Invisible
Driving along in the semi dark and the murky weather this morning I noticed how 'invisible' many pedestrians, particularly the school children, are in their dark winter clothes. We've already got a thread about drivers not putting lights on in poor visibility,
but why aren't more coats light coloured enough to be seen or at least have some reflective capabilities. I'm sure it would be possible to make something that would make a fashion statement too, and so make it desirable to wear, especially for younger people
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There are lots of different things out there for parents to buy you can get little flashing lights to clip on there back packs, you can buy a narrow high reflective strap to wear over the coat / jacket they also sell reflective
strips that stick on there bags coats and hoods ectit's surprising what's out there but again as in many accidents until something happens close to home many parents can't be bothered, as for the older kids , well if they were allowed to wear there fashion trainers that are
brightly coloured and many have high vis / reflective strips they would be happy. But alas school uniform colours are always dark and dismal navy / black0 -
It is incredible that so many people have such little imagination.
We live in a rural village but the primary school at least are pretty switched on. They all get a school bag with reflective panels, and they recently did a bulk buy of school branded hi-vis jackets.
My little girl then gets a clip on red LED light.
I got 10 of the things on-line for £10
Other parents frquently comment "ooh thats a good idea"
so I give them a spare if I have one with me.0 -
It's not just children who we need to worry about here. We live just off a lane without street lights, and frequently come across dog walkers on the side of the road without a footpath. Inevitably they are dressed in dark clothes, with no reflective strips
- and seem surprised when cars toot at them!Our son walks his dog in a similar area, so we've just bought the dog an LED collar, which warns motorists, and makes the dog visible to his owner should he disappear after a fox! My son wears his work High Viz jacket when dog walking.
I think this should be the subject of one of those 'Public Information Broadcasts' which the BBC used to be so good at.
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Its not rocket science that people need to be seen to be safe - but I think its the converted here - it scares me that I might run into a darked clothed cyclist or someone else I haven't seen because they haven't taken the simplest precautions.
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Coming home this evening there was the obligatory black garbed cyclist sans lights. Presumably a Charles Bronson wannabe.
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Didn't the govt. slogan used to say something like "wear something light at night"?
perhaps, like Val says, it's one of those things there should be a 'campaign' for at regular intervals.
anyone want to write to Mr Cameron?! No good the kids knowing their times tables if they then go out and get flattened by a car
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When I was a girl within a few days of going out on my first 'grown-up' bike, (lots of years ago) I remember being stopped by PC Snailham, our local and much feared bobby, who asked me to turn my bike lights on to prove that they were working. They were,
but he warned me about the consequences of riding without lights. That was on a summer day in July.0 -
Cyclists should have a registration number and insurance. As Val as said in my younger days we used cycles a lot but if we went out in the dark we had lights and if a police officer caught you without lights they would warn you and if you were caught again
you ended up in court. Today's cyclist, not all but, I would say the majority do not adhere to the highway code, they think they are immune to the law and accidents. Time something was done to safeguard them from theirselves.0 -
Cyclists should have a registration number and insurance.
Molly,... A nice idea in theory but we already have too many laws that are unenforced in practice - handheld mobiles/seatbelts/smoking in cars when minors present
IMO creating laws that are not enforced is downgrading peoples attitude to all laws
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Kennine, I live very close to Clumber park and the amount of cyclists in Clumber that ride two or more abreast is common place also not only on country lanes but on main roads as well.So you must live in a very law abiding area, or people use their common
sense in your area.Westie girl, my son when he was younger caused damage to a car on a main road, I was insured through my house insurance, at that time I would not have been able to afford to have paid for the damage. One of the reasons that laws are not upheld is that the
number of police officers have been cut drastically over the years, they rely on cameras most of the time instead of having officer on the beat. If we want to have enforcable laws we need the infrastructure in place which unfortunately isn't.0 -
Getting a little off thread. My OP was to point out that too many folk on foot and otherwise don't take personal responsibilty and wear things/do things that will make them visible to others when out in the dark or poor weather conditions
laws or not, we should all take responsibility for our own safety
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Totally agree with you Steve people should wear light things at night to be visible, however, when you talk invisible how many cars have you seen lined up outside most schools whilst parents are dropping off or picking their children up, the line of cars
makes people crossing the road invisible, I have raised this with various people but no one seems to care.0 -
Getting a little off thread. My OP was to point out that too many folk on foot and otherwise don't take personal responsibilty and wear things/do things that will make them visible to others when out in the dark or poor weather conditions
laws or not, we should all take responsibility for our own safety
I agree with that - but a bit of 'friendly law enforcement' made me certain that I never cycled without lights again.
Cyclists, in this area, certainly ride without lights or reflectors! They, and the pedestrians or dog-walkers ought to know better, especially as some years ago a dog-walker and both his dogs were killed on the lane I mentioned!
Unfortunately some people are just irresponsible and don't take personal responsibility for anything - especially something as mundane as making sure you can be seen at night! We have toyed with making up a reflective sign - something like 'This sign can be seen in the dark, you probably can't' and sticking it up on our gate to alert the many people who pass on a dog-walk, wearing dark clothes, with dark dogs, on dark nights!
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I think the majority of schools are very aware of the problems of visability of pupils and staff,our local primary tried to encourage parents and children to form "walking bus" routes but it was not successfull as the usuall "excuses" were put forward of
1 Too early for my child?
2 Cannot get to joining point?
3 Will be late back for tea with sibling?
that is just a few
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As I mentioned on another thread there are shortages of school places in some areas, due to this some children have to travel miles to go to school even primary ages. All 4 of my grandchildren have to be taken to school to by car as its too far to walk (next
village) despite the fact that 1 pair of them live within sight of a primary/junior school.0
