The following tips are reprinted courtesy of Motorcycle Safety Foundation, msf-usa.org ©2017 Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

MSF Safety Tip #68: Hi-Viz Gear

A New Zealand study published in 2004 (“Motorcycle Rider Conspicuity and Crash Related Injury: Case-Control Study”) sought to answer the question:  Is hi-viz gear actually safer than other clothing?  Over a three-year period, researchers evaluated hundreds of serious motorcycle crashes that occurred between 6 a.m. and midnight, and compared those riders to a control group of over 1,000 motorcyclists randomly selected from roadside surveys in the same region and time period.

Their findings: Conspicuity improvement is a simple and inexpensive way to reduce a rider’s risk of injury or death.

But unlike the study’s findings regarding regular riding gear, helmet color does make a difference.  Compared with wearing a black helmet, wearing a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk of injury.  Red, yellow, and orange helmets showed a 19% lower risk of injury.

And although this point is moot in the U.S., where motorcycles have been equipped with constant-on headlights since 1978, use of the headlight during the day reduced the risk of crash-related injury by 27%.

These results are consistent with the recommendations of the Hurt Study, published in 1980, which also noted that wearing high-visibility riding gear and using the headlight during the day were associated with a lower risk of being hit by a car.