Hi Vis News from Around the World

Australia - New Honda road bike customers receive high visibility vest
Honda have long been advocates for motorcycle safety and are now giving away branded, high visibility vests with every new Honda motorcycle in an effort to address visibility issues all motorcyclists have to contend with.
The high quality design also offers a front zip closure as opposed to a standard velcro closure, with Honda logos on both front and back.
The vest is packaged in a Honda printed pouch with a recommended retail value of around $25.
“We have been considering for some time the most practical way that we can help riders to be safer on the road,” said Honda Australia’s General Manager, Motorcyles, Tony Hinton.
“Visibility is often noted as a factor in crashes involving cars and motorcyclists, and this is an area where we can encourage riders to do as much as possible to be seen, day or night.”
“We are seeing more and more riders wearing high vis clothing and vests, and felt that it would be an excellent value add item for anyone purchasing one of our motorcycles.”
Any customer who purchases a road registerable motorcycle across the Honda range from any dealer nationally will receive a vest.
Click here to read the original story.

 Spanish prostitutes wear yellow bibs to avoid police fines

Roadside prostitutes working on a roundabout outside the Spanish city of Lleida have begun wearing yellow reflective bibs to avoid fines from police.
The prostitutes have donned the high visibility vests, similar to those worn by road workers or drivers whose cars have broken down, to save themselves the €40 (£36) fines.
Police said they were not trying to get rid of the prostitutes, but were simply including them in a push to enforce use of the fluorescent bibs, which must be worn by anyone walking down a rural highway.
A police spokesman said: "In the past couple of months the prostitutes have been fined for two reasons: for not wearing the reflective jacket and for creating danger on the public highway."
Police say they have no other reason for fining the prostitutes, whose chosen spot on a roundabout of the LL-11 road falls just outside the municipal boundaries of Lleida – which recently banned street prostitution.
The move comes amid a wider debate over prostitution in Spain, where it thrives in a context that is part legal and part illegal. Scantily-clad sex workers can be seen on roads outside many cities, although only those in Lleida are believed to wear reflective jackets.
Click here to read the original story.

A Hi Vis Winter

Based on the National Weather Service’ Climate Prediction Center, here is a summary of the main factors which usually influence seasonal climates:

• El Nino and La Nina
• Trends – Approximated by the Optimal Climate Normals (OCN) Tool – difference between the most recent 10-year mean temperature or 15-year mean of precipitation and the 30-year climatology Period (currently 1971-2000)
• The Tropical 30-60 DAY oscillation – otherwise called the Madden Julian
• The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) And the Pacific North American (PNA) patterns
• The Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO)
• Persistently dry or wet soil in the summer and snow ice cover anomalies acting as a kind of memory system
• Statistical forecast tools
• Dynamical forecast models
• Consolidation (CON) - Makes optimum use of the known skills in our forecast tools

Based on the numbers provided, here are some of the November December January (NDJ) 3-month temperature outlooks:

• Below average temps over much of Alaska, Washington and coastal regions of Oregon and California
• The 3-month precipitation outlook calls for above average median precipitation almost through the Mississippi Valley
• In locations where the likelihoods of seasonal mean temps and rainfall are similar to probabilities, equal chances of low, mean, or high averages are likely

For graphical displays of forecasts http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

 National Weather Service’ Climate Prediction Center http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/90day/fxus05.html  

Hi Vis Supply has a full line of high visibility winter jackets and rain gear for the winter months.

ANSI 107 FOR Hi Vis Gets Updated for 2010

The beginning of 2010 marked the highly anticipated revision to the 107-2004 High Visibility Standard. This Standard is updated every 5 years and is now labeled ANSI/ISEA 107-2010. It specifies performance requirements for high visibility safety apparel and headwear PPE. Specific performance requirements are included for:

• Color
• Retro-reflection and minimum areas
• Recommended configurations of the materials and design

Below is an outline of the primary differences between ANSI/ISEA107-2010, and the previous ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 Standard.

GARMENT DESIGN AND REFLECTIVE PLACEMENT - A class 1 or a class 2 garment must now have reflective material in the shoulder area, which provides greater visibility when a worker is bending over, or at angles that could be potentially missed on a garment without “vertical” reflective material over the shoulders.

FLAME RESISTANT (FR) LABELING - The 107-2004 standard did not address flame resistant labeling. ANSI 107-2010 requires all flame resistant garments to be tested within at least 1 of 7 ASTM or NFPA test methods, including a description of the flame resistance criteria. If a manufacturer wants to mark high visibility apparel as being FR, the garment must meet one of the FR tests in the 107-2010 Standard and certify its conformance to the FR requirement. For specific test methods, a copy of the new 107-2010 Standard can be purchased directly from the ISEA.

RAINWEAR – There have been new testing requirements added for rainwear. Three different test methods will define rainwear as either water repellant, water resistant or water proof.

GARMENT SERVICE LIFE GUIDELINES - ANSI 107-2010 also attempts to help users determine garment service life. Areas to consider are:

• garment use
• type of garment
• environment
• laundering methods
• exposure to the environment

In addition, it references the U.S. Federal Highway Administration statement about high-visibility life expectancy. (Federal Register/Vol. 71 No. 226/Friday, November 24, 2006/rules and regulations/p. 67798