British Rail did a great deal of practical research in all sorts of conditions to establish the most visible colour. If orange is better on a 125 mph railway then it'll do me on a 70 mph road. 

 

All railway Standard HV Vests now have reflective Silver Strips, Two on the back and Two on the front, which are  a God send when It's dark.

 

They are also designed to show which way the person is facing.  If the two strips  are  " Vertical " ( on the back  ) the person is facing away from you and if the two stripes show a " V "  ( on the front ) he is facing you

 

Clever

All railway Standard HV Vests now have reflective Silver Strips, Two on the back and Two on the front, which are  a God send when It's dark.

 

They are also designed to show which way the person is facing.  If the two strips  are  " Vertical " ( on the back  ) the person is facing away from you and if the two stripes show a " V "  ( on the front ) he is facing you

 

Clever

Huh, well there you go, every day's a schoolday on Brisky

Huh, well there you go, every day's a schoolday on Brisky

 

" THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR PASSENGERS TRAVELLING ON FLIGHT NUMBER....................................."       

" THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR PASSENGERS TRAVELLING ON FLIGHT NUMBER....................................."       

At my gate bud , but no ones ever in a rush to do anything here

Now its not just France where its compulsory, its now virtually the whole of Europe.

The law in spain is even tougher than France, every passenger must have one and you must be able to access the things without getting out of the car if you breakdown on the motorway. Hence why in Spain you see a lot of the cars with them hanging over the front seats, me I just keep them in the glovebox when in Spain.

I think its a good idea, they are always in my car along with a warning triangle.

It's an on the spot 100e fine if you've got a hi viz vest over your seat in Spain. I have a car in Spain and my insurance company issue each year with renewal a must know sheet.. hi viz vests are for use outside the vehicle by persons only, not for seats in parked cars.

Two friends have already suffered from Polizia Locale100e fines due to this.

At my gate bud , but no ones ever in a rush to do anything here

 

Safe Trip Mate

I have all those :yes:

 

Can tell i drive a Renault..i have all the above including jump cables, basic tool kit and breathalysers, because their obviously all wino's in France haha

Just tried to take a snap of the airport but wifi is having none of me using photobucket. :no:

Thanks, hoping for an uneventful flight

I have to in my job anyway and mine is in the boot for when I get to work. Everybody round here seems to wear them,even pedestrians. What's this country coming to.

Sent from my PID using Tapatalk

In some European countries its compulsory to carry a hi-viz vest in the vehicle for all passengers in a car....

 

Should that be the case here?

 

Yes, they should be. In my cars there are one for each passenger (and driver). Part of it is because I drive in Europe a fair bit, partly because of another reason. Many years ago when I worked up North, a young woman was changing a wheel on her car at the side of the road in the dark. Although she was pulled into the side of the road, she was changing a wheel next to the road and was unfortunately hit by another car and killed outright, the other driver hadn't seen her. If she had been wearing a hi-vis vest, she may have been seen and she may still have been with us today. Carrying hi-vis vests in the car is obviously no guarantee that the occupants will wear them when necessary, but I can't help thinking that they may save a life. For similar reasons my cars also have two reflective warning triangles, one to be placed behind and one to be placed in front of the car.

Having changed a couple of wheels on motorway hard shoulder including one on live side of M1, I would have no objection to it

 

38 tons whistling past at 60mph 3ft from your back isn't funny

 

Been there, done that. Got a blowout on the drivers side rear, changing that in the dark on the hard shoulder of the A1(M) was not fun. Managed to complete the swap in 10 mins, but even with the passenger side on the grass it was still pretty scary.

Bad idea in my opinion, 99.9% of the time I drive with only me in the car, but because sometimes I visit my mum on a Sunday and on one of these days we might want to go somewhere I should have 2? And on 0.1% of these days I might get a puncture that is on the right hand side of the car or break down so on about 0.001% of my journeys I might need 2 jackets and that's if I can be bothered to get it out or can find them anyway, and I don't drive far so a slow puncture wouldn't be any bother and the road is quiet on a busy day with lots of even quieter roads coming off of it that you can turn off to. So on the rare event that I need 1 jacket there is still a wasted one and even then no cars will come.

I know the road conditions are different for everyone and people do travel long distances on motorways regularly but there is a hard shoulder and if the puncture is on the left then you're fine anyway.

It shouldn't be illegal not to have one because some people simply don't need one, as for making it an MOT failure I know what I'd do, get together with some people and buy 5, take a car in for its MOT, ask everyone whose MOT is next and give them to them...

This law would never be able to be enforced, not in a million years, they can't enforce the law to stop people from using mobile phones and ask yourself which is more important!

Cars are going round with blown bulbs, bald tyres, heavily tinted windscreens etc and you want people to ave high-vis jackets to make people see them better?

But for the sake of a couple of quid, just in case????

I have had to have one by law for where I lived but always carried at least one in car, primarily for the reason of being seen. There is an additional advantage, if you have to change a wheel be it in the midst of other traffic or not, it's a layer to help not get your clothes covered in crap and or limit how wet you get if raining etc. I also have one of those small rain jackets that folds into one of it's own pockets and latex gloves . 

 

But on the point of so many about no one taking notice of them, tonight I was driving down an unlit main trunking route (single carriageway A road) Someone at other side of road was wearing one walking and with the reflective strips on them, I could see the person from about 300-350 meters away and knew exactly what it was. If they were not wearing this, I nor anyone would have seen the person until in the beam pattern of our own headlights, which isn't very far at all! This applies equally to someone walking as to someone with a broken down car which may have no power for any lights to warn other road users of it's presence (in which case could save you from driving into a dead car in middle of road). Even a car with hazard lights on in pitch black, with no high vis, you haven't a clue where a person(s) might be. 

 

I would happily see it a a legal requirement in the UK. I wear one while on bike the vast majority of the time and people never fail to take notice of me especially during the day, by their suddenly slowing down and being all legal in their driving until they see that I am not a police biker. So they do get noticed. 

 

With regard to the nanny state stuff. Let's be a bit more open minded, the law changed 31 years and 4 days ago where the nanny state told us all that we are now legally required to wear seat belts. Today that is something which is perfectly acceptable and seen as stupid to not do! But still had same crap then with people saying it was interfering To suddenly be told you must now tie yourself to your car is a bit bigger a deal than having something to allow you to be seen more distinctively at a greater distance when in a vulnerable position outside of vehicle if broken down. Would it really be such a big burden on your liberty if you were forced to have something which might save your life?  

No, but....

 

It all just becomes another point the state can use to pick on and make money out of someone who's made an innocent mistake. For example, if you give a friend a lift a short distance in broad daylight, and don't think "Have I got enough hi-vizes in the car?"., you're setting yourself up for a ticket.

 

If it's all about safety, why not send a complimentary jacket out to everyone who buys a their road tax? 

 

My personal take on it from a safety point of view (got a couple of low-level H+S qualifications) is 90% of Health and Safety is common sense. If your car's broken, and you feel you need a high-viz to be safe in your current location. Stand somewhere else while help arrives.

 

*Depending on circumstances, help could be:

 - Your breakdown service if you have one

 - Highways Agency/Police if you're broken down somewhere dangerous.

 - A mate with a tow rope if you have friends

No, but....

 

It all just becomes another point the state can use to pick on and make money out of someone who's made an innocent mistake. For example, if you give a friend a lift a short distance in broad daylight, and don't think "Have I got enough hi-vizes in the car?"., you're setting yourself up for a ticket.

 

 

No... it's simple if you drive a car with 5 seats you carry 5 Hi - Viz vests in a place where they can be reached by each passenger, as I believe the law in parts of Europe is...

No, but....

 

It all just becomes another point the state can use to pick on and make money out of someone who's made an innocent mistake. For example, if you give a friend a lift a short distance in broad daylight, and don't think "Have I got enough hi-vizes in the car?"., you're setting yourself up for a ticket.

 

I would be happy with 1 per vehicle as one person being highlighted to other road users is enough in my opinion (and is the most common way it's done in most of mainland EU). But it's hardly a drama to have 5 in a car if you have 5 seats.

 

 

If it's all about safety, why not send a complimentary jacket out to everyone who buys a their road tax?

 

I am sure that could easily be done but 'if' it was a legal requirement and checked on MOT, you'd not be able to buy VED without already having them. New cars come with them elsewhere also. 

 

 

My personal take on it from a safety point of view (got a couple of low-level H+S qualifications) is 90% of Health and Safety is common sense. If your car's broken, and you feel you need a high-viz to be safe in your current location. Stand somewhere else while help arrives.

 

*Depending on circumstances, help could be:

 - Your breakdown service if you have one

 - Highways Agency/Police if you're broken down somewhere dangerous.

 - A mate with a tow rope if you have friends

 

Standing somewhere else is not always possible unfortunately. Even where it is possible (for example) to get to the other side of a crash barrier, not all licence holders are required to be able bodied enough to climb over them in order to reach safety. But regardless, there isn't always a possibility of going anywhere 'safe' at all.

 

But I must stress, no one has ever suggested high visibility clothing will protect you and allow you to remain in an otherwise unsafe location. But it's always going to be better to be seen in my eyes.

 

As I mentioned in my last post, I was driving down the same road tonight and saw 2 more people out walking and possibly the same ones. You just would never have known they were there otherwise. Hypothetically these people could have broken down in this no signal black hole and were walking up the shoulder of single carriageway for assistance. A vehicle is not visible enough to be allowed to remain in one on a hard shoulder as tragedy has proven many times over the years so someone pulling in not seeing those two could be fatal. Their choice to wear that clothing affords them a greater chance of living and I am sure that's their reasoning for having them. 

 

Actually I just remembered! My old secondary school, 2 children a few years ago getting off the school bus at nearest point to there home in winter got killed by a car that just didn't see them in their dark uniforms and drove threw them! The school recognised this issue and changed the uniform to include the reflective strips. A uniform grant was given to parents to implement this.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11880602

 

You won't catch me changing a wheel at the side of a motorway, hi-vis vest or not.

 

Hazards on, hard shoulder, slow speed until I can get to point of safety.

 

The cost of ruining a tyre by driving on it is worth my life.

High Viz vests should be able to be left to driver's common sense. Unfortunately so many people are lacking in common sense and only too happy to blame someone else when they feck up that sadly yes it should be made a legal requirement.

I've argued against this in a couple of posts.

 

The thread has gone off track (as most do) into a discussion on the desirability of wearing them to change wheels on motorways etc. etc.

 

Now, I've no problem with carrying them, in fact I carry a couple myself (in the boot though) but the original post was should carrying them be required by law, which I strongly disagree with.

 

As I said before, my reasoning is simple - there are already too many almost unenforceable laws being passed, covering virtually every aspect of our lives.

So, maybe one more won't matter?

Well, I disagree. I'm not generally opposed to legislation, and I don't agree with the paranoid tendency but it has now got ridiculous.

How many laws do you reckon have been passed in the last few years.

Have a guess, then scroll down a bit for some random numbers.

 

And remember, ignorance of the law is no excuse. You are required to comply with all of these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2001 - 2725

 

2008 - 2148

2009 - 2492

2010 - 3506

 

And you want ANOTHER one????

No thanks

In this case, let Darwinism take its course.

I would just like to say if your car brakes down on an M/WAY or any other road for that mater Always stand behind at lease 18 meters away or as far as you can, not in front thinking the vehicle will protect you if its hit its only going one way, forwards!

you forgot to mention about turning the front wheels to full left lock, just in case you do get rear shunted. so the vehicle goes of to the left and not onto the carriage way.

you forgot to mention about turning the front wheels to full left lock, just in case you do get rear shunted. so the vehicle goes of to the left and not onto the carriage way.

yes that as well ,but when my mates patrol van was hit by a car it ended up on its side in lane one even with the wheels turned,

  the point I was making is get as far away as possible .any thing can happen.