POLITE - Hi-Vis Vest
Discussion
theshrew said:
I saw two women on horses wearing these the other day.
We have horses. I don't ride, but everyone that does wears those vests when riding horses on the road.Personally i disagree with riding horses on the road full stop - too many impatient idiots. The vests at least catch people's attention. Though i suspect the idea is simply that rather than pretending to be police.
On bikes i really hate those vests, but more so when the rider is obviously trying to pretend to be an officer. The usual signs - pan european or vfr1200 or bmw, textiles, white lid normally with camera, reflective material stuck to panniers.
I can’t believe people as getting so animated over this. The wearers may well be dick heads and police wannabes but is that really any worse than:
The Rossi, Marquez etc. wannabes who wear copycat race leathers with humps and knee/elbow/arse sliders to ride their KawaSuziHondaha GSXZXCBR1-1000RRRXRRR round and around the local roundabout before riding 2 miles up the dual carriageway to the café.
The Ewan and Charlie wannabes who kit up with full Dakar rally gear, have more lights than a Christmas tree and use 10,000 litre aluminium panniers to carry a pack of sarnies across town through rush hour traffic..
The Easy Rider/Sons of Anarchy wannabes with piss pot helmets, tassels and confederate flags who ride their bad ass hogs for less than half the time spent polishing them, but only when the sun is out, and rebel against the world in their job as an accountant/surveyor.
Like it or not, the vests have been declared as legal. If this is the “comfort blanket” that is needed for some people to use a motorbike then so what? It’s another bike on the road which is a good thing for motorcycling as a whole.
The Rossi, Marquez etc. wannabes who wear copycat race leathers with humps and knee/elbow/arse sliders to ride their KawaSuziHondaha GSXZXCBR1-1000RRRXRRR round and around the local roundabout before riding 2 miles up the dual carriageway to the café.
The Ewan and Charlie wannabes who kit up with full Dakar rally gear, have more lights than a Christmas tree and use 10,000 litre aluminium panniers to carry a pack of sarnies across town through rush hour traffic..
The Easy Rider/Sons of Anarchy wannabes with piss pot helmets, tassels and confederate flags who ride their bad ass hogs for less than half the time spent polishing them, but only when the sun is out, and rebel against the world in their job as an accountant/surveyor.
Like it or not, the vests have been declared as legal. If this is the “comfort blanket” that is needed for some people to use a motorbike then so what? It’s another bike on the road which is a good thing for motorcycling as a whole.
black-k1 said:
I can’t believe people as getting so animated over this. The wearers may well be dick heads and police wannabes but is that really any worse than:
The Rossi, Marquez etc. wannabes who wear copycat race leathers with humps and knee/elbow/arse sliders to ride their KawaSuziHondaha GSXZXCBR1-1000RRRXRRR round and around the local roundabout before riding 2 miles up the dual carriageway to the café.
The Ewan and Charlie wannabes who kit up with full Dakar rally gear, have more lights than a Christmas tree and use 10,000 litre aluminium panniers to carry a pack of sarnies across town through rush hour traffic..
The Easy Rider/Sons of Anarchy wannabes with piss pot helmets, tassels and confederate flags who ride their bad ass hogs for less than half the time spent polishing them, but only when the sun is out, and rebel against the world in their job as an accountant/surveyor.
Like it or not, the vests have been declared as legal. If this is the “comfort blanket” that is needed for some people to use a motorbike then so what? It’s another bike on the road which is a good thing for motorcycling as a whole.
I've commented on this before (attitudes to different bikers rather than these vests), and I prefer a live and live approach. Like most (not all) I don't paricularily like custom bikes of the Harley Davidson style, and I find the whole Road Captain, 3 abreast ride outs very annoying, but each to their own. The Rossi, Marquez etc. wannabes who wear copycat race leathers with humps and knee/elbow/arse sliders to ride their KawaSuziHondaha GSXZXCBR1-1000RRRXRRR round and around the local roundabout before riding 2 miles up the dual carriageway to the café.
The Ewan and Charlie wannabes who kit up with full Dakar rally gear, have more lights than a Christmas tree and use 10,000 litre aluminium panniers to carry a pack of sarnies across town through rush hour traffic..
The Easy Rider/Sons of Anarchy wannabes with piss pot helmets, tassels and confederate flags who ride their bad ass hogs for less than half the time spent polishing them, but only when the sun is out, and rebel against the world in their job as an accountant/surveyor.
Like it or not, the vests have been declared as legal. If this is the “comfort blanket” that is needed for some people to use a motorbike then so what? It’s another bike on the road which is a good thing for motorcycling as a whole.
Power Ranger outfits, race replicas, C&E wannabes, they all make up our biking fraternity, and at the end of the day, it is only ourselves within the biking community that take issue with any paricular group.
However, while agreeing with the bellend appellation of these riders, I feel that I can't quite take a live and let live approach, as I feel that they are giving bikers of all types a bad name. The great unwashed car driving/cycling/walking public just see a biker pretending to be a cop. A Hi-viz vest should suffice if they want a comfort blanket and to get noticed, as is their likely justification. Having POLITE plastered across it is designed to confuse the unwary public, and I don't care what they might claim in mitigation.
As someone has already mentioned, some little old lady mistook a cyclist wearing one of these for a real cop. Effectively, he wasted someone's valuable time that could have been spent trying to get the attention of a real cop to respond to a real emergency. Where will it end? Is it legal to have your Volvo painted up in Batenburg check, with POLITE plastered across the doors and bonnet?
Macadoodle said:
Hooli said:
Macadoodle said:
I've often thought it would be an idea if the law was changed so bikes had to have yellow headlights (similar to some cars in Europe). This way when you look in your mirrors, a bike would be easily identifiable amongst the sea of headlights, especially on the dark winter morning/evening rush. Obviously this wouldn't work for those drivers who think mirrors are there purely for decoration.
No thanks. Bike lights are often crap enough anyway - think of a car with poor lights & then take a bulb out...black-k1 said:
Like it or not, the vests have been declared as legal.
They haven't been "declared" anything. They just haven't been outlawed......yet.I'm guessing the first time a Walt gets knifed/shot/assaulted having been mistaken for Plod the support for these comedy garments will dry up pretty quick and all of a sudden the manufacturers will be branded irresponsible.
I've had one of these vests and a full high-viz jacket for years now - for horse riding.
Although it seems many of you strongly disagree with them, it's amazing how well they work. It can stop a driver from speeding past at 60mph (dangerous for both horse & rider and the driver) and instead slugging past at 5mph.
Although it seems many of you strongly disagree with them, it's amazing how well they work. It can stop a driver from speeding past at 60mph (dangerous for both horse & rider and the driver) and instead slugging past at 5mph.
jenmx5 said:
it's amazing how well they work. It can stop a driver from speeding past at 60mph (dangerous for both horse & rider and the driver) and instead slugging past at 5mph.
And you have empirical evidence of this?? That the same driver was not going to slow down were you not wearing the POLITE hi-viz? Or that any other Hi-Viz doesn't have the same effect?
Any evidence is purely anecdotal at best. I grew up in rural Kent and rode horses with the GF. We didn't wear a Hi-Viz's and some drivers ploughed past, others slowed down regardless. It's called being a t
t driver and has no bearing on the apparel worn. If a driver can't see a horse and rider, a Hi-Viz is unlikely to make any difference unless at dawn or dusk, when it's better to fit the horse with reflective materials on the hocks or similar.Fact is while a Hi-Viz can be a worthwhile garment, having one that closely apes the Police style is little more than the sign of a complete Belm...
jenmx5 said:
I've had one of these vests and a full high-viz jacket for years now - for horse riding.
Although it seems many of you strongly disagree with them, it's amazing how well they work. It can stop a driver from speeding past at 60mph (dangerous for both horse & rider and the driver) and instead slugging past at 5mph.
i used to live next to a riding school and my sister currently lives next to one so have experienced horses on the roads for the past 10 years. the reason i slow down and put my clutch in as im going past a horse is not to spook it, in turn injuring the horse who in turn injurs you. i do this whether you have a sAlthough it seems many of you strongly disagree with them, it's amazing how well they work. It can stop a driver from speeding past at 60mph (dangerous for both horse & rider and the driver) and instead slugging past at 5mph.
tty polite hi vis on or not. again all you're doing is impersonating a copper, confusing people and making them think 'tt'.theres a guy at work who wears one along with a hi vis helmet to ride his lil vespa. we work in the centre of manchester and park our bikes there. he gets stopped at least a couple of times a week by people asking for directions etc as he's getting on his vespa because they think he's a copper.
if you want to make a statement wear one that says 'SLOW DOWN DICK HEAD' or 'THE CLOSER YOU DRIVE, THE SLOWER I RIDE'. at least then you're being up front about your views/intentions
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