The WA Nationals have floated the idea of enforcing people who ride bikes and e-scooters to wear hi-viz clothing – but is this just reducing visibility of the real road safety issues?
WestCycle CEO Wayne Bradshaw was on 6PR Breakfast with Millsy and Karl this week explaining that while there might be a place for bike riders to wear hi-viz clothing – regulating it is unworkable and unproven to improve safety.
“This is not a good idea,” said Bradshaw. “It’s impossible to police and there’s no research to show that it makes an impact.”
“To take it to the nth degree do we stipulate that cars should be a light colour? We don’t want to shift the blame to bike riders when distraction and speed and drugs and alcohol [among vehicle drivers] are really the key issues.”
“We want kids to be riding bikes – do we thinks kids should rush inside and grab a hi-viz jacket to put on to go down the shops or go down to the park? It’s not really a practical solution.”
Other visibility-improving measures like bike lights offered better progress on the issue, Bradshaw said.
Listen to the 5-minute interview here.
Check out WestCycle’s Guide to Driving Safely With Bike Riders here.
