Any evaluation of retroreflective safety features should start with a short overview of what retroreflectivity cannot do: improve visibility, when the object is

Any evaluation of retroreflective safety features should start with a short overview of what retroreflectivity cannot do: improve visibility, when the object is not within the light cone of the observer's headlights. With that in mind, those impressive side shots are becoming nothing more than show, because any bike sideways in the lights will either be long gone when the car reaches the point where the paths cross, or be already way too close to avoid an accident. And head/tail visibility must be provided by active light anyway, because visibility only inside that headlight beam is never enough. Once you have active light, any retroreflectors are merely adding minor (but important) attitude/dimension/range cues and improvements by "lifepaint" over conventional reflectors will be marginal at most.