Accidents in which victims are pedestrians, regularly occur in all regions of our country. To prevent such incidents, all road users should be more attentive and comply with SDA. Especially for pedestrians there is an additional protection - flickers. These are retroreflectors, which help the driver to notice a person on the road in the dark.
Species and varieties of flickers
Reflectors are now available in a wide variety of options. These are pendants, key rings, badges, stickers, thermo-labels for clothes, bracelets. Some manufacturers of clothing and footwear offer their customers ready-made models that have flicker inserts. What to choose depends on your taste and individual needs. According to most people, one of the most convenient options is wearing clothes with retroreflective elements. Decorating every thing with reflective thermo-sticking is not easy, but for sure each of us has favorite jeans, windbreakers and sneakers for evening jogs. Ideal place for placing badges - headdresses or backpacks. Key fobs are an excellent accessory for decorating a women's handbag, a school bag.
Tips for wearing flickers
How and where to wear flickers, if you want to be more visible? In fact, this is the case when "the more the better." Experts advise wearing reflectors on the left and right, as well as behind and in front. For example, if you want to protect your child, reflective flickers should be hung on his backpack, in the form of a badge on his chest, and on the strap (on the one hand) and a bracelet on his hand (on the other hand). Children and teenagers like bright accessories, but how to be an adult? The range of flickers on sale today is incredibly large. You can pick up completely inconspicuous reflectors, or made in an interesting design. Do not forget that to protect yourself on the road should not only pedestrians. Cyclists who like to ride at night are required to attach a LED cataphyte to their vehicle. Excellent, if the wear of the owner of the bicycle will have reflectors.
Do I have to wear retroreflectors?
In many European countries wearing flickers for pedestrians is mandatory. In our country, amendments to the traffic regulations affecting this issue were introduced only in 2014. According to Russian legislation, pedestrians are required to wear retroreflective elements when driving on the road or on the roadside during the dark hours / under poor visibility conditions. Failure to comply with this requirement provides for penalties. It is worth noting that the rules are valid only outside settlements. It turns out that residents of cities are not required to wear flickers for pedestrians? From the legislative point of view, this is so. However, it is worthwhile to understand that the acquisition and wearing of retroreflective elements is a concern for one's own safety. Accidents involving pedestrians regularly occur not only on the roads, but also in large cities, as well as sparsely populated villages. One flicker today costs 25 rubles. And this means that everyone can purchase a set of reflectors for themselves and their loved ones. Many people notice that it's worth starting to wear flickers and very soon it becomes a habit. So why not take care of personal security?
From what distance can a motorist notice a proper pedestrian?
When driving with a passing beam, the driver sees a pedestrian from a distance of 25-30 meters. But this sometimes is not enough to react correctly. If in the attire of a pedestrian there are light-reflecting elements, to notice his motorist can from a distance of 130-140 meters. Agree, this is an impressive difference. When driving with a high beam, the driver can see the reflector from a distance of about 400 meters. And this means that flickers are, indeed, a simple and effective means to become more visible on the road.
Penalties in Russia for the lack of flickers
What threatens pedestrians walking without flickers? For the movement along the roadside in the darkness of the runoff a fine of 17.5 thousand rubles is provided. If the "inconspicuous" pedestrian is at the stage of alcoholic intoxication, the amount of the fine increases to 35-105 thousand rubles. If the absence of a reflector is recognized as the cause of an emergency on the road, a pedestrian can be fined 350 thousand rubles. Agree, to buy light reflectors is much cheaper. In many cities of our country, actions are held regularly, reminding that flickers are very useful accessories. During such events, you can even sometimes get a personal protection kit for free.
Protection or a cute souvenir? Opinion of traffic police officers
Employees of the traffic police are reminded that not all products sold under the name "flicker" are equally useful. The most qualitative are the light reflectors of white and lemon color, made in a simple design. But colorful toys with drawings often turn out to be the most usual decorative key rings. At purchase you can ask the seller to show the certificate on flicker. Give preference to accessories of simple forms - strips, geometric figures. It is believed that their light reflectance is higher than that of complicated key fobs. Now you know what the flickers considered to be the best are. A photo-example you can see at the beginning of this paragraph.