My second time riding my bike and hit by a truck. Very banged up but walking and my bike has few hundred dollars of damage. I was wearing black shorts and a white jersey with a black helmet.
I am wondering how to become more visible to motorists. Both instances the driver stopped and helped me stating that they did not see me.
What can I do to become more visible?
Thanks.
.
My helmets are either fluo green or bright red. My cycling jerseys are always bright colors. My shoes are bright colors. Varia blinking radar/light.
Of course bright colors enhance visibility.
Many years ago I stopped being amazed at bike riders and runners who seem to try and color coordinate their clothing to the color of the road
That sucks. Sorry to hear that. Glad you’re mostly ok though. You didn’t share details about direction of you relative to traffic.
Is it a clothing color thing, or a blind spot issue, or something else? (i.e. may not just be clothing colors)
I guess you could increase your chances w/bright colors, but also ride defensively around motorists, and use flashing lights.
Coming across traffic, a cyclist/pedestrian can easily disappear behind the A-pillar of a car. From afar I look at the car’s wheel. It shouldn’t move. And when I get closer if I can’t see the driver and better yet, make eye contact, I assume they haven’t seen me.
When I’m riding with the flow of traffic, if the shoulder’s not wide enough to safely be far right to let cars by unimpeded, then I take enough of the lane that car’s can’t just continue. As they come up, I move right and/or wave them by.
I’m sure there are academic studies out there too on recommendations. But these are some of my rules of thumb.
They don’t make black traffic cones for a reason… 
Seriously though, bright colors are seen from further away than dark colors and rotating bright colors even more so (yellow or orange shoes). My helmets are always fluoro yellow and these days I don’t even wear a cycling jersey and instead wear yellow or orange fluoro"Tradie" tops (the ones that all road workers and construction types wear here in Oz). On bike tours I often add a fluoro vest.
At night my bike and helmet are lit up with lots of reflective tape and flashing lights. I even have flashing red and blue lights and blue reflective tape (rear facing only) as that tends to make sleepy drivers take a little more notice,especially on lonely highways. Yes,the “Police lights” are technically illegal but I have never had a cop take issue with me here or any other country I have ridden through. Where I live the cops just drive past and give me a thumbs up or even turn their red and blues on in solidarity as they drive past.
I often have drivers tell me how visible I am compared to most other cyclists and thank me for making the extra effort to be seen. So many cyclists though argue the point and give me shit for being different.
To add to re: colors… How visible you are can also depend on illumination level at the time you are riding. e.g. If around sunset, when illumination is dropping, folks’ vision is shifting from relying on cone receptors (good for color) to rods (good for low light).
That’s why red is hard to see at night. Neon/flourescent green is picked up well by rods and cones – so that’s a standout color across conditions. Note - newer fire trucks and emergency vehicles are often colored that green for that reason. Kinda like the GFNY event jerseys - flourescent greenish.
I wear flouro socks. I think that the moving flouro is very visible. Cycling by myself a flouro jersey. Cycling in a group a bright coloured jersey. I have flouro gloves and flouro arm warmers.
Day and night a super bright flashing light front and back.
Sorry, empathetic comments, best wishes, etc.
This is a topic I have some professional interest in, and immense personal interest in (in general, I’d prefer not to be injured when out cycling).
There are some studies in this, and this is a fairly neat summary of one review of evidence.
“*It is, though, hard to prove whether hi-vis makes any significant impact on cyclists’ safety, *
*and there is very little convincing evidence to support the argument that it does. *
*Research suggests that hi-vis may help drivers spot cyclists more readily, but it appears that spotting is one thing and driving safely around them another. *
*One academic study, for example, found that whether a cyclist is wearing hi-vis or not makes very little difference to how closely motorists overtake them. *
On the other hand, research suggests that retroreflective accessories designed to make you more conspicuous in the dark – especially anything g that moves when you pedal (e.g. ankle straps) – are probably worth the investment” 21-03_ca_hi-vis_brf_1.pdf
So as above, DeFeet fluoro socks are my consistent footwear, and if riding in the dark then a reflective fluoro magnetic loop around my ankle, coupled of course with good flashing lights front and rear (and constant front).
Because despite the article content, it costs nothing, then my helmet is white with fluoro orange back, and is mainly royal blue with wide 6" wide fluoro green stripe up the middle and on the bib leg grippers.
One thing I would say, is remember to check what you look like when riding. The number of cyclists I see with hi-viz on that is invisible when they are riding from behind is bizarre. By this, flashing lights on the back of helmets that are pointing up to the sky and/or blocked by their back, a hood neck roll, or more often a rucksack when they are in a cycling postition as opposed to walking. Same for the black rucksack over a high viz jacket. Lights blocked by panniers. Front lights obscured by GPS/bar mounted phones. And sure, those may help from driers in front /side, but I’d suggest those collisions the self responsibility is on the cyclist to avoid. Being hit from behind is where you need the driver to do the work.
I understand and share your desire to do everything on your end to improve the chance of being seen, but:
It feels weird that nobody in this thread has called for some responsibility to be taken by the drivers hitting you. There are rules for what a bike has to have in order to be street-legal at night (i.e.: Lights of a certain brightness and reflectors - at least where I live) and anything above that is really optional. There is no law that enforces bright or fluro-kit. It’s not like black cars are constantly involved in crashes as long as they have the proper lights and reflectors…
The ever increasing brightness of all lights be it on bikes, cars, traffic infrastructure and the evermore omnipresence of reflective clothing can also lead to an arms-race of visibility that causes a saturation of the busier streets where all you see is lights practically blinding you. (Don’t get me started on cyclist having highly powerful LEDs pointing upwards again blinding the oncoming traffic)
Brightness in motion, and blinking:
Hi-viz socks/shoes grab attention because they move when you pedal.
A good, high lumen taillight on any blinking setting. Never ride directly into low sun without one.
If you’re in a congested area, a quality LED front light on blinking mode will alert drivers on side streets that you’re approaching.
Other than that, colored jerseys/tops may be better but realize that in shadows or low light conditions almost every jersey other than reflective hi-viz may as well be dark gray.
The Universal Excuse from drivers. The sad and pathetic part about this is, it actually works. Drivers tell this to the Police when they show up. It goes on the record. If the incident ever reaches a Court with Charges, the Driver will stand in front of the Judge and say it. “Your Honor - I did not see them”. Driver get’s a slap on the writs and off the go.
Of course no one ever seems to think about the absurdity of this. You were operating a motor vehicle, on the roads while driving blind folded? And everyone along the line is “OK” with this! No one questions at all the absurdity of this? The driver was operating a motor vehicle on the roads, while blindfolded? 
I suppose the answer to this is to be lit up like a Christmas tree if it’s at all dark out.
If you can’t see me in this, then your licence should be suspended.
Obviously not applicable during daylight hours, but if you’re out at night take precautions.
I ride solo in the country roads in my area.
I use a bright flashing headlight in the front even in daylight (don’t underestimate the need for cars coming at you to see you!)
Most often ride with a bright jersey (yellow, orange, bright red).
…And the Garmin Varia rear radar is a MUST if you ride by yourself (or group of 2) in lower traffic areas (i.e. county roads). This is the thing that makes me feel the safest and completely impact how I ride on many levels.
Anyone that has one riding this way, can swear by it.
(Not much useful in big groups, and high traffic areas like cities, where it beeps all the time).
Finally, cater your routes to bike-friendly roads if possible. Low traffic, wide paved shoulders, etc. Avoid narrow roads with high speed limits for cars (i.e. no shoulder, 90 km/h limit county roads).
Hope you recover quick!
To become more visible to motorists, studies recommend daytime running lights and highlighting moving body parts. Flashing lights and brightly colored socks and/or shoes are quite effective. Studies comparing clothing colors show mixed and sometimes counter-intuitive results as the surroundings and situations have an impact. For example, black clothing when contrasted against a light background is highly effective at highlighting the human shape, and fluorescent colors are ineffective at night. Do a search for Clemson University cyclist visibility studies and resulting interpretive news stories, including one by Trek bikes with recommendations.
More concerning to us as cyclists should be study results coming out of Australia. That country is experiencing massive problems of hostility and road rage towards cyclists, so much so that there are National studies being done and Public Service advertisements to try to change public perceptions and dangerous behaviors by motorists. Very disturbing is a recent study that indicated that 50% of motorists see cyclists as less than human. In the US we should be funding similar research and public service spots if people are really serious about the increasing danger of road rage and inattentive driving with effectively zero consequences for injury and death to cyclists.
There is nothing you can do to make them see you, they have to be looking.
You can campaign for fewer cars on the road, which in my assessment, is the only objective way to measurably reduce risk of death and injury to cyclists and pedestrians.
Ride defensively and assertively, but accept that you are not in control of this risk, they are.
They bring all the danger, and all the mitigation they need, with them. They fantasise that we are responsible for our protection from their threat.
But you do you. 
Being liked by drivers is a nice, sociable thing after all. 
Those drivers, being nice attentive people, interested enough to talk to you, are unlikely representative of the primary threat demographic though.
People forget that the vast majority of drivers do indeed do the right thing. We don’t notice the tens of thousands of drivers passing without incident ,we only notice the relatively few assholes who feel like the road rules don’t apply to them.
Here in Oz it is safer to ride defensively and prepare for the worst than to expect anyone to give a shit about me, especially when so many cyclists themselves flout the road rules. It is interesting though, that I feel safer on the crazy busy roads of second and third world countries than I do on “civilized” first world roads.
This conversation has yet again gone from a simple question about visibility to driver/cyclist behavior and we find yet again that we, as cyclists, become divided. This is so common and is one reason I no longer ride in groups in Oz as I find that many groups on the road here do nothing but exacerbate the war.
Here’s a good article that everyone should read since it may save their life:
Zero difference in my experience. The problem is drivers perception and attention. No one is calling for black and dark grey cars to be banned because they’re effectively invisible to drivers.
Drivers often run into traffic cones, because they’re not paying attention or have poor judgement, depth perception, spatial awareness and an unrepentant need to not be behind a cyclist ever, even when they’re 50 yards from their driveway.
What does make a difference:
I think there is one more component to the safety aspect. Similar to education and messaging regarding impaired driving and other abuses, maybe more education of drivers to say share the road, that others have equal right to use roads (pedestrians, equestrians, cyclists etc) might with enough effort move the needle. Nothing can cure the problem, there will always be bad drives, but visibility and education can help. Where I live I find drivers to generally be very reasonable (giving lots of room on the major highways with a shoulder), and taking reasonable time to overtake and pass when safe. However there will always be the bad drivers and jerks out there, so at least by being visible it may help.