Night roads are dangerous. Foreign research shows that after dark, the risk of a traffic accident is up to 4 times higher than in the day. Night roads are dangerous for pedestrians. Research shows that most of them do not allow their invisibility for motorized colleagues. At the same time, a quarter of drivers admit that pedestrians going in dark clothes at the edge of the road do not register at all. Even white clothing can not be considered a solution. Drivers dressed like this will notice about two seconds before a possible match. This is not enough to prevent the collision. It is especially important for pedestrians to remember their sufficient visibility . The risk of their death at night is up to four times higher than in daylight. "Our newly launched preventive mini-champion. road focuses on four long-term dangerous phenomena that cause serious accidents. One of them is the lack of visibility of pedestrians at night and generally poor visibility. The appealing and at the same time humorous videospot available on the website www.nebezpecnesilnice.cz points to the unnecessary danger posed by invisible pedestrians when walking on night roads, " says Jan Polák, Director of the Relief Society Safely on the Road.
Statistics unambiguously show that night roads are particularly dangerous for pedestrians
In the years 2007-2016, 1,477 pedestrians died in accidents. Most of them - 886 - in the dark. That's 60 percent. Pedestrians are the only group of road users who, in the vast majority of cases, come to life at night. This is confirmed by statistics for last year, when 545 people died on Czech roads, one third of them - 177 - in the dark. It was:
• 88 passengers in passenger cars
• 66 pedestrians
• 9 cyclists
• 8 motorcyclists
• 6 passengers in trucks
One third of all victims of the accident died at night. However, 59.5% of pedestrians were clearly in this respect. Passengers in passenger cars (29.2%), cyclists (23.1%), truck drivers (18.2%) and motorcyclists (13.3%) followed a great distance. If, in addition to the 66 dead pedestrians, we add another 11, who died in the day but in poor visibility, we can conclude that 69.4% of pedestrians lost their lives in an accident in the dark or during the day in the rain, mist , snowfall, sunrise or dusk. The dark moon of the year is the most dangerous for pedestrians. Most of them die from October to February, so their share in the total number of victims is significantly higher than in the rest of the year.
Last year, in the darkness of significantly less pedestrians killed outside the village, in the villages, on the contrary, the increase
In the village, 38 pedestrians died in the night accidents last year, by 4 more than in 2015. Another 11 of them lost their lives in the day due to reduced visibility. Even here the year-on-year increase of deaths was recorded, namely 3 cases. The opposite trend was recorded in accident statistics of pedestrian deaths of pedestrians outside the municipality. Last year's deaths were 28, 10 less than in 2015. And while 3 pedestrians perished in the day of day-sight accidents, in 2016 similar accidents went without a victim from their ranks. It can be assumed that year-on-year more favorable night tragic accidents of pedestrians outside the village have positively signed the statutory obligation to use reflective supplements introduced at the end of February last year.
When does a pedestrian have to wear reflective accessories in the Czech Republic?
At the end of February 2016, the Czech Republic became one of the countries in which pedestrians are obliged to wear suitable reflective accessories under reduced visibility. The Road Traffic Act explicitly states that "when a pedestrian is out of the village in a low visibility on the roadside or on the edge of a road in a place not illuminated by public lighting, he shall be obliged to wear retroreflective items placed so as to be visible to other road users " .
Thus, reflective elements must be used not only in the dark but also in low visibility in general. The abovementioned law defines reduced visibility as a situation where road users do not sufficiently detect other vehicles, persons, animals or objects on the road such as from dusk to sunrise, fog, snowfall, heavy rain or the tunnel. hence he must remember his visibility using reflective elements even at dusk or dawn, even in the daytime in case of mist or heavy rain. Otherwise, a fine of up to CZK 2,000 is threatened on the spot. Should the administrative authority deal with the case, the fine would be between 1,500 and 2,500 crowns. However, there is also a risk of having to pay part of the medical or other costs incurred in connection with a possible traffic accident.
Not only in the Czech Republic, pedestrian needs to be visible
Reflective quality materials are up to 1 500 times brighter than regular white clothes. The best combination can be considered as light clothing supplemented with reflective tapes. On such dressed pedestrians , drivers react up to 30 times before the figure in dark clothing without reflective accessories and 8-9 times earlier than the person in white . The walker in the dark, dawn and dusk is almost invisible to the driver without reflective accessories.
Therefore, the obligation to use reflective accessories is also set in a number of other countries. For example, in Finland, pedestrians need to use reflective accessories while walking in the dark outside the village and the village. Similarly in Estonia or Belarus. In Poland and Hungary, pedestrians are obliged to wear a walk along the road outside the village not only in the dark but also during the day when the visibility of the reflective vest is impaired. In Slovakia, in the case of reduced visibility, a walker walking along the roadside or on the edge of a roadway must be visibly located reflective elements or dressed reflective safety clothing. In Russia, it is similar to ours, so we have an obligation to wear reflective accessories for reduced visibility while walking outside the village.
What color of reflective accessories will protect the most? And where to go with them?
Traditionally, white tapes are selected. However, there is a pitfall that the pedestrian - although duly marked - will not be recognized by the driver in time because he can easily merge with a white horizontal road sign when walking along the road. The white color of public lighting or headlamps of anti-traffic vehicles often plays a negative role. "Not only is the visibility of the pedestrian, but also his contrast to the surroundings where he moves. Traffic experts therefore agree that the best color of reflective accessories can be considered bright yellow with greenish shade . The bad ones are neither bright red, red-orange and orange, " says Roman Budský of the Road Safety Team.
Under reduced visibility, pedestrians with reflective accessories placed on moving parts of the body are best viewed by drivers. Ideally above the wrist and above the ankle. "The moving fluorescent points react roughly 3 times before the reflective surfaces are statically located on the hull. This is why reflective pendants are considered as a significant preventive supplement to reduce the likelihood of a pedestrian by 85%. Of course wearing reflective accessories on the side of the center of the road, it must be visible to drivers coming to the front but also to the back of the pedestrian, " concludes Roman Budský.
Source: tz Road Safety Team, edited editorially