Originally posted on YouTube on August 14. This is part of our Thursday replays, in which we bring audio from previous YouTube videos to the podcast feed.

Researchers showed 563 people pairs of photographs of cyclists and asked one question: which of the two looks less human?

Same model. Same bike. The only thing that changed was what was on the rider's head or chest.

Seven out of ten times, people picked the rider wearing the helmet. Nearly eight out of ten times, they picked the rider in the high-visibility vest. The safety gear performed worse than no safety gear at all.

The researchers expected the helmet was simply hiding the rider's face. A baseball cap covers about as much and barely moved the needle. It was not the covered face. It was the safety equipment itself.

And when people rate cyclists on a scale of zero to one hundred for how human they are, three percent rate them at zero. Not low. Zero. The people who rate cyclists that way report about twice as many deliberate acts of aggression toward them.

That's a photographic study, and photographs don't drive. So here's what it looks like on pavement. In 2011, Florida's own Department of Transportation put cameras on nineteen roads in ten Florida cities and measured the passing distance of 2,185 drivers as they passed a bicyclist. Riders in ordinary street clothes got about four inches more room than those in a cycling kit. The state's own researchers couldn't explain it and settled on the idea that motorists "perceive less risk passing riders who are in bicycle outfits."

In this episode: what that Florida study proves and what it doesn't, what one researcher found after riding the same road for six months in seven different outfits with a sensor on his bike, and the only two things anyone has ever tested that actually changed how drivers behave. Neither is bright clothing. One is a piece of plastic on a stick from 1979.

I also explain what actually determines how much room you get, because it is not your jersey and it is not close. The original video is on YouTube at The Bike Lawyer.

Studies referenced
Limb & Collyer (2023), Transportation Research Part F
Delbosc et al. (2019), Transportation Research Part F
Haworth et al. (2018), Journal of Transport & Health
Walker, Garrard & Jowitt (2014), Accident Analysis & Prevention
Walker (2007) and Walker & Robinson (2019), Accident Analysis & Prevention
Rubie et al. (2020), Transport Reviews
Feizi et al. (2021), Transportation Research Part A
Claros et al. (2024), Transportation Research Part F

DISCLAIMER: This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Listening to it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask me to send you free written information about my qualifications and experience. George Palaidis is licensed to practice law in Florida.