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Guernsey Living Streets Group are reminding everyone to be safe and be seen this “Hi-Vis Day”, taking place just before the clocks go back at the end of summertime.
All funds raised by businesses today will be reinvested into high visibility clothing which will be distributed for free to those in need.
This will occur during road safety week – November 14 to 20 – with items available from the OSA pop-up shop on Smith Street.
Chairman of Guernsey Living Streets Group, Tom Le Pelley, hopes pedestrians and cyclists will be encouraged to make sure they are seen after dark.
“The limited street lighting means Guernsey’s roads can be lethal, particularly on a dark rainy night when vehicle stopping distances are affected. Our message to all pedestrians and cyclists is please make sure you can be seen,” he said.
Research shows that a driver travelling at 40 miles per hour with dipped headlights has as little as 1.5 seconds to react to a hazard on the road. This rises to just three seconds on main beams.
Secretary of Living Streets, Pat Wisher added: “It has been increasingly difficult for us to promote Hi Vis Day this year since, following the pandemic, very few organisations do ‘dress down days’ now.
“We are grateful to Bellerive Trust, DNA Ltd, Julias Baer and Ravenscroft for agreeing to support this event. We are also very grateful to Specsavers in Market Square who will be providing children’s hi-vis vests again this year.”
Pictured: Staff members from Bellerive posing in their bright clothing on Friday morning.
Fluorescent materials really glow by reacting with ultra-violet rays in sunlight. Ideal for getting you noticed during the day.
Reflective materials work at night because their special surfaces bounce light back from street and car headlights off hundreds of tiny beads. At night reflective materials can be seen by drivers using headlights up to three times as far away as non-reflective materials.
Even if most of your journey is on a pavement, you must have to cross the road at some point so brightening up is still important. Also, bear in mind that Guernsey’s narrow roads mean that vehicles often have to mount the pavement. So make sure you are visible.
As well as wearing something bright or light we would like to remind pedestrians that if there isn’t a footpath they should walk on the right hand side of the road facing the traffic. The only exception is where there is a blind bend - in which case you should cross the road carefully and then cross back again after the bend.
Never walk around a blind bend at night and never walk with your back to the traffic wearing dark clothes.
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