white van man
Forget all about hi vis and ride as if you are invisible.
Forget looking in the drivers eyes through his offside mirror.... he doesnt give a tinkers cus about who you are or where you are.
Stay away from him as much as is possible in heavy traffic. Assume he hasnt seen you and anticipate him doing something stupid like moving out without looking OR caring about you.
A problem , if he has looked in his mirror and seen you is that in his offside miror you appear further away than you actually are and even further away if he sees you through his nearside mirror. This is a problem that many motorists have not realised. the only true indication of your distance behind is through his internal mirror which actually reflects your correct distance from him. Unfortunately van man doesnt have an internal mirror and has to rely on inacurate information from those external ones he has.
All cars are the same and perhaps this is why you are cut up after being overtaken as the driver will generally view you through his nearside mirror and not through his internal one and you will actually appear twice as far away from him as you actuall are. He will also pull out because his and your [ cage driver only]offside mirror places you on the outside lane some one and half the distance away than you actually are.
You can test this fact by being stopped and looking at all three mirrors and compare the size of a parked car some distance behind. It will suprise you just how much descrepency there is.
Something that to my mind causes accidents, tailgating, infuriates drivers, causes road rage and is or maybe responsible for many accidents.
Its consequences should be investigated . It need publising and should be brought to the attention of the powers that be and other road safety organisations.
