Safety Tip – Stay Visible While Cycling!

 

Staying visible is one of the most important aspects of bike safety, especially when cycling at night or in high-traffic areas. Here are some tips to help make sure other road users see you!

• Check the cycling laws for your area. Many places have laws requiring cyclists to have reflectors or lights mounted on their bicycles when riding at night

• Attach front and rear lights to your bike. This will ensure your bike is visible from the front and behind.
• Don’t rely entirely on reflectors. While reflectors meet the minimum legal requirements for night cycling in many areas, they have limitations that make it unwise to use as your primary source of visibility. Reflectors can be obscured by fog and grit and are only effective if hit by headlights at a certain angle.
• Even if you have lights, keep reflectors on your bike for backup. Lights can burn out or fail, so it’s important to keep reflectors on your bike in case this happens.
• Wear reflective clothing. This not only improves your general visibility, but it ensures you’ll remain visible to drivers if you become separated from your bike while on the road. A wide range of reflective clothing is available in most cycling shops.

Although visibility is most important at night, reflectors and lights can still be useful during the day. You’re more likely to catch the eye of a driver if your bike has a light source.

Do you have any safety tips you’d like to share? Head to the MS Bike Facebook and twitter pages and let us know!

All information on bicycle lights and reflectors drawn from Wikibooks.