" There is a good argument against the hi-vis jacket that is mandatory at most civil airfields. In the last ten years of so, almost all accidents on the ramp have happened to someone wearing said jacket. Ergo, the jacket is dangerous. You can prove almost anything by statistics "
in one sense, you are correct in that, when they were first introduced, they were ideal, almost essential in fact, based on the "see and be seen" principle.
However, the item has now become ubiquitous across all walks of life and therein lies the problem. Because of this ubiquity, the effect of gaining attention has been lost. Now, people just see them as another item of clothing and thus we are back to square one and that means the ramp is becoming the dangerous working area it once was.
Before the "it was ok in my day blah, blah" brigade start, up to a point the military have a certain advantage in that most people working / operating on a ramp have been trained extensively as to the hazards....not so on a civilian airfield.
As for bikes, same principle "see and be seen"....most of us would agree on this. However, a new development here and one that will come as no surprise to the training world.
Getting dressed up in various "attention seeking" clothing has now been examined in more detail and the conclusions are that it's the equivalent of camouflage in that the image of the rider is in fact "broken up"...enter....all black clothing.....now where have you all seen that introduced into the training world and for one very good reason ?
The other development is one that won't go down well with many.....pink is the new "hi viz" colour, rather than dayglo.....this may take a bit of time to be accepted however.