Tested: Polite Notice waistcoat
Three weeks through central London looking like plod #motorbikes #Visordown
POLITE looks a lot like POLICE and because nobody wants to knock a cop off their bike, other motorists make room. That's the simple logic behind these increasingly popular high-visibility bibs. But do they work?
Yes, according to the security guard at the Visordown office. He wears one and swears by it. 'It's like Moses parting the Red Sea,' he told me proudly when he spotted me wearing my waistcoat. 'Even the buses move out of your way.' It sounded promising.
My daily commute is 12 miles of constant filtering, ducking, darting and weaving - it's SMIDSY central. I have to ride so defensively it's the biking equivalent of the Hindenburg Line. I was ready to try anything that might make the commute a little less white-knuckle.
At first I was worried I might get nicked for impersonating a police officer but the Association of Chief Police Officers has given the bibs the thumbs up, supporting the idea that better visibility means safer roads and makes their jobs easier.
My other worry - which has proved harder to dispel even after three weeks - was what a complete tool I always feel when I'm wearing the waistcoat, it's unashamedly naff. I feel like a five-year-old who has raided the dressing-up box. 'When I grow up, mummy, I want to be a police motorbike man.'
The first time I rolled out of the car park wearing the waistcoat my self-consciousness must have been radiating like a beacon for bullies because at the first set of lights three blokes in a white van started laughing and pointing.
'Are you going to arrest me, officer?' they jeered. I revved the engine to drown out the taunts but I was a deep shade of scarlet beneath the dark visor.
Read the full article here: bit.ly/2h5uimE
Join In
Comments (0)