[Industry_Hack]

3M's No White at Night Challenge

I recently met with a rep from 3M to see what's new and exciting for outdoor enthusiasts. During this meeting, we discussed their No White at Night campaign, and how that meshes with their 360° Enhanced Visibility program. Watch this video, and then I'll explain how 3M is working with garment and shoe manufacturers to help keep us safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OgKOcyHwu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OgKOcyHwu4

That's a bit of an eye-opener, for sure. Which is where the 360° Enhanced Visibility program comes in. It's not as simple as a shoe or clothing company slapping on some 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Material and calling it good. In order to qualify for the 360° Enhanced Visibility hang tag, a manufacturer needs to submit plans proving that their product will contain a specified amount of reflective material, and it must be visible from all sides. It's even broken down by location and amount, so that you're assured a certain amount of visibility on the front, back, and sides. This approval process certifies that garments and footwear displaying the 360° Enhanced Visibility hang tag meet these stringent requirements. So leave your t-shirt at home, and look for the tag - it might just keep you from becoming another statistic.

[edit] Due to forum security restrictions, I had to grab this Youtube video. The original from 3M can be found here.

[funetical]

Man, that's nuts, I usually bike home in an under shirt (white) or a chef coat (white as well). I guess I'm done with that.

Thanks for the info good sir!

[Industry_Hack]

Somewhere in my inbox I have some tips from 3M. I'll find them and post 'em.

[rola643]

That's crazy Hack ! I would have never thought that! Not sure how I missed this before either...If you can find those hints please post'm up!

[Industry_Hack]

Originally Posted by rola643

That's crazy Hack ! I would have never thought that! Not sure how I missed this before either...If you can find those hints please post'm up!

I'll look them up today or tonight, and get them posted.

[funetical]

That would be cool, I showed my wife and she flipped. She hit me (her sign of affection) and said... grumble grumble... IH was great for posting that.

[Industry_Hack]

From the folks at 3M - tips for exercising at night:

1. Do not wear white alone! Drivers moving at just 30 mph could travel a distance over 500 feet before they are able to properly maneuver their cars in response to an obstacle; yet a pedestrian wearing a white shirt may not be visible to drivers until they are within 300 feet* of the car. 3M Scotchlite Reflective Material uses retroflection technology, meaning that it’s specifically designed to return light directly back to its original source. Wear garments which incorporate high brightness reflective materials, in the proper amounts, and in key locations.
*Source: National Safety Council, Walk Alert National Pedestrian Safety Program, FHWA RD 89-022, 1989 Program Guide (NSD, 1989)

2. Increase visibility from all angles. While it’s common for fitness enthusiasts to wear workout attire with reflective material, common designs may not have enough reflective material to get noticed. Wearing garments that contain reflective material on the front, back and sides – in proper amounts and intensity – help enhance visibility. Look for 3M Scotchlite’s 360 Degree hangtag for certified garments that meet these standards and help enhance your visibility from nearly every angle.

3. When walking, biking or running at night, wearing garments with the proper amount of reflective material is essential. But just as important is ensuring the garment design has reflective material on key body movement locations such as the wrists, ankles, elbows or knees. Highlighting these movement locations may allow drivers to more easily recognize the human form – as opposed to a sign or construction barrel – and may help provide more time for drivers to react and avoid an accident.

4. Don’t forget your shoes. Feet are another key body movement location. Wearing reflective material on your shoes is a great way to help delineate yourself as a runner, walker or biker. When combined with reflective garments, reflective material on shoes may help allow drivers to recognize a pedestrian in low-light situations.

5. Wear fluorescent materials. Fluorescent materials help provide additional contrast to the environment, and help runners stand out during daylight, dawn and dusk hours.

[CycleJunkie]

Thanks for posting this. Always interested in being seen...

[ThinkBike]

I agree, a white jersey or t-shirt at night just doesn't cut it. There are so many distractions in cars these days, you need every advantage you can get. If you ride at night, some portion of the drivers that pass you are drunk/tired/texting or are just plain distracted from the job of paying attention to the road in front of them. If that road happens to contain your bicycle, you're in big trouble if they don't see you soon enough.

When I ride at night I do so with a Planet Bike Superflash mounted on my seat post. This LED flashing light is freaking bright. Last year I particpated in RAGBRAI (week long ride across Iowa) with 15,000 other cycling nuts. This year I decided to ride out into the countryside at night. One night some of my teammates hooked up with some locals that had a car and were out driving around. They caught up with me about 15 miles outside of town around 9PM. They said they could see my superflash light from about a mile away. Great product, uses just 2 AAA batteries. Will flash for about 100 hours. If it's on steady, battery life is probably 10 hours. I use rechargeable batteries with no problems.

I know that both Gore and Voler sells a line of jerseys with 3m reflective strips. Voler's jerseys are called NightBright. I own a couple of the Gore Contest model jerseys with the reflective logo/piping/arm banding. After many, many washings, I can say that the Gore reflective features are still intact and work as advertised.

[froze]

I agree as well that a white T shirt isn't near sufficient enough...but, I found the video to be misleading! sorry. But where I live few bike riders and even less runners wear reflective material not to mention lights. But those who were smart enough to wear white clothing I could see way before dark clothing and had time to respond while driving a car. The video makes it look really bad, like your not going to see anything till your almost about to hit them, I haven't found that to be the case at all. I'm not saying don't use reflective material, that would be idiotic to mention such a thing, I'm just saying white works better then the video leads one to believe.