If the clock is set back tonight and the sun rises earlier, it will be darker in the evening.
We are in the dark season.
And the slogan "see and be seen" is particularly important in this time of year. Visibility can save lives.
This doesn't just apply to drivers. Pedestrians, joggers, sprinters and walkers too:
Retroreflective or bright clothing is essential, especially in the dark!
Why is that? Because sometimes it happens very quickly.
The stopping distance of a car on a normally dry road looks something like this:
- 30 km/h approx. 18 meters
- 50 km/h approximately 40 meters
The stopping distance is made up of the reaction distance and the braking distance. The rules of thumb for the calculation are as follows:
Reaction distance: (speed : 10) x 3
Braking distance: (speed : 10) x (speed : 10)
These figures are of course dependent on road conditions, whether it is raining or dry, cold or warm, how good the brakes or the car are.
One thing is certain:
In the dark, we are simply not easily recognizable with dark clothing. If we assume that a driver is driving at 100 km/h and therefore has a stopping distance of around 80 meters, but visibility is only around 2 meters with dark clothing, around 24 meters with red clothing, around 40 meters with yellow, 50 meters with white and 150 meters with retroreflective clothing, it becomes clear how important visibility in road traffic is!!!
So - when you go out these days - whether early or late:
REFLECTIVE clothing and switched-on lights can save lives.