While we've reported on numerous instances of cyclists being asked to wear high-vis by various authorities in the past, clothing choice is sometimes shown to be futile when it comes to some drivers – and now, a pro cyclist representing Great Britain has told of how he suffered a broken back after being hit by a speeding driver, despite donning an outfit that could barely be any brighter.

Bob Donaldson was on a training ride in Whaley Bridge in the Peak District and was on his way home. As he was heading down a hill, a driver was pulling into his driveway and, being in a car, wrongly assumed that he would make it quicker than the cyclist, and continued to drive. Unfortunately Bob had nowhere to go, crashing right into the bonnet, and was thrown across the car on the road.

“It was a straight hill, the driver could’ve seen me… should’ve seen me. He thought that he could beat me to the drive and pulled right across my path. I had nowhere to go,” Bob told road.cc.

The 20-year old, who rides for the Trinity Racing team, was on his Specialized Tarmac SL7, which also snapped by the head tube. Fortunately, there were four training police officers across the road who helped him up and called an ambulance.

After a CT scan at the hospital, he found out that he had a broken transverse process on four lumbar vertebrae, delegating him to six weeks of bed rest.

This comes at a time when the pro cycling season has already started, with Bob’s first race coming up halfway through March in Portugal, which he won’t be able to participate in anymore.

“It’s so depressing to have such an important period off the bike really,” said Bob. “I don’t see the point, you can wear whatever you want, some people are going to drive stupidly anyway.”

The outfit that Bob was wearing is the UK-based Trinity Racing’s kit for 2023, the team that has produced elite riders like Tom Pidcock and Ben Turner. The kit has been touted as bold and wild; surely bright enough to stand out on the road. However, the notion that cyclists wearing hi-visibility clothing are likely to avoid getting hit by drivers has been called into question several times in academic studies.

Even though the UK’s Highway Code suggests that cyclists “should” wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing, a study at Bath and Brunel University showed that such practices have little or no effect on pedestrians’ or cyclists' safety, or on the behaviour of people driving.

Recently, pedestrians in Scotland were asked to wear hi-vis by the police after six people were killed after being hit on the road within just 13 days.. Even a recent pro cyclist-led campaign of asking cyclists to use a light was criticised by the chair of Road Danger Reduction Forum for feeding into a culture of victim blaming.

In 2020, the Metropolitan Police denied that an operation handing out hi-vis vests to bicycle riders in the English capital constituted victim-blaming.. Meanwhile in November 2021 Northern Ireland's road policing unit said that "nobody wants to play spot the cyclist" and recommended hi-vis clothing, prompting the following reply including one of their Surrey counterparts' tweets.

Chris Boardman, who is now Commissioner for Active Travel England, has also lamented (link is external) that cyclists have to take precautionary measures just to ride safely on roads.

Bob Donaldson, frustrated with this culture, posted a photo of his broken bike and his bright kit, with the text: “Can stand out as much as you want, doesn’t matter to some drivers”.

He said that luckily, the crash happened right by the driver’s house, so there was nowhere they could go: “The police are involved, I’m sure in due course we’ll get something sorted,” he said. Bob is at home right now, although with little to no movement possible.

The pro cyclist broke through on the competitive road cycling in 2019, and 2022 was a quite successful year for Bob, ranking fourth in the general classification of Tour d’Eure-et-Loir. Here’s to wishing him a speedy recovery and hoping we see him get back on track (and the road) soon.

https://road.cc/content/news/pro-cyclist-injured-despite-bright-clothing-299423

Am I the only one who suspects that excessive speed for the conditions was
a factor in this collision?

And as far as hi-viz is concerned, as a Swedish doctor might have said, “We
know who has been killed wearing hi-viz, but we cannot point to anyone that
has been saved, because we don’t know who they are”.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> While we've reported on numerous instances of cyclists being asked to
> wear high-vis by various authorities in the past, clothing choice is
> sometimes shown to be futile when it comes to some drivers – and now, a
> pro cyclist representing Great Britain has told of how he suffered a
> broken back after being hit by a speeding driver, despite donning an
> outfit that could barely be any brighter.
>
> Bob Donaldson was on a training ride in Whaley Bridge in the Peak
> District and was on his way home. As he was heading down a hill, a driver
> was pulling into his driveway and, being in a car, wrongly assumed that
> he would make it quicker than the cyclist, and continued to drive.
> Unfortunately Bob had nowhere to go, crashing right into the bonnet, and
> was thrown across the car on the road.
>
> “It was a straight hill, the driver could’ve seen me… should’ve seen me.
> He thought that he could beat me to the drive and pulled right across my
> path. I had nowhere to go,” Bob told road.cc.
>
> The 20-year old, who rides for the Trinity Racing team, was on his
> Specialized Tarmac SL7, which also snapped by the head tube. Fortunately,
> there were four training police officers across the road who helped him
> up and called an ambulance.
>
> After a CT scan at the hospital, he found out that he had a broken
> transverse process on four lumbar vertebrae, delegating him to six weeks of bed rest.
>
> This comes at a time when the pro cycling season has already started,
> with Bob’s first race coming up halfway through March in Portugal, which
> he won’t be able to participate in anymore.
>
> “It’s so depressing to have such an important period off the bike
> really,” said Bob. “I don’t see the point, you can wear whatever you
> want, some people are going to drive stupidly anyway.”
>
> The outfit that Bob was wearing is the UK-based Trinity Racing’s kit for
> 2023, the team that has produced elite riders like Tom Pidcock and Ben
> Turner. The kit has been touted as bold and wild; surely bright enough to
> stand out on the road. However, the notion that cyclists wearing
> hi-visibility clothing are likely to avoid getting hit by drivers has
> been called into question several times in academic studies.
>
> Even though the UK’s Highway Code suggests that cyclists “should” wear
> light-coloured or fluorescent clothing, a study at Bath and Brunel
> University showed that such practices have little or no effect on
> pedestrians’ or cyclists' safety, or on the behaviour of people driving.
>
> Recently, pedestrians in Scotland were asked to wear hi-vis by the police
> after six people were killed after being hit on the road within just 13
> days. Even a recent pro cyclist-led campaign of asking cyclists to use a
> light was criticised by the chair of Road Danger Reduction Forum for
> feeding into a culture of victim blaming.
>
> In 2020, the Metropolitan Police denied that an operation handing out
> hi-vis vests to bicycle riders in the English capital constituted
> victim-blaming. Meanwhile in November 2021 Northern Ireland's road
> policing unit said that "nobody wants to play spot the cyclist" and
> recommended hi-vis clothing, prompting the following reply including one
> of their Surrey counterparts' tweets.
>
> Chris Boardman, who is now Commissioner for Active Travel England, has
> also lamented (link is external) that cyclists have to take precautionary
> measures just to ride safely on roads.
>
> Bob Donaldson, frustrated with this culture, posted a photo of his broken
> bike and his bright kit, with the text: “Can stand out as much as you
> want, doesn’t matter to some drivers”.
>
> He said that luckily, the crash happened right by the driver’s house, so
> there was nowhere they could go: “The police are involved, I’m sure in
> due course we’ll get something sorted,” he said. Bob is at home right
> now, although with little to no movement possible.
>
> The pro cyclist broke through on the competitive road cycling in 2019,
> and 2022 was a quite successful year for Bob, ranking fourth in the
> general classification of Tour d’Eure-et-Loir. Here’s to wishing him a
> speedy recovery and hoping we see him get back on track (and the road) soon.
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/pro-cyclist-injured-despite-bright-clothing-299423
>

--
Spike

QUOTE: The 20-year old, who rides for the Trinity Racing team, was on his Specialized Tarmac SL7, which also snapped by the head tube. Fortunately, there were four training police officers across the road who helped him up and called an ambulance. ENDS

Who says that the police are never on hand when you need them?

Sadly for the idiot driver.

On 19/02/2023 06:28 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

[ ... ]

> Chris Boardman, who is now Commissioner for Active Travel England, has also lamented (link is external) that cyclists have to take precautionary measures just to ride safely on roads.

*Everybody* has to "take precautionary measures just to [travel] safely
on roads".

That is the very reason why the DoT publishes the Highway Code.

But some classes of road-user - fairy-cyclists in particular - are too
childish and selfish to even think of following the Code's rules.

Odd that, since they are very vocal in asserting that eberyone alse must
do exactly that.

Can any of them pronounce "hypocrite"?

I wear a rear daytime light. The cateye viz 450. It has a daytime hyperflash mode of 450 lumens. It's an extra 67 grams. But I wouldn't leave home without it. I'm told that the hyperflash adds caution to the driver's decision making process. Entirely subjective. I've had plenty of close passes but I ALWAYS wear black threads only.
What. Say something!

I'm also well aware that any cretin might end it all for me in a heartbeat. Oh. And I wear go pros front n back. With a 200 lumen front hyperflash. Probably an extra 500 grams of kit.

I wish Bob well in his recovery and hope his lawyer successfully rinses the insurer for appropriate compensation.

There should be a public awareness campaign on the MGIF idiots. Any seasoned cyclist on here has had an MGIF twat turn left on them. This has got to be the number one fault of all motorists. To think they can always beat a cyclist in a short distance race. Ignorance is not bliss for the vulnerable road user...

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wear a rear daytime light. The cateye viz 450. It has a daytime
> hyperflash mode of 450 lumens. It's an extra 67 grams. But I wouldn't
> leave home without it. I'm told that the hyperflash adds caution to the
> driver's decision making process. Entirely subjective. I've had plenty of
> close passes but I ALWAYS wear black threads only.
> What. Say something!
>
> I'm also well aware that any cretin might end it all for me in a
> heartbeat. Oh. And I wear go pros front n back. With a 200 lumen front
> hyperflash. Probably an extra 500 grams of kit.
>
> I wish Bob well in his recovery and hope his lawyer successfully rinses
> the insurer for appropriate compensation.
>
> There should be a public awareness campaign on the MGIF idiots. Any
> seasoned cyclist on here has had an MGIF twat turn left on them. This has
> got to be the number one fault of all motorists. To think they can always
> beat a cyclist in a short distance race. Ignorance is not bliss for the
> vulnerable road user...

Another huge extrapolation from the emotional particular to the general is
just what everyone needs. Not.

--
Spike

Re-reading the article, it sounds more like the driver did see Bob, but mis-judged how fast he was coming down the hill, so possibly has nothing to do with how visible he was but more do with the driver making a seriously bad and rushed error in pulling across his path.

Exactly. Emphasising hi-viz doesn't address the bigger issue of poor driving standards.

SPOT ON - MGIF SYNDROME.