How to Buy Reflective Helmet Decals
The smaller the vehicle, the harder it is to see, especially at night. Bicycle and motorcycle riders can make themselves easier to see with reflective helmet decals that can also let them express their individuality. Here's what to look for in reflective helmet stickers and decals.
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Instructions
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What to Look For
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Choose a visible color. White reflectors are brighter than yellow reflectors, which are brighter than red. Colors are harder to perceive in the dark, because night vision is concentrated in the rods of the eye, which lack the color sensors of the cones. Using white at the very back of the helmet could fool some drivers into thinking you're coming toward them, however.
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Select decals with a wide reflective angle. Narrow-angle reflective decals may be brighter, but they are harder to see at long distances.
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Pick decals with a large reflective area of at least 30 degrees. You can be seen not just by drivers directly behind you, but also by those in the passing lane and by vehicles rounding a curve. Use a combination of decals if necessary.
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Get decals for your ride as well as your helmet. If you typically ride hunched over in racing fashion, your helmet will be harder to see in a following vehicle's headlights.
Where to Find Them
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Go to places that sell bicycle and motorcycle equipment.
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Visit automotive supply stores.
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Order direct from the manufacturer via a company website such as Applied Graphics.
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Tips & Warnings
Some decal manufacturers offer customized decals as a means to express your own individuality. Keep in mind the advice to have a large reflective area for the decal when creating your own design, however.
Be sure your helmet won't be harmed by applying decals to it.
Never look at reflective decals as a substitute for working headlights or taillights or the need to drive defensively on a motorcycle or bicycle. Most bicyclists are injured by oncoming cars, not struck from behind.
Be aware that fog makes reflectors harder to see because it is more difficult for light to reach the reflector to be reflected.
