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Web maintained
by JohnnyRide
Nthegruv@comcast.net
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.... Do I look like a dork?
The answer is probably not a
dorky as these two.....
In
the clothing department, safety and the "cool look" is going to be a trade off. You weigh the risks and costs of
hospital stays, skin grafts, reconstructive surgery and make an informed choice,
it's up to you. Here are some results from a test
regarding visibility and accidents. Simple adjustments in your style go along
way with respect to visibility.
Objective To investigate whether
the risk of motorcycle crash related injuries is associated with
the conspicuity of the driver or vehicle.
Design Population based
case-control study.
Setting Auckland region of New
Zealand from February 1993 to February 1996.
Participants 463 motorcycle
drivers (cases) involved in crashes leading to hospital treatment
or death; 1233 motorcycle drivers (controls) recruited from
randomly selected roadside survey sites.
Main outcome measures Estimates
of relative risk of motorcycle crash related injury and
population attributable risk associated with conspicuity
measures, including the use of reflective or fluorescent
clothing, headlight operation, and colour of helmet, clothing,
and motorcycle.
Results Crash related injuries
occurred mainly in urban zones with 50 km/h speed limit (66%),
during the day (63%), and in fine weather (72%). After adjustment
for potential confounders,
drivers wearing any
reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37% lower risk
(multivariate odds ratio
0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.94) than other drivers.
Compared with wearing a black helmet,
use of a white helmet was
associated with a 24% lower risk
(multivariate odds ratio 0.76, 0.57 to 0.99).
Self reported light coloured
helmet versus dark coloured helmet was associated with a 19%
lower risk.
Three quarters of motorcycle riders had their
headlight turned on during
the day, and this was associated with a 27% lower risk
(multivariate odds ratio 0.73, 0.53 to 1.00). No association
occurred between risk and the frontal colour of drivers' clothing
or motorcycle. If these odds ratios are unconfounded, the
population attributable risks are 33% for wearing no reflective
or fluorescent clothing, 18% for a non-white helmet, 11% for a
dark coloured helmet, and 7% for no daytime headlight operation.
Conclusions Low conspicuity may
increase the risk of motorcycle crash related injury. Increasing
the use of reflective or fluorescent clothing, white or light
coloured helmets, and daytime headlights are simple, cheap
interventions that could considerably reduce motorcycle crash
related injury and death.
Give yourself a pat on the back
if you are doing any of these and ask yourself can you do more?
Here are just a
few safety ideas.....
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Cover
your ass! Our protective KevlarŪ lining extends from just below the belt
loops to, well, just below your ass. We cover your knees as well with
KevlarŪ knee protection. Our KevlarŪ knee protection wraps around to cover
the front and outside of the knee and shin.
www.dragginjeans.com
The jeans are constructed with
Kevlar panels sewn into the legs on the front side as well as the back side. I have 2 pairs, like
them and they fit well. The also make a Kevlar shirt which comes in black as
well. I have not tried out the shirt but I would love to. These will be
similar to the Joe Rocket Jeans, but Draggin Jeans started the idea.
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Heck dogs wear them, and
they aren't near as smart as you are...
Vests in either the day
glow green or orange can be seen for quite a ways away. Think about it,
they are cheap and light weight. Or did you want to go out and buy a white
leather jacket? You can buy the vests at sporting good stores. Check out
bicycle shops too.
Google search on "Safety
Vests" |
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As simple as
it sounds, a white t-shirt. Ok, it doesn't have to say "Party Animals" on it
as that sends the wrong message, but white is bright. |
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Some
companies like Nolan, sell white helmets that already have reflective
stripes, (blue, red, green and white), installed on them... there are
numerous varieties... look here
http://www.nolan.it/home.asp and then under
"Special Products" |
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Kind of
says it all and they are reflective at night as well. |
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