Wearing Black on a Bike?

There may be some pushback on this. However...

Cycling clothing tends to come and go in phases. One of those phases/fashions never really seems to go out of favour, and that is the fashion for Black, sometimes known as "Stealth". 

Which, I must hasten to point out, is *very* cool. Hacking around in stuff that is black is definitely something that I aspire to, however, it is not something that I will be doing. 

Why?

Let's get the victim blaming thing out of the way first. I am not in any way, shape or form saying that people wearing black or dark coloured clothing when cycling are responsible for getting hit.

Nor am I saying that the poor old car drivers didn't stand a chance because people wearing dark colours meld in with the background and couldn't help hitting the cyclist. No. Drivers should damn well pay attention and should be able to see cyclists no matter what damn colour they're wearing. 

This is NOT victim blaming, this is attempting to look at things from different perspectives, weighing things up and trying not to die. 

Others may differ in their point of view. This is mine. 

Point 1

Sometimes people make this argument: "In the dark ALL colours are dark. Put a red jacket and a black jacket in a dark room and they'll be equally as unobtrusive". 

This is true, but also plain silly. 

Why do Special forces wear Black? Why do burglars/poachers/gamekeepers etc wear black? Why do people trying to hide in the dark wear black? If, as you contest, all colours are the same in the dark, it wouldn't matter what colour they wore. I suspect that if you asked the SAS to wear red on their next night mission because "it doesnt matter what colour you wear if its dark", they'd probably have something to say about it. And it wouldn't be polite.

A reason to wear black is to be unobtrusive, to not be seen. To be stealthy- which is what some companies like to sell stuff with...

Point 2

If a clothing company sells something with the idea that it is "stealth", or you buy something because it equally looks "stealth", I have to ask a couple of things. The main one is: What dyou reckon "stealth" means? 

If we look it up, it means: cautious, unobtrusive, intended to avoid detection. 

Great. So if I'm wearing something that is "stealth" then it basically means I'm trying to avoid detection. Not necessarily quite what we're needing when out on a bike. Or in a car. I refuse to believe that people say things look "stealth" as a synonym for "cool"- "stealth" means just that, Stealthy. (and yes, being stealthy can be cool- but they are NOT the same thing).

Don't dress up like that unless you are actually intending on avoiding detection- and if you're avoiding detection, don't ride on a fricking road.

Personally, none of these are things I want to be when I'm on a bike, which brings me to :

Point 3

Next argument is: "People drive into buses, walls, cars and cyclists even if they are lit up like christmas trees, so it doesn't matter what you wear, if you're going to get hit, you're going to get hit. Drivers are pillocks". 

I agree. However, I do like to stack the odds in my favour. If I'm going to get hit, it isn't going to be for lack of me trying to be seen by some idiot in a car. You'll notice how a LOT of drivers don't hit every single bus that comes along, or every other car. Yes, there are times when drivers get distracted, play with their mobiles, and generally act like complete imbeciles whilst in control of what is essentially a lethal weapon. I'm sharing the road with these loons and I'm going to take every damn precaution I can to not be hit.

 As much as I'm not going to hack about on a bike in black, I'm also not going to buy a car that is the same colour as "Wet Road in Bad Light" for much the same reason. I don't really want to be hit (though in a car it's considerably less of a problem than on a bike). 

Yeah, Hux is cooler than me. I still won't wear black.