I got some new mini-panniers to use on my folders. Here they are attached to the rear rack of my Breezer Itzy. This picture displays the foolishness that passes for official "bicycle safety" design from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Each pannier has a nice strip of reflective material along each side, but nothing in the rear of the panniers. Side view reflectors, like the ones that the CPSC mandates on bicycle wheels, serve little or no purpose. At typical road speeds, a cyclist traveling perpendicular to oncoming traffic, would have his side-facing reflectors illuminated past the point that either vehicle could stop, or take evasive maneuvers.
A better explanation can be found here.
4 comments:
I just got a set of touring panniers that have a big fat strip of retro on the side. They also have it on front and back. But I did scratch my head while looking at the large side reflector.
Someone gave me a set of motorcycle saddlebags (almost exactly like bike panniers) that also have the reflective strip down the side, so it ain't just the bicycle people that don't have their heads screwed on straight.
I have to laugh at garments that say "with refectorized accents". That means their logo. About one quarter by one half inch in size.
After the amount of light a reflector is able to reflect, the next most significant factor in perceived brightness by an observer is area- that is, it will appear brighter the bigger the reflector is.
So small bits here and there are next to useless.
And if you don't believe PM, or Sheldon Brown, the CPSC says the same thing themselves, as linked to from this blog at:
http://cycledallas.blogspot.com/2009/05/lets-cut-cr-and-get-real-data.html
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