I GET to see a lot of the world when I am out on my bike — and the world gets to see a lot of me.

I now own a range of cycling gear so yellow that I have to email NASA before going out in it, as they can see me from the International Space Station.

Even on dark, overcast days, when the rest of Swindon is various shades of grey, you need sunglasses to look at me.

It still amazes me how many cyclists go around like Johnny Cash, with black trousers and black tops, usually at night, and often riding on a busy dual carriageway that runs parallel with a cycle path.

But not me. My policy is: Be seen. If nothing else, if some twerp in a car ever knocks me off, I don’t want him to be able to stand up in court and claim he didn’t see me.

But I also notice things when I’m on my bike, and what I’ve noticed just recently is mushrooming numbers of hi-vis jackets on our streets.

They are a bit like traffic cones were, a few years ago, when they looked as if they might be starting to take over the world.

The other day I cycled past a bus stop where there were four seemingly unconnected people waiting — and all of them were wearing hi-vis jackets.

It was early morning, so they were probably off to work, but it wasn’t clear whether they were wearing their jackets to protect themselves on the way to work or if it was part of their ‘uniform’ when they got there.

Once upon a time, hardly anybody needed a hi-vis jacket for work. In fact, only those who had to venture into or near the traffic, such as the police, ambulance staff, firefighters, road menders and lollipop ladies wore them, but now it seems everybody does.

Children walking to school in ‘crocodiles’ all wear them, as do the adults who walk with them. So do football stewards, car park attendants, dog walkers and even dogs.

If you drive in France these days, they make you carry a hi-vis jacket with you in case of breakdowns, but having it in the boot is not good enough and will earn you a fine.

Every month I go to meetings of The Swindon Society and, before it starts, Perry the fire marshal has to stand up, point out the fire exits and show us the hi-vis jacket he will be wearing if the building goes up in flames.

Politicians are getting in on the act, too. The Independent did a feature on the number of times George Osborne is pictured wearing one.

You might think it’s so we can see him coming, but the real reason is politicians who wear suits and never get their hands dirty think a hi-vis jacket makes them look like they really know about industry and actually do some proper work.

Get on Google and you’ll even find little hi-vis jackets you can put on your chickens so you can find them at night.

If chickens and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are wearing them as a matter of course, it won’t be long before we’re all be wearing them, all the time, so donning one on your bike is going to be ineffective, and we’ll have to come up with a new way of getting noticed.

So please stop wearing your hi-vis unless it’s absolutely necessary, because we will all live to regret it if I am forced to take up naked cycling.