle of the group but when you were shown he was there / then he stood out like the proverbial dogs nuts .I guess we could dress up in a bright pink jump suit but until mr & ms average motorist are educated to the fact they need to watch out for motorcyclists & not just for cars it will probably only make minimal effect whether we`re seen or not .

That was posted here as well .Thanks for reminding me Pual .I'm more worried now .

paul wrote:I saw a program on TV a while ago about why motorcycles aren't sometimes seen by other motorists & the findings were that people are generally geared to only see what they expect to see & that as a rule that doesn't include motorcyclists

I have another theory, based on the people who look straight at you then pull out anyway. Most people don't perceive motorcycles as a threat, "that won't hurt me and anyway it's a bike, he can stop if he doesn't want to get hurt" or maybe they don't want to be inconvenienced by what the consider an inferior road user.

Whatever the thought process, I know they have seen me but still do things that they don't do when I'm approaching them at the same speed in 2 tons metal.

To get back to your question Gus. We as motorcyclists have less choices in colour choice, of a new bike than a car. So I guess the onus should be on the manufactuer to make bikes more visible. But, as always, it comes down to the dollar. Which will make more. I do see some bikes coming out in white, so I guess thay are trying, a little. One thing I always tell young, new bike riders. That is, always assume that the other motorists on the road will do the unexpected, because sooner or later, one will. Good subject.

I have a silver bike and a gun metal grey ute as well as a white Subaru XT wagon. All have lights on all the time regarldess of colour to give you that little bit better visibilty

The theory of drivers not seeing bikes cos they're not looking for bikes makes sense. Bike regos make up around 3-4% of total registered vehicles and that's a fairly consistent figure in most States and Territories, so at best that's 3-4 bikes per hundred vehicles. Is why I tend to ride like I'm invisible and always try to be moving through traffic (where I can) rather than sitting along side cars etc.

My boy rides a bright yellow Buell XB12R - it's a nice looking bike and stands out like dogs in traffic and at a distance. He got side swiped by a car in traffic going in same direction when he was doing 100 in a 100 zone coming out of Darwin a couple of years back, he said in that millisecond glimpse he saw the car powering wide of merging traffic (trying to get an advantage) and heading his way, Chris had the presence of mind in that split second to drop his shoulder to take the hit (rather than his bars) as the car and he connected he was shunted off the road, onto dirt verge through trees (but keeping it upright) and managed to pull it all up unscathed (is a way better rider than me...taught the bugger all I know and then he value added). One car pulled up behind him apparently wanting to be introduced to the angel on his shoulder while another took off after the driver who did a runner. Point is his bike is like a high viz beacon and cars still don't see, so I'm not convinced on the colour issue.

Having said that I do occasionally throw on a high viz vest in snotty monsoonal downpours. But then I need all the help I can get....
Bill

Put this ad on Australian TV - if the noofties I have close encounters with on the roads did what they say in this ad to do - I wouldn't have to ride like everyone's trying to kill me. And unlike Australian Motorcycle safety ads which focus on the RIDER to watch his/her own arse, how about - like this one - make the focus on the "brain in Neutral - phone stuck to head or sending SMS / Twitter / MyFace or whatever" car driver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJs4AYa8sU

It's a bit deceptive, because people are thinking, "wow I didn't notice the bike either" but when you go back and look at the original camera angle, the bike isn't visible. There are a lot of things like this in safety advertising. If you have a valid point why resort to trickery to make it.

[RANT]The RTA are full of geniuses, they use great statistics like 25% of collisions involve the rear of the car, really? lets see a car has 4 sides 1 in 4 is 25% , amazing. Or the sign I saw on the weekend that 9 out of 10 deaths occur on bends, really? you mean people don't just drive off the road spontaneously in the middle of straights? If they can get past their speeding mantra maybe they could get to the real problem. I've seen adds recently that say don't rush, I respect them more because that is closer to the problem, when you rush, then you do stupid things and take risks.[/RANT]

I think the point they are making is bikes are harder to notice. So don't rush take the extra second to look twice.

Certainly made me jump .

I rode into Sydney the other day.. on the way in a Taxi changed lanes on top of me and on the way out another one did! I attempt to be aware of cars 'blind' spots and be where they can see me but with some Taxi drivers I don't think it would matter where you were or what colour you are they just do their own thing and let you suffer the consequences..

Bhoffo wrote:I rode into Sydney the other day.. on the way in a Taxi changed lanes on top of me and on the way out another one did! I attempt to be aware of cars 'blind' spots and be where they can see me but with some Taxi drivers I don't think it would matter where you were or what colour you are they just do their own thing and let you suffer the consequences..

I can second this especially if you use the bus lane on victoria road. The bastards in taxis trawl the road looking for people late to work and then just swoop across the road stop in a no stoping zone and never bother to look for road users in particular the bike using the bus lane. Taxi drivers are the worlds worst for poor driving. If they were made to take a driving test every year there would be a lot less taxi's on the road.

This is just Irony at its best