I’ve bought quite a few safety reflectors from this Canadian site.
These are the “corner reflector” design — many little prisms, each with three planes intersecting at right angles — so any incident light is reflected right back along the line it came from.
Many shapes, this is the simplest (not shown to scale, Your Monitor May Vary):
Those in Europe probably already have ready access to these, but those in the US and Asia may find them interesting.
I find that’s true. While “professional” gear may be up to the European standard or something similar, the reflectors sold over the counter to consumers are wretched by comparison.
Check them out.
I have one hung up high in the rear window of my car. I think it does a good job ot making people behind me notice they have their high beams on.
to be very clear — I have one hung at the far back edge of the passenger compartment — right at the back window
(Using an attachment point in the roof over the cargo space for a baby carrier strap, it’s a Subaru)
I wouldn’t put one on the rearview mirror — if you happened to get someone’s headlights from over your shoulder, almost right behind you, it’d put the glare right in your eyes .
Hey, cool idea, I’ve never heard of that before. I’ve got to try that.
As for bicycles, I don’t rely on reflectors. Lights front and back, and sometimes on the pedals. Flashing red (for the back and pedals) works well, without annoying the drivers. Some people use flashing on the front if they’re in the city, because a steady light is often missed. But, I tend to cycle where it’s really dark. Plus, it’s a another excuse to use some of my lights!
Yup. I’m a belt and suspenders (lights and reflectors) kind of guy.
Those pictures of kids wearing them convince me — I don’t count on kids or my elderly neighbors to always remember to turn their flashers on (or off)
so I urge on them reflectors to add to their walking gear.
Just noticed how many really wretchedly bad “reflective” things were cheaply available.
Those of you in the UK and elsewhere who have other suppliers of good reflectors feel free to add recommendations and pictures.
Over here, laws protecting cyclists are a joke. There are several examples every year in my city of drivers doing illegal things and hitting and killing cyclists. They are charged, but the only punishment they ever receive is a fine under the highway traffic act, usually somewhere around $150.
Seriously, it’s so bad, that if you want to murder someone just do it when they’re on a bicycle. It’ll cost you $150 and perhaps a new paint-job for your fender or door.
The only time I ever hear of killing cyclists being taken seriously is when the car driver is drunk. Other than that, being stupid, incompetent, careless, or reckless just doesn’t make any difference. I don’t even know why the cops even bother investigating these deaths, when all that ever happens is a small fine.
Relatives placing “ghost bikes” at the accident scene are going to be getting worse fines than the drivers doing the killing.
http://www.volvocars.com/uk/about/our-innovations/lifepaint
Volvo (from the cars) developed a reflective paint for bikes, very neat stuff
Not for sale, nay sayers trashing it (angry that the paint is shifting safety to bikers instead of car drivers) but I really like the idea, to have a can handy and spray some dots on the backpack, bikes once a month.
Never heard of SOLAS reflective tape, sounds good. Price seems ok, might just order a roll of it to highlight the bikes and if it looks good a bit on the backpack of my son, thanks
I agree about not relying on just bike reflectors. I think the person should be wearing more than one reflector or have something reflective on their clothing. I think that over 5K people are still involved with pedestrian accidents, not sure how many result in death. But, you would think it would be less with so many options for safety today. With the new school year starting soon where I live, we are promoting safety during our school community gathering. We have ordered what looks like something we hope the kids wont mind wearing from this site call safe kids. they have an emoji on them. Kids are picky now a days and seem to act like certain things are not cool, but we are hoping they will like them. the price seemed fair for our budget. you can see it on the page called safe kids . they are yellow so we are hoping they are bright enough. Not sure if we should encourage the kids to put them on their shoes, backpacks or zipper of jackets.
In the picture Hank shared they look cool, just hope our older kids will use them. well thanks
I cut up some SOLAS white/red tape into small pieces and covered my helmet. Also used black reflective tape (black in normal light, reflects relatively brightly when shone on) on my rack and other dark parts of my bike.
This is in addition to the lights of course.
This site (US based) has a whole range of tapes and reflective items:
SOLAS is what you want, it's an acronym for Safety of Life At Sea and if you've ever been out on big water in heavy weather you know exactly what that can mean.
I bought my last batch of SOLAS tape off Amazon and used it to make a load of custom reflectors for our bikes.
By night, depending on the surrounding lights, reflective materials are seen by other vehicules way before bike lights.
It’s better to wear a small reflector than nothing but it doesn’t help to be identified as a human being. People working on the side of the road are wearing pants and jacket with reflective bands.
I tend to prefer an “over-jacket” vest with bands. I would like to buy a complete reflective jacket (like the Proviz Reflect360 Jacket) for my cycling needs but it is non-breathable material.
