Is high-vis the answer?

But conspicuity isn't really about how bright your kit is. It's about contrast — whether you stand out from whatever's directly behind you, at the exact moment a driver's eyes sweep past. And that's where hi-vis starts to get complicated, especially once the clocks start thinking about going back and the roadsides turn gold.

The case for hi-vis comes from a real and stubborn problem. "Failed to look properly" is consistently the single biggest contributory factor recorded against both riders and other drivers in fatal and serious motorcycle collisions — 3,412 instances involving motorcyclists between 2018 and 2022, according to the Department for Transport's motorcyclist factsheet. Most of that is the classic SMIDSY moment — a driver pulling out of a junction who genuinely didn't register a bike was there. Anything that makes a rider easier to pick out of a scene is trying to chip away at that number, and that's a good instinct.

The problem is that fluorescent yellow only works as a signal when it's the odd one out. Research summarised by Science of Being Seen — built from the same conspicuity research that underpins rider training courses like Biker Down — makes the point plainly: effectiveness "may depend on the situation in which the motorcyclist was located." A yellow jacket that pops against a hedgerow can disappear against roadworks barriers, hi-vis-liveried vans, or a line of cyclists in matching kit. In town, especially near building sites, you can end up as one more block of colour in a scene that's already full of them.

Autumn makes this worse in a specific, seasonal way. As trees turn gold and verges fill with fallen leaves, that same yellow or amber hi-vis can blend straight into the background rather than jumping out of it. You're still glowing — it's just that the hedge is glowing too. Add in low, glaring autumn sun that flattens colour and contrast for the driver looking your way, and a vest that worked perfectly well in July can quietly stop pulling its weight in October.

Neither, on its own. Hi-vis is one input into whether a driver clocks you — not a guarantee. Treat it as a tool that needs pairing with the basics that actually put you in a driver's field of view: strong lane position, a headlight that's on and doing something (not just default running lights), and riding in a way that breaks up your silhouette rather than trusting your jacket to do all the work.

The most useful shift is mental, not material: ride every junction as though the driver hasn't seen you, hi-vis or not. That's not pessimism, it's just what the SMIDSY numbers are telling us.

Hi-vis isn't a bad idea — but it's not the whole idea, either. The moment you treat it as a finished answer rather than one part of a bigger picture, you've handed your safety over to a jacket. Autumn is a good time to notice that, because it's exactly when the trick stops working as well as it did all summer.

Ride Safe.