There’s a moment familiar to almost everyone who rides a bike regularly. You’re on a route you know well. Everything seems normal. Then a car pulls out, someone turns, a door opens—and for a brief moment, you wonder: “Did they even see me?”
This is especially challenging in the city.
Traffic has become denser, vehicles larger, and sightlines shorter. A cyclist can quickly disappear behind a van or among parked cars—not because anyone means to overlook them, but because the space is simply crowded. This leads to a pretty simple insight: if you want to be seen early, you need to be visible early. And that’s not a matter of blame, but of what’s possible.
We can’t control how attentive others are on the road. But we can influence how well and how early they notice us. And it’s not just the person on the bike who benefits. People in cars also benefit from spotting a bicycle in good time and being able to react calmly, rather than only at the last moment. Visibility isn’t something you use against others. It’s something everyone benefits from.
So the question isn’t whether you stand out—but how. Not more brightly than everything else. But in the right place: high up, unmistakable, and visible from every direction. That’s where safety begins. Long before it matters.
