- High-visibility clothing
High-visibility clothing, a type of
personal protective equipment (PPE), is anyclothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a color that is easily discernible from any background. Orangehunting vest s are a popular example of high-visibility clothing.Part of the surface of clothes may be made retroreflective (small parts of coats, large parts of special safety clothes for rescue workers etc.). This way they become much more visible in the dark for observers near a light source, such as the driver of a car with its headlights on. The pattern of the retroreflecting parts also helps to distinguish between objects and people.
For greater visibility at daytime, as well as for decoration, very bright colors are obtained with
fluorescence .A related type of PPE corresponding to maximizing visual awareness in dangerous environments is head gear mounted mirrors. They allow the wearer to see potential dangers rather than just being seen.
The opposite are clothes with a
camouflage pattern.Users
In general, people who wear high-visibility clothing are those who need to be conspicuous to other people. Examples include pedestrians or workers with no significant physical protection in dangerous industrial environments. High-visibility clothing is also common in many outdoor activities in which people are on foot, or operating unenclosed vehicles such as
bicycle s ormotorcycles , who may be exposed to other people who are operatingmotor vehicles ,heavy equipment , or recreationalfirearm s, and need to be conspicuous to them. In addition,bicyclist s andmotorcyclist s need to be visible to each other, and topedestrian s.The attention-getting nature of high-visibility clothing has also led to its occasional use as a
fashion statement .
*Bicyclist s - "see"Bicycle safety
*Emergency responder s
**Firefighter s
* Equestrians
* Fishermen
* Highway workers
*Hiker s
*Hunter s
* Linemen
* Meter readers
*Motorcyclist s - "see"Motorcycle safety
*Parking attendant s
*Pedestrian s
*Raver s
* Railwaymen
* Surveyors
*Traffic police
* TV crew (when needed)Gallery
Effectiveness
While it seems intuitively obvious that high-visibility clothing should make its wearer easier for vehicle operators, hunters, etc., to see and avoid, there are surprisingly few studies to quantify the effectiveness of high-visibility clothing for particular classes of users.
Motorcyclists
The
Hurt Report and a New Zealand study [cite web|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7444/857|date=April 10, 2004|publisher=BMJ|title=Motorcycle rider conspicuity and crash related injury: case-control study |accessdate=2007-06-26|author=Susan Wells et al.] found that high-visibility clothing significantly reduced multiple vehicle accidents involving motorcycles.Bicyclists
Traffic risks to the bicyclist are similar to those faced by motorcyclists (see
SMIDSY ), with the main differences being that bicycling speeds are typically lower, and the bicyclist wears less protective gear. Nonetheless, there seems to be even less research on the effectiveness of high-visibility clothing for the bicyclist than for the motorcyclist. However, a number of vendors market high-visibility clothing for bicyclists. From a good vantage point along a road orcycleway with a sight line of 1km or more, one can watch bicyclists approaching during daylight, and see that those clad in high-visibility clothing become readily visible long before dull-clad bicyclists riding next to them. Research is needed to quantify the extent to which this plainly evident conspicuity advantage might translate into fewer bike/car collisions.Drivers
The Portuguese law demands that every vehicle is provided with a high-visibility vest with reflective material certified according to EU standards that is to be worn in emergency situations that force the driver to exit the vehicle. Unlike common belief, the driver is not required to exit the vehicle wearing high-visibility clothing. However, the law demands that the driver is wearing it before any attempt to repair the vehicle.
Standards
Various have published similar standards for high-visibility clothing to be worn as personal protective equipment.
ANSI/ISEA 107-1999
The
American National Standards Institute published a standard [cite web|url=http://www.cdc.gov/elcosh/docs/d0600/d000627/d000627.html|date=|publisher=eLCOSH|title=ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel|author=|accessdate=2007-08-26|] for high-visibility clothing in1999 . The standard defines three classes of successively more-visible garments, to protect workers exposed to successively higher levels of risk frommotor vehicle s andheavy equipment .ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 is a voluntary industry consensus standard; however,
Occupational Safety regulations support its implementation by employers whose employees are at risk from motor traffic or heavy equipment.ANSI/ISEA 107-2004
ANSI revised the standard in
2004 . [cite web|url=http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?6666660Zjcf6lVs6EVs666NA8COrrrrQ-|date=|publisher=3M|title=ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 MADE EASY: A Quick Reference to High-Visibility Safety Apparel|author=|accessdate=2007-08-26|]BS EN 471:2003
The British Standard for high visibility clothing.cite web
url= http://www.beseenonabike.com/bsoab/beseenonabike_legal_standards.htm
title= High Visibility Standards
accessdate= 2008-03-24
accessyear= 2008
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publisher= Bicycle Safety Online Shop
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