OT: Hi-vis

[newshound]

I'd always wondered, until today, why British Rail insist on Orange Hi-Vis and won't let you on the tracks with the industry standard fluorescent yellow.

Driving down a minor but straight country road through fairly dense woodland today, with sunshine occasionally penetrating gaps and lighting up foliage on the near-side verge. Fairly contrasty conditions.

There was a jogger running along my side (going in the same direction, the idiot) in a greenish yellow but bright hi vis top and black jogging bottoms.

Only when I was almost on top of him did I realise that he was actually running on the road. Until that point, his top just looked like a bit of foliage on the left lit up by a shaft of sunlight. His bottom wasn't visible at all, of course.

And when did we stop drilling into children that, when on foot on a road without pavements, you travel on the right so that you can see on-coming traffic.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

He was probably a cyclist out for a jog. We all know just how stupid cyclists are.

[Andy Burns]

Ah but Mr Jogger think there's no need to worry about that, since he's got his hi-viz running gear on ...

[Tim Streater]

Quite. The further you can see, the further you can be seen from. On our windy narrow Kent roads with hedges, that may well mean crossing the road a lot.

[Nightjar]

Yellow hi-viz is a compromise choice for places where some people may be colour blind. Orange hi-viz is more visible if you have good colour vision, which is a requirement for train drivers.

[Chris Green]

Great lumps of reflective material aren't ideal, I seem to rememeber that something that at least gives a hint of the shape of what you're seeing (hopefully) is more likely to work. I.e. make a pedestrian look like a pedestrian, a cyclist like a cyclist and a horse and rider like a horse and rider.

Subjectively I certainly find that I 'see' cyclists who look like cyclists better than moving 'christmas trees' of lighting.

Quite! However I think we also need to point out to (many) motorists that most roads (country roads in particular) are shared and that walkers, cyclists and horse riders have as much right (well, more actually) to be there as cars do.

[Brian Gaff]

Strangely this seems to somehow have been forgotten as on many roads nowadays with no real cycle lane or footway, there are, I'm told no signs indication direction of travel for pedestrians. Just a white line on the road. Who are the idiots doing this.

Brian

[DJC]

Two explanations.

1. BR were early adopters of Hi-Vis in the 1960 when Orange was the only colour.
2. Hi-Vis means greatest contrast with the background, on a road or urban environment that is probably greyish and lemon yellow works well, trackside or in open country it is more likely greenish and Orange is more visible.

It's a simplification (lies we tell children) you want to position yourself to have the best chance to see a and be seen. Cross the road to get a better view on a blind bend. Don't hug the edge, keep a little distance you can dive into if something comes too close

[mcp]

The front of trains were painted yellow about the same time. Orange makes it easier to see a shunter in front of a locomotive, manual coupling of stock being something they did much more frequently back then.

[Peter Johnson]

That is my recollection, too. (I have two orange hi-vis in my car. One was purchased for going on railway property and is quite well-made. The other is quite basic and was supplied for working in an Amazon warehouse. Who says yellow is 'industry standard'?)

[newshound]

Interesting point. Although I was also interested to see on "Helicopter rescue" tonight that the crew were also in orange. It did make me think that on motorways and building sites, where yellow is the norm, there isn't usually much greenery. However, for railways and air ambulances (which are often doing rescues away from roads) the environment is often much greener.

[newshound]

Good point.

[Nightjar]

Pilots also have to have good colour vision.

Ground based ambulance staff and police, who may well be attending an accident in a green and leafy lane, wear yellow hi-viz. However, that may also be due to a problem with the colour rendering of the now increasingly rare low pressure sodium lighting. In the late 1960s, Coventry Fire Brigade painted their fire engines yellow, because the traditional red looked black under LPS lights, while yellow remained visible.

[Robin]

I thought another reason was that yellow is used for railway signals. Orange is not.

[fred]

well at least he was wearing a hi-viz. I repeatedly see walkers dressed in dark clothes on the wrong side of the road and as for cyclist dressed all in black. Is this a new fashion phenomenon or a death wish?

[dennis]

I assume you don't see the ones wearing camouflage like the ones we have around here.

[RayL12]

OK, I gotta tell this: A video of sill road crashes in the eastern block. Renowned for dash cam footage.

After watching a series of blunders, it comes to a clip where the commentator remarks on the good sense of a recovery truck driver, who is trundling in the snowy road, wearing his very obvious hi viz coat.

As he finished saying it, a car, travelling very slowly, knocks the recovery guy over. The commentator said, 'I'd go and get my money back for that coat'.