Safety measures and their compensation

As stated when workers are using a motorcycle or motorcycle within the meaning of Article 2 of the Traffic Code (Law 2696/1999), owned, owned or held by the employer for the transport or distribution of products and objects, the employer shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the vehicles are suitably adapted and maintained in order to ensure their safety and health.

Also, the employer supplies with appropriate protective equipment workers using a motorcycle or motorcycle, ownership, possession or possession of his / her own or employees in the course of their work for the transport or distribution of products and objects. Until the adoption of the decision of par. 4, the protective helmet, as mentioned in paragraph 6 of article 12 of the Road Traffic Code (Law 2696/1999), is suitable protective equipment, suitable for the protection of the rider of the moped or motorcycle, waterproof protection, gloves, and reflective vest with reflective tape.

The employer shall also take the necessary measures to ensure that workers have sufficient information at their disposal and, where appropriate, written instructions for use relating to the protective equipment referred to in paragraph 2. The information and written instructions shall be available within the undertaking or establishment and be understandable to the workers concerned.

By decision of the Minister of Labor, Social Security and Social Solidarity, Citizen Protection and Infrastructure and Transport, the certificates and other documents required by the employer regarding the proper maintenance of the vehicles are determined.

Does reflective and fluorescent clothing make us safer?

We cyclists are the most vulnerable of all road users. We're up to 30 times more likely to get injured on the road than drivers are, and up to 18 times more likely to get killed.

They're concerning stats, and it's up to all of us to ensure we're as visible as possible while riding on the road. But how do we do that? Is it simply a case of wearing brighter reflective clothing? And what about when it comes to riding at night? CyclingTips Australian editor Matt de Neef investigates.

Every cyclist has a story to tell of the time a driver did not see them, leading to a scary near-miss or worse, a crash. And if you've been riding for any length of time, you've probably been involved in several such incidents yourself.

This experience is not just borne out anecdotally - research suggests that the majority of crashes involving a cyclist and motor vehicle are a case of "looked but failed to see". That is, incidents where the driver might well have been looking in the direction of the cyclist, but failed to recognize that what they were seeing was a cyclist. There's a reason SMIDSY - "Sorry mate, I did not see you" has become such a familiar acronym among cyclists.

Several factors can make a cyclist hard to spot, including 'visual clutter' on or beside the roadway, the light conditions at the time and, crucially, the conspicuity of the rider.

STAYING VISIBLE

There have been many studies in recent decades investigating how "visibility aids" affect the ease with which drivers can spot cyclists on the road. In a 2009 literature review, nine papers were found that compared the visibility of fluorescent and non-fluorescent colors. All but one of those nine trials found that fluorescent colors were more visible to drivers. Fluorescent clothing in red, yellow and orange colors that contrast significantly with the riding environment was found to be most effective1.

Another paper, published in 2007 by researchers in New Zealand, compared the number of time cyclists spent off work as a result of crashes involving a motor vehicle. They found that riders who never wore fluorescent cycling kit spent eight times as much time away from work as riders who always wore such clothing.

Studies like these seem to point in a clear direction: riders who wear fluorescent cycling gear are not just more visible to drivers, they're also less likely to be hit and injured.

But this is only part of the story because such findings are only relevant when considering riding in daylight.

NIGHT RIDING

Whether it's commuting to and from work in the winter months or heading out for a pre-dawn bunch ride, most of us do at least some of our riding in the dark. And as you might expect (or may have witnessed first-hand) riding at night is more dangerous than during the day. Some 35% of all fatal cycling crashes happen at night, despite the fact, only about 10% of cyclists ride after dark.

While fluorescent clothing is effective at increasing rider visibility during the day, it's largely useless at night.

During the day, fluorescent clothing takes ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun - the light we cannot see and converts it into the light we can see. The result is an increase in the total amount of visible light that's reflected off the clothing, giving fluoro clothing a brighter appearance. This is particularly the case in low-light conditions, around dawn and dusk.

At night, there's no UV sunlight to convert, so the fluorescent material is not effective. And so for cyclists to be as visible as possible in the dark, reflective, rather than fluorescent clothing, is required.

REFLECTIVE CLOTHING

It's intuitively obvious that reflective clothing makes us more visible in low-light conditions. Rather than being absorbed by our clothing, light from car headlights and streetlights is reflected nearby drivers, making us more visible than we otherwise would have been.

Jackets with reflective fabrics are the most common piece of reflective gear used by cyclists but, perhaps surprisingly, they do not seem to be the most effective.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Professor Joanne Wood from the Queensland University of Technology leads a team of researchers focused on cyclist visibility and the benefits of reflective clothing. In a study published in 2010, Wood and her team tested the night-time visibility of a range of different clothing setups used by cyclists:

a) a black tracksuit

b) a black tracksuit and a fluorescent yellow cycling vest with no reflective markings

c) a black tracksuit and a jacket with reflective markings

d) a black tracksuit, a jacket with reflective markings and reflective strips positioned on the cyclist's ankles and knees.

The results are striking: "Overall, drivers identified the largest number of cyclists wearing the vest plus the ankle and knee reflectors (90% correctly recognized), followed by the reflective vest alone (50%), the fluorescent clothing (15%) and lastly black clothing (2%)."

These results mirror research findings on the visibility of pedestrians at night and can be explained by a concept known as biological motion - that is, "our visual sensitivity to patterns of human motion".

A reflective jacket, while more effective than simple black clothing, limits reflective material to the rider's torso which, according to Professor Wood and her colleagues "presents much less motion information to approaching drivers".

Reflective strips on the knees and ankles, on the other hand, move up and down as the cyclist moves, helping drivers to better recognize the object in front of them as a moving cyclist, as opposed to a simple light source3.

This finding seems to lead to an obvious recommendation for cyclists: if you want to maximize your safety at night, do not just wear reflective clothing; ensure that the reflective clothing includes reflective strips worn on the ankles and knees.

But as we know, road cyclists can be a fickle, fashion-conscious bunch.

FASHION VS SAFETY

Researchers have long shown that cyclists know the benefits of reflective clothing but choose not to wear it. This might not be surprising when considering the fashion- and performance-conscious road riding scene.

Reflective clothing has traditionally lacked the aesthetic appeal and performance of other, more stylish kit options, while also being associated with casual or commuter riding. But now, with major kit brands getting on board, reflective gear is being designed for the performance market.

The fact the big road cycling brands have moved into the reflective clothing space is significant.

High-visibility jackets, for instance, have been around for years, but only recently have they become effective as cycling jackets in their own right, keeping riders protected from rain and the cold. Now that such clothing functions as road cyclists expect it to - as a jacket and as a safety device - and because the big brands are now designing reflective pieces with the fashion-conscious road market in mind, wearing safer cycling kit has seemingly become more acceptable than ever.

ON REFLECTION

Some studies suggest as little as one-third of cyclists wear reflective gear while cycling. But in light of the recent growth of the reflective cycling kit market, it could be time for new research to see whether more riders are now wearing such clothing.

In the meantime, it should be clear that there are steps we can all take to ensure we're as easy to spot on the road as possible:

For maximum visibility during the day, cycling kit should be as bright as possible, ideally fluorescent.

When riding at night, fluoro gear should be traded for clothing that's as reflective as possible, with particular attention paid to the knees and ankles.

The use of strong front and rear lights should be a given.

No rider wants to be less safe on the road, but until now it's been something of a trade-off safer clothing that does not protect from the elements and does not look great, vs clothing that does protect from the elements and does look good but is not as easy to see. It would seem that with recent developments in the kit industry, riders can now have the best of both worlds.

Only one in four drivers remember that he has just overtaken an urban cyclist

Wear a reflective vest with reflective tape on the bike or do not wear it. If the cyclist uses this safety element, the driver will be more aware of his presence and will drive with more caution and safe distance. On the contrary, when the cyclist does not take it, the driver pays less attention to the cyclist and advances it with less care. It is the main conclusion reached by the report "Driving attention: invisible cyclists for drivers", presented this morning in Madrid Mapfre Foundation and Bosch Spain.

The study is the result of a survey of 1,031 drivers who have overtaken a cyclist in a street and who have been asked if they have been aware of it during their journey. The report also includes the results of an in-depth analysis that has been carried out on 15 drivers between 20 and 57 years old, who have been monitored to see if they have been aware of the presence of cyclists and to analyze their behavior at the wheel, driving style and mistakes made.

Only one in four Spanish drivers (specifically, 23.1%) remember that just ahead of a cyclist without a reflective vest on a street, a proportion that increases to one in three (35.4%) if they exceed a bicycle user wearing a vest.

The study was carried out during the day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Madrid. A total of 1,031 drivers participated in the quantitative phase of the investigation when overtaking a cyclist with a vest and another without him for about 400 meters. Some 100 meters later, they were surveyed during the 30 seconds they stood at a red light with two or three questions: if they had seen a bicycle circulating in the last 400 meters, if there was any risk of interacting with that vehicle and, in case affirmative, what was it.

In the case of the cyclist without a vest, only 23.1% answered that they had seen him and 3.9% that he had assumed some risk to overtake him. As for the bicycle users wearing a reflective vest, 35.4% verbally confirmed a conscious visualization and only 7.8% acknowledged having perceived some risk when passing it.

Therefore, the great majority of drivers of motor vehicles are not aware of the fact that they overtake cyclists, although this circumstance is greater among those who interact with bicyclists with vests, to whom they apply a greater safety distance.

On the other hand, a total of 15 drivers from 20 to 57 years participated in the qualitative phase of the study accompanied by a psychologist, who analyzed the behavior of motorists, their driving style and the mistakes made.

In this case, 27% of the drivers had made an effective visualization of the cyclist without a vest, which means that the others did the maneuver automatic way, and the perception of risk appeared in 1% of motorists. Regarding the cyclist with a vest, 39% had seen it and 8% had some perception of risk.

According to the study, users of bicycles were involved in 8,065 accidents in 2017, in which 78 cyclists died, 694 were injured hospitalized and 7,035 were injured not hospitalized. The accidents occurred mostly in urban roads (72%). That same year, four cyclists under the age of 15 died.

Given the lack of perception of cyclists by drivers and the increasing use of the bicycle as a means of urban transport, Bosch has developed the automatic emergency braking system with detection of cyclists, which was presented this Thursday after the study became known.

Only 40 percent of motorcyclists wear helmets

A young man who was traveling on a small motorcycle, but not wearing a safety helmet, hit the parapet on the sidewalk on the Muyurina bridge and, as a result of a blow to the head against a pillar, died instantly.

The departmental director of Traffic, Transportation and Road Safety, Colonel Jhonny Corrales, said that this driver could have saved his life if he had been wearing a safety helmet at that time.

Unfortunately, only four out of 10 motorcyclists use helmets when driving, others do not wear them or have them on the handlebars, on the arm or in the back of the vehicle, as this medium was able to observe in central streets of the city, in the avenues Heroínas and Ayacucho, in the streets Colombia and Junín and in the Himalaya and General Achá.

The number of motorcyclists that use a low helmet to three out of 10 when this observation is made on Avenida Blanco Galindo, at kilometer four.

Corrales, meanwhile, said that at least five out of 10 motorcyclists wear a safety helmet, but it is still insufficient because everyone should comply with this regulation.

The police chief said that the number of motorcyclists using safety helmet has risen considerably, unlike what happened before, when only a minimum percentage, two out of 10, had this implement.

"But it's still alarming because in the operations we perform we found drivers without helmets"

A clear example of this is that on Villarroel Avenue, in the northern part of the city, in less than half an hour, Transit found more than 30 motorcyclists who did not wear a helmet, did not carry a license or plates.

The police chief recalled that the passenger of the motorcyclist must also carry this safety implement to protect their physical integrity in case of falls or accidents.

One argument wielded by motorcyclists for not wearing a helmet is that they arrive disheveled at their workplace.

To counteract this justification, Transit had a banner designed to show a person who suffered an accident, with serious injuries to the head, for not wearing a helmet.

"We hope that this and other messages will make drivers think," said Corrales.

RENEWING Using an appropriate helmet and renewing it every so often is vital to protect the head in case of a traffic accident, said the specialist in repair and maintenance of motorcycles, Jorge Rojas.

The mechanic, who inherited his fondness for his father's bikes, said that the use of the helmet is important, especially now that the car park has grown considerably and ridden a motorcycle has become more dangerous.

According to Rojas, the motorcycle is an unsafe means of transport, so people should wear the helmet, although at first, they find it somewhat uncomfortable because afterward, they get used to it.

The important thing is that, according to Rojas, the quality of the helmets has improved and protects the head more effectively.

However, it is important to acquire a helmet that is made of a resistant material and that has the DOT certification, which absorbs the blow.

Rojas recommended not to buy helmets at half use, which have been discarded in other countries, because they may have suffered a blow, or more, which takes away their usefulness at the time of accidents, that is, they no longer absorb the blows.

The cost of a helmet ranges between 50 and 700 dollars.

Also, it is important to change the helmet, even if it does not suffer blows, because it has a validity time, which today is estimated in about seven years, on average.

Also, it is important to perform the maintenance and repair of motorcycles, every 2,000 kilometers if it is used every day, to minimize the risk of accidents.

In his workshop Charlie, Rojas is responsible for the tuning of the engine, change oil and see the status of the levers, which are not loose, because otherwise, could cause serious injuries to the body in case of accidents.

CAMPAIGN Every week there are traffic accidents involving motorcyclists, "which result in serious injuries, exposed fractures, and injuries, in some cases, they lose their lives," said Corrales.

According to the statistics presented by the police chief, in the 2018 management Transit attended 234 accidents, with the balance of 33 people killed and 430 injuries.

In the first three months of 2019, there were 44 accidents, 6 people were killed and 41 were injured.

As a result of these motorcycle accidents and the death of people, Transit carried out a campaign this week to make drivers aware of the use of the safety helmet, reflective vest and its importance.

Everything you need to know about mandatory vests and triangles

From Wednesday, any car not equipped with fluorescent vest and the pre-signaling triangle is liable to a fine of at least 90 euros. The remainder of the main provisions of this new security measure.

How many vest and triangle should one have onboard? A reflective vest and a pre-signaling triangle must have been in each vehicle since July 1st. However the Minister of Ecology, in charge of road safety, Jean-Louis Borloo had granted a deadline until Wednesday so that motorists can equip themselves "in the best conditions". From 1 October, law enforcement officials will verbalize any driver who does not have the two objects onboard his car.

Should the vest be visible under all circumstances? The retro-reflective vest must be worn by the driver before he leaves his vehicle. But it is not mandatory to drape the vest in the front passenger seat. The jacket should only be easy to access, storing it in the glove box or under a seat is enough.

Where should the triangle be placed? The triangle must be onboard the vehicle, be stored in the cockpit and not in the trunk of the car, and be placed on the road, as soon as the driver leaves his vehicle, at a distance of at least 30 meters from the vehicle. the automobile or obstacle to reporting. Hazard warning lights remain mandatory when the car equipped with them.

Where can we buy them? The kit is in supermarkets, in the centers' autos, in the markets as in the Paris metro. Prices can vary from single to triple, from 6.50 € in hypermarket to 20 € in the corridors of public transport of the capital.

To comply with European legislation, the vest must be marked "CE" and the triangle marked "E27R".

In case of infringement, what is the risk? The offending motorist incurs a fine of 135 euros. The amount of the contravention can be reduced to 90 euros if it is paid on the spot or within three days after the verbalization.

What is the legislation for two wheels? Bikers and scooter drivers are exempted from wearing a vest under any circumstances. The jacket is recommended but not mandatory for cyclists traveling in town.

On the other hand, wearing the vest is imposed on cyclists, pilots, and passengers, who ride out of town in poor visibility conditions (rain, fog) or during the night. In the case of forgetfulness, the pedal will have to pay a fine of 35 euros.

What equipment is required in some countries?

The so-called mandatory equipment is a set of things that every motorist must have in his car. Usually, it is mainly related to security, to mobility, but also to its visibility. Most drivers know what to have in our cars in the Czech Republic. We learn it in driving schools, we often read about it in different articles, and so problems rarely occur. The worse it may be abroad. Here, many drivers are unclear about what they have to have in the car. If you're planning to travel across borders, check out what you can't do.

Bulgaria

It's not just a ride to go to Bulgaria by car, but it can be done. If this country is your goal, beware of what you need to have in your car. Compared to the classic equipment you need in our country, it is also a fire extinguisher. In addition, reflective vests must be in the car for each crew member.

Croatia

Even this country is a frequent holiday destination. If you are going into it, you will be pleased that the list of mandatory equipment does not differ significantly from what is necessary to have with us. Exceptions may be vehicles with a trailer that must have 2 triangles. It should also be borne in mind that N-category cars must have a fire extinguisher.

France

Are you planning to visit this country? Quite often it is better to go by train or bus. This is because quite a lot of demands are placed on motorists. For example, you should have an alcohol tester in your car. In addition, a reflective vest for each crew member is required. It is also important to have a low emission plaque. That is a sticker that is needed if you are entering some cities.

Italy

A frequent holiday destination. Fortunately for them, the mandatory equipment regulations are not as demanding as elsewhere. When we look at specific things, it is primarily an obligatory reflective vest that every crew member must-have. Also, be careful when riding bicycles with you. If they are "on the ball" on the bracket, they need to be hatched with a 50 x 50 cm hatched reflective plate.

Hungary

Is this country your goal? If so, you don't have to deal with anything in your compulsory equipment. All that is necessary are reflective vests with reflective tapes for every person in the car. Otherwise, everything is the same as with us.

Germany

This country does not go beyond what you are used to in the Czech Republic. So with one exception, the low-emission plaques you will need when traveling to some local cities.

Poland

This neighbor neighbors with the times and takes care of safety. That is why you need not only a reflective vest for every crew member to travel to Poland. Also, remember that you need to have a fire extinguisher in your car.

Austria

Not only the destination country but also an important waypoint if you go on holiday. If you are planning a trip, remember that the main duty is a reflective vest in the cabin. Then there is the second thing, which in turn tells you not to have a car. It is an on-board camera that must not be placed or turned on.

I want crossed pedestrian crossings near schools

The two held a press conference on Tudor Vladimirescu street in front of the Szascvay Imre School, where a woman arrived last Thursday and took her child from school hit on the pedestrian crossing. Together with Poti Csaba, president of the school's parents' association, politicians also presented the temporary solution they propose: the provision of flag boards and information boards for pedestrian crossings.

The local councilor, a teacher at Szacsvay Imre, showed that the school has submitted such requests to the City Hall as early as 2014 when the school was on Mihai Eminescu Street. Some have remained unanswered, the most recent promise a solution in a rather uncertain future.

"The sent addresses did not have any results. At the last of them, on November, the City Hall replied that the request was examined in the Circulars Committee. It was determined that the pedestrian crossing will continue to be signaled in the same way, and the technical project on the traffic on the Plevnei street from the new bridge over Crisul Repede will be regulated and its situation ", Kesse said.

Insisting that because of fatigue and agitation, drivers, parents, and children may be unaware of the passage, Szabo believes that we cannot balance the cost of a low-cost pass at the price of people's safety. Up to an acceptable solution on the part of the municipality, the parents of the students at the Szacsvay School have put into practice a pilot project: at the headlights of the pedestrian crossing, on the lighting pillars, they placed flags with reflective tapes to attract the attention of the drivers. The mechanism is simple, the pedestrians take the flag, raise it to make it visible to the drivers, and leave it on the pillar across the road, explains Poti Csaba.

He pointed out that the parents' organization had begun to collect signatures for the installation of crossed-out passages or buttonholes at all school institutions in Oradea.

Such solutions are already operational at the Art High School, Petofi Park, Lucian Blaga High School or Dacia Gymnasium. Such an alienation was also mounted at the crossing of pedestrians near the Balcescu school but, in time, it has deteriorated, as well as the interest of the municipality for the safety of small pedestrians.

On behalf of the City Hall, Deputy Mayor Birta Florin, the coordinator of the Technical Department, commented that "if we meet all the requests for pedestrian crossings, they will all be elevated".

"And as a result of our interest in pedestrian safety, 2017 was the first year in which we had no fatal accidents on pedestrian crossings," the deputy mayor insists.

Safety vest and reflectors: To make the children more visible

Only last Friday it happened again, a six-year-old boy hit on the way to school in Wermelskirchen by a car. He walked carelessly on the street and was seen too late by a driver. Luckily he was only slightly injured. Nevertheless, the police took the case as an opportunity to make the parents of schoolchildren once again to draw attention to the fact that the children should wear brighter and reflective clothing.

The purpose is also followed by the series "Glitter in the Dark", which stopped at the Caritas daycare center Sonneblume in Hilgen on Monday. Thirty-seven preschool children between the ages of five and six were playfully prepared for the road - especially in terms of colors and reflectors.

"I can see Finn's jacket best," cried the children, as they stood in the darkened dining room of the daycare in jackets and winter boots and the beam of flashlights fell on the bright green of the winter jacket. Other kids thought it best to see Thalea's jacket - a light purple model with reflective tapes.

The group of Finn and Thalea is the third, which is guided on this day by the program of the traffic guard. "This is a very good group," says Andrea Höfer of the daycare - she means both colors of the clothes and the attention of the children. Karoline Strauch-Schmitz, Managing Director of the Traffic Watch in the Rheinisch-Bergisch-Kreis, agrees. In contrast, it is surprising how many children still wear dark or black jackets. "It's amazing how few children wear reflective vests," she says. The problem is especially the parents, who draw their children too dark clothes. "Parents attract children like little adults."

Also in this group, there were some dark blue or black jackets. Light, reflective clothing is so important, says Karoline Strauch-Schmitz. The accident figures with children had gone up. That's why the children should be sensitized. So you could also put pressure on the parents. "We can hardly reach it otherwise."

This year, the traffic guards visited the four daycare centers in Hilgen for the first time. Uwe Graetke of the city says, there was still money left over from the pot of the state funds for transport projects, as he had requested the project for Hilgen.

Karoline Strauch-Schmitz says there is generally more money for traffic education - for all ages. Because the accident numbers rose again. Especially with children. Children, in particular, are increasingly lacking in traffic literacy. "The children are taken everywhere and driven. They lose their own mobility "- and that increases the risk of accidents. "They lose the ability to find their way around in traffic." And if they try it from one day to the next, the insecurity is great, and so is the danger.

For Andrea Höfer of Kita Sonnenblume, it is important to prepare the children for the way to school. "Many of the children will go to different elementary schools in the coming year, sometimes with long school trips." The daycare center also does its part: "We go for a long walk and will train in school during the winter," she said. But any further program is welcome. Because even if many came on foot - many children would just drive by car to the daycare center if their parents would bring them on their way to work.

For the kids, the Monday program was a lot of fun. The kids did not just do the self-experiment in the dark, with reflectors in the light of the flashlight. They also painted a paper figure according to their own ideas, then to compare it with a dark-painted figure in a box: Which is more visible? There were no specifications for the design. So the kids should recognize the visibility of their own color choice. At the forefront were football-inspired color combinations such as black-yellow, blue-red and black-red-gold. But after all, it was colors that are far more visible than black, gray and brown.

Swing through a glow in the dark monkey cage trail

After disco bowling and disco swimming you can now also disco monkey cages. Monkey CageGym and New People Learn to Know to organize a glow in the dark monkey cage evening on Friday 23 February.

Run, jump and fly through neon light in the course lined with reflective tape while Toy-box'Tarzan and Jane pound through the speakers. "We are making a good mistake of the 80s and 90s party," says initiator Carlo Vuur.

According to him, it is not more dangerous than normal monkey cages. "There is a purple glow in the LED lighting so that you can still see everything pretty well. In addition, we cover everything with reflective tape. And well, with monkey cages, falling is also normal, isn't it? People might be more careful."

The festival lasts an hour and a half. "The people at ApenkooiGym will always introduce different game elements; a bit of hit ball, a few monkey cages, otherwise you will be broken after ten minutes."

As if all that neon violence is not enough, the participants also have a couple of lasers and disco effects waiting for them in the last fifteen minutes, says Vuur. "Then the beech really goes in. And then we go to the pub!"

There are three places available for Friday, but the organization is almost certainly planning to organize this glow in the dark version more often.

Glow up. You will be safe

In the autumn of last year, 93 accidents involving pedestrians occurred on the roads of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

12 people died in them and 90 were injured. This year there were 170 such accidents, 20 people killed and 160 taken to hospitals.

The law obliging the pedestrian to wear the reflective element with reflective tape applies to all pedestrians regardless of their age from August 14, 2014. Previously, such a requirement concerned only children up to the age of fifteen.

Karpińska's commissioner specifies that such a pedestrian must be equipped along the way after dark outside the built-up area. The reflective element must be visible to other road users. The reflector is not mandatory when using a pedestrian-only or sidewalk path.

"I've permanently attached the plastic reflector to the bag. Thanks to this, it is visible from the back and the front," says Ms. Agata from Golub-Dobrzyń. And other women are encouraged to do so.

The best solution is to put on a reflective vest, which makes more and more people, especially cyclists.

The vest has the equipment for many drivers because after leaving the car they are better visible.

"Reflective materials allow you to see a man from a distance of at least 150 meters in various weather conditions," says the commissioner. "This gives the driver a chance to lower the speed or braking earlier, to safely bypass a pedestrian or a cyclist. It is worth realizing that a person moving around the dusk on the road without reflective elements is almost invisible. The driver is able to notice him only from 20 meters. This is often too small a distance to react properly. The effect can be and usually is tragic," the victim is killed or injured.

Let us add that the victims may also be people driving a car, because the driver frightened by a figure who suddenly appears in the headlights, often performs reflex steering and the car drives off the road into a ditch or crashes on a tree.

"That, unfortunately, is true. Even an experienced, very good driver cannot react properly in this situation," says Bogusław Bach, owner, and instructor of the Toruń Driving Academy, a licensed rally driver. - In our academy, we teach drivers how to avoid walking by the alarm. This is a variation of the elk test. The man imitates a water curtain, which suddenly appears in various places while driving. Similarly, at different speeds, we teach braking against a pedestrian who suddenly appears on the zebra.

The reflective vest costs only a few zlotys, and a simple reflective element can be bought for PLN 1. You can become the owner of the flashlight by paying a few, several zlotys in the store.

Despite many warnings, social actions of the police and other institutions, many pedestrians ignore the rules. Since the beginning of the year, the police have recorded over 2,300 such offenses. And this is just the tip of the iceberg because uniforms can only track a fraction of a percent of ignorant people. For this offense, a fine of 20 to 100 zlotys may be imposed.

With safety vest on the way better

With their neon yellow vests, donated by the ADAC, the first graders of the Gerhardingerschule become visible from afar.

This year, the Gerhardingerschule participates next to other schools in the district Schwandorf at the security vest action 2017 of the ADAC. "For your children, it is very important to be seen better in the dark," said Lord Mayor Andreas Feller on Thursday, the 42 first-graders in classes 1 a and 1 b and pointed out that the employees of the yard also safety vests deceive.

Christian Guder, 1st Chairman of Motorsportclub Schwandorf in the ADAC, had brought the safety vests for all. Director Sandra Drindl, the teachers Monika Eichinger, Katja Schmidt, Lisa Waldmann, and school supervisor Alexander Eckert helped the enthusiastic first graders to put on the safety vests, on which "Felix" and "Frieda", the traffic detectives, shine as reflective tapes.

Just worn over the clothes, they do not just look great. They also make the small pupils clearly visible in the dark at a great distance. The vest is neon yellow, all around brilliantly equipped, without advertising imprint, with conspicuous hood and so long that it looks out when carrying under the school bag.

The vest is a big plus for avoiding road accidents. It should not be forgotten, not only on foot but also during cycling. Children are more vulnerable to other road users because of their smaller body size, smaller field of vision, weaker orientation and longer road response time. Therefore very important, so the message of the ADAC representative: Of course, every day to wear!