Safety vests for delegated mayors

 

Two years ago, the initiative would not necessarily have won unanimous support. The twenty-two mayors delegate of Livarot-Pays-d'Auge received Monday afternoon, fluorescent yellow vests offered by Laurence Gaubert of the departmental federation of the insurer Groupama and bearing the mention municipal authority. "Indeed, from time to time, we have to intervene in the middle of the night at accident sites. Sometimes we even do traffic. The waistcoat is safer than a scarf", confides the mayor, Frédéric Legouverneur.

 

Several elected officials highlight the fact that for firefighters or gendarmes, the safety vest will quickly identify the mayor. "When we are on the side of the road, we are not visible."

Young entrepreneurs from Hamburg produce reflective rucksacks and bags

 

Jacob Leffers and Emil Woermann from Hamburg belong to a new, young generation of entrepreneurs in Germany. They are 20 and 19 years old and are on the road to success with a great idea. They have developed backpacks that glow in the dark - because they found safety vests somehow uncool.

 

They seem to have hit a nerve because the backpacks are almost torn out of their hands. They have now rented a factory floor in Eimsbüttel. They collected the money for their start-up "OAK25" via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Production takes place in China.

Leipziger Verkehrswacht makes pupils fit for the dark season

There are courses for more safety on the streets at around 40 day-care centers and schools in Leipzig. But: Even adults should dress in the autumn quite different, says Grit Blümle of the traffic watch. They usually wear dark things. Instead, light clothing and reflectors are needed.

The Trade Fair City Traffic Watch is currently preparing children at some 40 kindergartens and schools with special courses for the dark season. This traffic education is part of the project "Seeing and being seen" of the Landesverkehrswacht Sachsen.

Adults are often even worse dressed than the children

By autumn, the early morning hours and late afternoon and evening are particularly sensitive times for road safety. "In the wintertime, many people have a 'friendly black' on," describes Grit Blümle the problem, managing director of Messestadt-Verkehrswacht.

Of course, the employees of the association initially have the youngest road users in mind, but the adults often dress even worse in safety aspects. Blümle also relies on a multiplier effect by the students: "We hope that the project skips from the children to the parents and we reach them," says the managing director.

Each course consists of a lesson in which the children look, among other things, into a black box: everything is black in there; Gradually, the students then get the effect of bright clothes and reflectors demonstrated.

In children, reflective tapes on the satchel have become mandatory. But basically: Much helps a lot. Caps, jackets, rain jackets, reflective snap bands: Parents should equip the clothing of their charges with additional reflectors. "You absolutely have to pay attention to that," says Grüblümle. "There are reflectors to be fixed or ironed up everywhere."

In the summer, the Messestadt-Verkehrswacht distributed red Dekra caps as part of the "safe way to school" campaign, which is also equipped with a reflective stripe. Blümle advises urgently to use these caps even now, where the wool hats are still in the closet.

In addition, the smallest road users should wear a safety vest. "They cost two, three euros. That's not a lot of money but has a very big impact. "Who does not know what to give to Nicholas, who could do something useful with a vest or other reflectors.

Reflectors bring enormous safety plus

Reflective clothing brings a huge plus in safety: "120 meters before you can see something shine," states Blümle. This already gives some attention. "In the city, many drivers are traveling at 50 kilometers per hour; they have a stopping distance of at least 20 meters. "If you are dressed dark and have no reflectors, you will be recognized far too late in case of doubt.

Even with cyclists, the safety vest is the tool of choice - "especially for your own safety." But instead, one sees in the urban traffic again and again dark-clad cyclists without reflectors and often even without lighting.

For pedestrians with a dog, the situation is sometimes downright absurd: while the four-legged friend gets a reflective jerkin tied around, the mistress or master literally walks unmolested. After all, can then be guessed that on the leash still hangs a human.