How high vis is too high vis?

hirsute wrote:

I think there needs to be some legislation on lights as it's beginning to be an escalation war to be the brightest, then we get things that in the past would have stuck out no being lost in the general lighting haze.

There was a time when motor vehicle drivers were expected to decide what lighting was appropriate to the conditions; none, side-lights, dipped headlights, full headlights. Countries in the north were able to decide what was appropriate in the winter months i.e. dipped headlights. Automotive manufacturers were able to support that at no significant cost (a switch). Bicycles were able to stand out with daytime lights because most drivers didn't think it necessary to switch on their lights and found bicycle lights tolerable or useful.

A well meaning fool decided that we needed a law to make dipped headlights mandatory even though the current situation was working well. So we got a loss of conspicuity because vulnerable road users don't matter whereas a one size fits all law is efficient...

Also if you walk somewhere purposefully while carrying something and wearing hi-vis people ignore you completely.

chrisonatrike wrote:

Also if you walk somewhere purposefully while carrying something and wearing hi-vis people ignore you completely.

A ladder is probably the best access-all-areas accessory as people will hold open doors for you.

Top tip - when carrying a ladder into a shed make sure the ladder is shorter than the shed, unless travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

Perhaps chucksneed or other can help with this one though as I never understood this in my physics lessons? Why would you want to carry a ladder into a shed then straight out the other side again? Why would a shed have a door at either end? How you could hope to go through a shed in a hurry without tripping over something?

chrisonatrike wrote:

Top tip - when carrying a ladder into a shed make sure the ladder is shorter than the shed, unless travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Perhaps chucksneed or other can help with this one though as I never understood this in my physics lessons? Why would you want to carry a ladder into a shed then straight out the other side again? Why would a shed have a door at either end? How you could hope to go through a shed in a hurry without tripping over something?

Yeah, the version that makes more sense is a train going through a tunnel. However, the ladder/barn paradox does have doors which allows for an observer to see both barn doors closed with the ladder inside even though the ladder is longer than the barn.

chrisonatrike wrote:

 Why would a shed have a door at either end?

I can't vouch for this personally but a mate in Yorkshire once told me of a man in his home village who had a shed at the bottom of the garden with a secret door at the back end into an alleyway which led to the local, so he could say he was just going to do some work in the shed and nip out for a crafty couple of pints.

Did they find out when one day he never came back?