Checkswrecks said:
Which is astounding when you come into England from Ireland, where hi-viz is the norm. The shop owner I spoke with said that if they have an accident and are not wearing it, the police report will note it and the opposing insurance may try to refuse claims.
I'm afraid the shop owners statement is pure B.S. The wearing of hi-viz gear is not a legal requirement in the UK and if insurance companies do try to refuse a claim of a rider that has not been wearing it, they would fail. This however, would not be the case, if the riders insurance policy emphatically stated the the rider MUST wear hi viz clothing at all times and also state that any claim would be refused if they do not.
What U.K. insurance companies and the Courts tend to do, is look at all the specific facts of any claim/accident and re-balance the proportion of blame according to the evidence. For example, if it could be proven that the bike rider would have been seen had they been wearing hi viz, or that their wearing of camouflage clothing rendered them harder to see, then a percentage of the responsibility for the accident will be placed onto the bike rider.
Hi viz gear does have many benefits, as do daytime riding lights (which are now a legal requirement on new UK bikes, registered after Feb 2011) but if other road users aren't looking because they're too busy with their sat-navs or texting on their phones, neither will have made a scrap of difference when they run into you.
As a personal choice, I ride ATGATT, hi-viz and with DRL's blazing…………... but after riding UK roads for 42 years, I still believe the fundamental assumption that all other road users are myopic imbeciles, with the attention span of a lobotomised newt, is by far and away the best protection you can get.