Dark Visors, Lets make our opinions count
 

Hi All,

I dont know if this has already been raised on the board before, so appologies if this is going over old ground.

This has been taken from the BMF website.

The DoT are running a public consultation on the use of dark visors and the BMF would like us to contact the DoT to put forward our views as motorcyclists. There is a proforma letter available to download and email to the relevant department. The more we contact the DoT the more chance of the final decision going in favour of legal use of dark visors.

http://www.bmf.co.uk/dark_visors/index.html

In the same section the BMF are campaining to retain the VAT excemption on helmets. They are organising a similar email campain to MPs and MEPs. 17½% on a £400 Arai helmet is something we can do without.

Lets get active and do our bit to support the BMF, maybe together we can make a differance.

Cheers

Darren

sorry to be a party pooper but cant see the point with the dark visor issue. i use one when its sunny and never been pulled for it even when pulled for something else. if you wear one in low light you probably deserve a pull.

cant see the law ever changing.

Same for me as dickie, but it's bleedin' crazy we can't legally use one in daytime - and it could be an easy way out for insurance companies to avoid paying out if you crashed while wearing one!

Thats why we need to try to change things.

The government is considering three options,
1 Allow daytime use of dark visors
2 Allow use of visors with 34% light transmission
3 Allow use of visors with 50% light transmission (current situation)

At the moment we have to order our visors over the net as my local bike shops cant sell them. When I use one I risk invalidating my insurance, why?

Your right the chance of getting stopped using one is low by why do we have to risk it anyway?

All we have to do is send an email and who know something might change.

How is the insurance company going to find out you were wearing a dark Visor??

/ian

it has happened - probably when the police have been involved.

I wear one one though.

Dont mean to Hijack the thread but.... weeian love your advatar.
:P

Because you are insured on the risk that you won't have a third party claim made against you - that is you injure someone else through your own fault.

Not complying with the law invalidates your insurance, as these are the terms you are bound to when accepting the insurance.

Antonye,

I was more intrested in why the law has decided to make there use illigal, rather than how its infringment could affect insurance.

Cheers though

Darren

Because us mere public can't be trusted to have any slightest hint of common sense and change a dark visor for a clear one when it starts to get dark!

It would be a legal nightmare to define, but would most probably be based around dawn/dusk timings for when one a dark visor becomes illegal. You then get problems with weather (heavy rain clouds can make it very dark) and other problems like long tunnels.

At the moment we have a law suitable for all conditions, which is the safest option.

I use one of these Hyper Optiks and find them very good.

What Fog City does is easily explained; clear vision even under the most difficult of weather conditions. How Fog City does it is much more complicated, but when you can't see, you can't ride and with a whole range of Fog City visor inserts available there is absolutely no need to compromise safety.

The Hyper Optiks insert also adds an extra dimension to vision technology, with its light reactive properties dealing with anything from bright sunlight to total darkness and, of course, with all the usual anti-mist properties of a standard Fog City Insert.

HYPER OPTIKS VISOR INSET

LIGHT REACTIVE - In sunlight it will change from a clear green to cobalt bluein seconds, and react according to the prevailing light conditions.

ANTI-FOG VISION - Proven solution to visor misting

UV PROTECTION - Absorbs over 98% of harmful UV rays and offers unprecedented optical faceshield performance.

HIGH PERFORMANCE - Instantly converts a clear visor into an all weather, all season anti-fog visor

I just don't find anything legally available to be dark enough for me. I have sensitive eyes i think, when i lived in Australia i couldn't go outside the house without my sunnies on even during the winter. I have been known to wear sunglasses with my illegal black visor.

Its nothing to do with looking good, i find it physically painful to be out in sunlight sometimes.

I'd get that checked out if I were you...there are often other side effects like being highly allergic to garlic and having a crucifix phobia :P

Seriously, I've never worn a dark visor because I'm a speccy swot. Any sunnies I wear have to be prescription and it's easier to change specs than change visors.

I agree with most people,

if nice and sunny then yes wear one
but if not you are asking for trouble, (I take both clear and dark, just in case) A bit like loud pipes and small plates.

The word hypocrisy springs to mind.

A'hem..

Same here, always wear a Simpson and an Iridium blue visor during the day time.

I've beed stopped to have "discussions" about my number plate, race can, riding etc Generally the comments about the visor is how nice it is and isn't it good that it's stamped up with all the anti shatter spec's etc from the states. It's about 4mm thick and moulded to ensure the correct optical view.

I do wonder if campaigns like this bring something to everyones attention that wasn't really a problem in the first place.

i wear specs but still have a dark iridium visor, without it I get a bad headache the next day.

Anyone out there that feels the same as me where the BMF give their opinion and write it all out for people to sign (easy option init) so we don't have to have our own opinion?

They've missed some fundamental points on this dark visor malarkie.

1. They haven't even considered graded tinted visors, dark at the top clear at the bottom. Got a brightness problem then dip your head a little to get the correct grade of tint in line with the area that is too bright. Works great for night time car headlights too.

2. Polarised and photochromatic lens. Photochromatic: Nice and bright, the visor is dark and the road goes into a shaded area (woods, tunnel) instantly blind. You come out the other side and the visor has cleared, straight into bright light, blinded again. Good idea that, and they take minutes to change.
Polarised visors. Anybody had a look at diesel on the road through polarised lenses? Have a look. Second point, polarised lenses work by bypass filtering light at 90 degrees to horizontal, so effectively they are a 50% tint. When you go round a corner what do you do with your head? Often you tilt it, this changes the light characteristics which means things can appear and disappear as you look at them. Try getting a polarising filter and look into a puddle of water and you'll see what I mean. Water on a road surface can disappear under the right (wrong) circumstances.

I'd go for the graded tint myself.
Incidentally, anybody seen those cars with black tinted side windows getting nicked lately? Nope me neither. Wouldn't like to work out the odds of being seen through one of those on a murky evening when there's a film of crud on it.

Only my opinion like.

Ains.

:lol:

i always take my Clear Visor with me, take 2 secs to change with the Arai Rx-7

I always ride with a clear visor, usually wearing my prescription polarised specs, as I cannot see a damned thing in bright light. I can see clearly with these specs in anything up to medium-dense fog (Psychlist, if you're reading this, that last ride-out was in more than medium dense fog!).
The only drawback is that in certain light conditions, cars of certain colour end up with a yellowy sheen about them - as far as my brain and optic nerves are concerned, every other car at distance magickally turns into a police car. Perhaps this isn't a drawback after all...

Actually, these specs of mine remind me of Zaphod Beeblebrox's peril-o-matic shades. :lol:

Well, i ride at work all weathers. In the summer you will find me mostly wearing a tinted visor......come the evening ie dusk and beyond i put the clear one back in!

It aint rocket science...........If you arnt prepared, cant be arsed, couldnt give a monkies......then expect the worse. I think its called common sense!

I think the law is missing the whole point-it's perfectly legal to ride with a clear visor and the darkest sunnies that you can find-but not a tinted visor...............??
In the time it takes me to stop and remove sunglasses I could have changed my visor anyway, and a tinted visor gives all round protection whereas sunglasses will still allow bright light round the edges. I ALWAYS use a tinted visor in bright daylight, and I ALWAYS carry a clear one with me. The major advantage of a tinted visor is that you can always quickly raise it if going into a dark tunnel-you can't take sunglasses off that easily on a bike if you are moving. I think the people who draft these laws have never even SAT on a bike much less ridden one-they think in terms of car drivers.

John

Ains

I was complaining to a local traffic cop ( Merseyside )about this very same thing recently. He told me that he and his team are specifically targeting vehicles with dark tinted windows and will impound any which are illegal. He reckoned they do the same with illegal exhausts ( Partly because you then invalidate your insurance if you use one ) and that it is now an offence to drive around with your sound system blaring away through open windows!

However, to play devils advocate, how would we feel if car drivers were allowed to drive around with 50% tinted windscreens and side and rear windows?

Double standards applying here? :devil:

Does anyone wear sunglasses while driving at night? No?

During the day while driving a car? Yes if you want to....

What's the law on sunglasses? Should be the same for visors shouldn't it?

makes sense ehh. . . .

/ian

Is it an adVISORy consultation...............

Well for some reason i printed off the letter, signed it and sent it in. I got a very nice letter back today telling me that the person running the consultaion process had moved on and anyhow the consultation exercise ended on 14 June 2002!!

So only nearly four years too late!

Oh and they decided to stay with a maximum 50% tint if you were wondering!

Black RX7, and road legal tinted visor looks like a black one anyway on a black helmet.