Hi-Viz? No Thanks

This comment was posted on Citizen Cycle a local cycling blog sponsored by The Ottawa Citizen:

"I see a lot of cyclists wearing dark outfits. These are even worse at dawn and dusk…there is a reason why construction workers have orange and yellow all over their jackets at intersections. We can learn from that in picking our clothing. Don’t worry about fashion, worry about being seen." 

Sensible advice, surely. Cyclists are always struggling to be seen, what better advice then to dress in violently bright yellows and oranges. Hi-viz as it is known is hugely popular, jackets, vests, helmet covers even thermal booties are available in noxious yellow.

Image lifted without permission from ww.bushtukah.com visit the store relieve my guilt.

Now what is wrong with dressing like a ripe banana, if it improves your safety? Maybe I was just psychologically scared by day-glow in the '80s. Or perhaps just insufferably vain, feeling these shades reflect a slight jaundices in my complexion. Or maybe it is because dressing like a construction worker/crossing guard (love the Britishism "lollipop man" BTW, just doesn't work in North American context) simply doesn't work. As this video shows in low-light or dark conditions white or "bright" colours don't actually help:

Sure, 3M is selling reflective treatments, and the human eye is more sensitive then any camera in low-light conditions...
All the justifications you can think of do not change the fact that human eyes don't see colour very well in low light conditions. Much better then white or yellow at dusk is reflective treatments. Further, better then reflective elements would be active lighting! Or, put another way actual lights, after all reflective elements can only reflect light directed at them. A light shines in all directions.

You know what trumps all of that and makes even the light-less shinobi shozoko (Ninja uniform according to Google) clad cyclist visible on city streets? Street lights! Yes, since roughly 1875 according to Wikipidea, urban streets have been lit enabling citizens to navigate on moonless nights. This if very much appreciated in northern latitudes where the sun sets before four in the afternoon. Really what an urban cyclist needs is well lit infrastructure that limits interaction/conflict with automobiles. Not hideous yellow coats... 

Another Coroners Report, Waiting on the Shelf

In 1998 the chief Coroner of Toronto wrote a report "Recommendations for reducing cycling injuries and death". This report detailed cyclist deaths and injuries over an 11 year period with an aim to enhance cyclist safety going forward. The report made 15 recommendations in five broad areas:

• Better bicycle collision data collection and analysis
• Education programs and enforcement for both motorists and cyclists
• A review of the Highway Traffic Act sections affecting bicycles
• Roadway engineering design improvements for bicycles
• Investigation of design modifications for large vehicles to reduce injury severity

What happened when this report was released? Well, like most Coroners reports it looks like it was shelved. I can say for sure that in the last 15 years any review of the Highway Traffic Act has not produced any of the recommended changes. Design modifications for large vehicles to reduce injury severity? Moved forward in Europe, DOA here. It was revived as an issue in the federal Parliament by Opposition MP as a Private Members Bill, of course Private Members Bills never go anywhere in Canadian Parliament. Toronto's police may have acted upon the recommendations to improve collision data collection and analysis. Unfortunately, I can't judge as this is not open or available data. This leaves two recommendations that may have been acted upon: Education and Engineering.

Most serious cyclists know where the political effort and attention has been placed. Infrastructure, has been a political hot button. The rhetoric has been mighty, the results tepid. That leaves Education as the only area that may have been addressed. For cyclists the city of Toronto offers a large selection of Can-Bike courses. Online videos and tips, as well as other resources. Nothing for other road users...

Still the call is to educate cyclists before other road users, instead of other road improvements. Proven strategies are ignored and fantasies are indulged.

Cycling Education. Who could be against that?

Recently the Office of the Chief Coroner set about to conduct a review of cycling deaths across the province. This was in response to the deaths of two young women in the space of a couple of weeks. These deaths and a spat of other incidents, aroused public concern over the safety of cyclists. Corner's reports are long processes and the report will not be released before spring 2012, so I can't really talk to the report. Although, the Chief Coroner did allow for public input as part of the review and that has sparked a reoccurring debate in the cycling community; Infrastructure vs. Education.

The Education Activists are an interesting bunch, they don't like being called activists. They usually portray themselves as "Responsible Cyclists". They are scandalized by the behaviour of cyclists they see every day (or think they see) they know that cyclist safety is suffering because of this poor behaviour. They think Infrastructure Activists are irresponsible for advocating for policies that will attract more people to cycling. These new cyclists will, by definition, be "poorly trained and unskilled", and inevitably the victim of some horrible tragedy as they transition from protected cycle-track to regular streets. The solution to these problems is Cycling Education and if the there is no money left over for infrastructure, so much the better. Of course this is nonsense. Cycling fatalities and injuries have been on a bumpy downward trend for nearly 20 years. This is at the same time that cycling is increasing, so these poorly trained and unskilled (new) cyclists are not being killed off in number. Adult returning cyclists are most often licensed drivers, who should know the rules of the road. Convincing large numbers of them to take a Can-Bike course, devoting an entire weekend (or several) to being lectured about “cyclist inferiority complex”. Well, lets just say I wouldn't want that marketing job. Ah, what about the children? Surely there is value for Cycling Education in the schools? After all "cycling education has entirely disappeared from the public education system". Maybe, but probably not. This is a bit of a good news/bad news story. School age children are not being killed on bikes. This is most likely because school age children are not riding bikes. At least not to school, shops or even friends houses. I'm a parent of two elementary school kids, the bike racks are mighty bare. Besides, traffic safety is taught. Kindergartners know stop-signs, and red-lights.  They know to look both ways before crossing the road. Every year they get a school-bus safety refresher. These kids know safe, a specific cycling program, while maybe nice, is not necessary. 
Let's be clear calls for Cycling Education as a safety program, are really calls to not spend money on other programs or infrastructure. They ignore the real dangers of our streets and the real actions that can make cycling safer objectively and subjectively. Calls for Cycling Education are obstructionist strategies, and should be seen as such.
*Update 2011-12-16*
Kathleen Wilker's blog FamiliesonBikes has some relevant information on this issue. The City of Ottawa offers Can-Bike courses through City Wide Sports a division of Ottawa's Parks, Recreation and Culture Department. Not only is the city already delivering cycling education, they piloted a program that offered free cycling education to Ottawa schools: "All told, 2000 kids received some kind of free bike education at their schools in Ottawa last spring". Further according to Kathleen's blog Gord MacGregor, who leads the program is planning to expand the schools cycling education program for next spring. 
So the Cycling Education is there. Will this make the "Responsible Cyclists" happy? Probably not, and that is sad.