The Police, or Polite, bib and design makes the cyclist look like a police officer, even from relatively close up. A similar step has already been taken by Dublin couriers, could it catch on with Irish bike riders?
Cyclists in London have come up with an ingenious way of forcing motorists to slow down and give them more space; they’re wearing hi-viz bibs that make them look like police officers.
The new bibs feature the word POLITE on the back, rather than POLICE, which means those wearing them cannot be charged with impersonating a police officer, which is a serious offence both in the UK and in Ireland.
The bibs read “POLITE notice THINK BIKE”, which helps pass them off as an item of safety clothing.
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However, they have a white and blue chequered strip and with a black shoulder area and fluorescent main body, any cyclist wearing one of the bibs would look like a police officer until a motorist was upon them.
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The move comes after some motorcycle couriers in Dublin have been wearing jackets that make them look like Defence Forces motorbike riders on official business. They believe drivers give them a bit more time and space if they think they are on official State business.
In the UK, the new bibs have spawned a range of POLITE clothing by the Equisafety company which is to be sold by Raleigh.
Nicky Fletcher, managing director of Equisafety, said cyclists were clearly buying the bibs to make themselves look like police officers but she had had it confirmed by the police that the bibs were not breaking any laws.
“(The cyclist) is not trying to impersonate a police officer. It’s a trick of the eye but it slows the driver down.”
She told The Evening Standard she came up with the design by accident as she created safety jackets for horse riders.
She is dyslexic and wrote “polite slow down” rather than “please slow down” as she doodled ideas on a notepad.
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