Volvo’s hi-vis paint for cyclists is not such a bright idea

LifePaint promises great things in terms of saving cyclists' lives, but our reporter is distinctly unimpressed by its glow-in-the dark claims

I've never been one for hi-vis. It is not merely vanity, though I admit luminous yellow is just not my colour. It's that too many cyclists see it as a panacea, a fluorescent force-field that will protect them from the dangers of the road, whereas the truth is you can be done up head-to-toe as a highlighter pen and it'll not help you at all if you're always cowering in a driver's blind spot.

I don't wear "proper" cycling gear to ride two miles to the Guardian's Manchester office each day. If it's raining, I'll don a waterproof jacket (or, more honestly, take the car). But generally I'm in my civvies and so am arguably the prime market for Volvo's new LifePaint, a "water-based reflective safety spray", which promises to turn ordinary clothes into beacons when in direct glare of headlights.