Pilgrimage of the Divine Eternal Father begins this Friday in Trinity

Begins this Friday, the traditional Feast of the Divine Father Eternal, in Trindade, in the Metropolitan Region. 3 million devotees are expected over the next ten days. The program of the party includes masses, novenas, blessings and the traditional parade of careers. Also, shows with Father Fábio de Melo and Sérgio Reis and an exhibition about the culture of Goiás.

The pilgrims are already on the road to Trinity, whether on foot, by car, by mule or by horse, many come from other states to reinforce their devotion to the Divine Eternal Father.

Those who prefer to hike from Padre Pelagio terminal, where begins the Rodovia dos Romeiros. In this way, it is 18 km on foot to the Basilica Sanctuary, the route is done in four or five hours, on average.

During the course, pilgrims can count on the support of the Goiás Volunteer Organization (OVG) tent with the Romeiro Support Center, which offers a structure to serve snacks and also for rest.

To avoid accidents while walking, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) recommends some precautions such as: walking along the shoulder against the road; wear the reflective vest for easy viewing; Avoid crossing the track and walking in Indian queue. And also health care: wear comfortable shoes; wear light reflective clothing and hats to protect yourself from the sun; use sunscreen; drink a lot of water; take small snacks; Avoid the hot sun from 10 am to 4 pm and in case of foot blisters, stop and watch for gravity.

The Metropolitan Company of Public Transportation (CMTC), informs that it has reinforced the number of buses to serve the pilgrims who pass through the Padre Pelagio Terminal. Extra vehicles will be placed on line 112 - Terminal Trindade / Padre Pelagio until June 7th.

The patrol was reinforced in the city. About 3,000 military police will take care of security. The Civil Police set up four posts: the Basilica, the Parish Church, the 1st Police District, which will operate 24 hours, and the regional headquarters. At these points, people can report and report occurrences. Fire Department Ambulances are also scattered at strategic points in the city.

Airbags for motorcyclists of traffic police

While police officers in Greece do not have basic items for their safety, even bulletproof safety vests are sometimes forced to buy at their own expense, in Cyprus, tenders have already been announced for the purchase of special airbags with vests, while internal a study to renew their uniforms and gloves to provide road safety. These changes are due to the increased risks that motorcyclists face daily.

A recent motorcycle bomber of the Nicosia Traffic Squadron (EMCO) was involved in a car crash, resulting in severe injuries because the special safety jacket he wore did not respond as the airbags did not open.

Police cyclists from other countries equipped with modern suits that carry airbags that protect the vertebra up and down the sides.

As the "Phileleftheros" writes, the vest fitted with airbags carries a rope whose end is tied to the machine.

In the event of overturning the motorcycle, the airbag, which through a gas cylinder, fills the air immediately protects the rider. Last Friday, an announcement was published to supply vests with an airbag activation system that can be activated by applying pressure from a cable that is fixed to the motorcycle. As explained in "F", such modern equipment will be given to the members of the Presidential Guard accompanying the President of the Republic by motorcycles, the members of the "Z" team and the EOMO supervising the motorways.

The study prepared by the Traffic Department at the Police Headquarters provides for the supply of winter and summer uniforms to motorcyclists as well as special gloves and other necessary protective equipment. Once the study has been examined and approved, the procurement of specialized uniforms will proceed to ensure the safety of cyclists who are exposed daily on the streets. In addition to illegal drivers, Police motorcyclists are involved in the fight against crime, since they are the first to reach a scene and can be involved in pursuing wanted persons in cases of robbery or other criminal activities.

Meanwhile, in a traffic jam campaign in the first half of June, 4,168 checks were done in Cyprus, while 367 drivers were found driving under the influence of alcohol. Also, 35 drivers were screened for driving under the influence of drugs, with 26 positive results.

Coast Guard credits life jacket, whistle for woman's survival

A 57-year-old woman spent 14 terrifying hours in rough weather and choppy seas after she was tossed from a jet ski into Lake Erie.

Rescuers, who searched for her through the night, credit the woman's life jacket with keeping her alive.

"There were three jet skis they were traveling from Put-in-Bay back to the Portage River," said Chief Warrant Officer Bethannie Kittrell, commanding officer for the Marblehead Coast Guard Station.

At about 8 p.m. Sunday, the Coast Guard station received a call that a 57-year-old woman had fallen off her jet ski and disappeared in 5 to 6 foot's waves on Lake Erie. Crews from Michigan, Canada, and local police departments joined the local Coast Guard to search by boat and by air.

"Around 1 a.m., we did find the jet ski. She was not on the jet ski so we continued the search efforts," Kittrell said.

The commanding officer said just before 10 a.m. Monday, 14 hours after she fell into the water, the woman was found.

"A fishing boat coming out of the Portage River saw somebody in the water, waving her arms and they went over and they were able to pull her on board the boat," Kittrell said.

The Coast Guard said the woman had drifted about 4 and a half nautical miles through the night. They said because the woman was wearing a life jacket, zipped and buckled properly, she survived.

"She was extremely exhausted, dehydrated, extremely hypothermic, and they were able to return her to the Port Clinton police dock in the Portage River and get her to EMS and take her to the hospital from there," Kittrell said.

The woman also had a whistle with her, but her life jacket was black, which made it difficult to locate her. The Coast Guard recommended a bright colored safety vest, strobe light or retro-reflective tape.

"If you're trying to put your life jacket on in an emergency, it's like trying to put your seatbelt on when you're going through a car crash," Kittrell said.

The woman, who remained in the hospital Monday night, has not been identified.

Rescue teams covered almost 700 square miles during their search.

The jet ski had an automatic shut off, but the current swept it away from the woman faster than she could swim back to it. The Lake Erie water temperature was 79 degrees.

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.

Want To Avoid Getting Hit By Cars? LAPD Says To Try "Defensive Walking"

Late month, the Los Angeles Police Department announced its new Pedestrian Safety Initiative, which gives officers new responsibilities to talk to pedestrians about safety issues and offer free reflective vests or wearable LED lights in place of a traffic ticket.

The department is working with State Farm to hand out roughly 1,200 vests and 700 lights to reduce pedestrian deaths on city streets, which are among the deadliest in the nation.

Authorities also gave recent traffic fatality statistics, saying 200 people have been killed in traffic collisions in the city so far this year. Of those fatal collisions, 107 involved pedestrians and half of those deaths were "individuals that are outside crosswalks," according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.

Speaking at a press conference on Nov. 28, Moore said the vests will "give a fighting chance for (pedestrians) to be seen and observed and to protect themselves," especially when walking at night.

"We have defensive driving, there's defensive walking as well," he said.

But local street safety advocates are blasting the plan as disappointing and absurd, saying police are focusing on changing victim's behavior when it's safer driving and better infrastructure that will save lives.

"Drivers have the power to do the most harm, and drivers have the greatest responsibility to protect the human life around them," said Emilia Crotty, executive director of Los Angeles Walks, told LAist. "The city, including LAPD, needs to remind people of this every opportunity it gets."

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.

Jalisco insists on vest and plates for motorcyclists

Although at the time the measure rejected for stigmatizing the person, the Government of the State of Jalisco decided to relaunch the program and announced that from March all motorcyclists must wear a reflective vest with some plates. Otherwise, they will be fined and the vehicle will be confiscated if they do not prove its origin. The operation will be applied throughout the State, mainly in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (AMG) and is aimed at low-displacement bikes of less than 250 cubic centimeters.

The authority argues that motorcycles used to commit crimes and are handled by people. That is, those who notify suspected members of organized crime when elements of a police corporation up to a certain demarcation. However, neither the coordinator of the Cabinet of Security in the State, nor the Secretary of Public Security, released statistics on the number of crimes in which they use this type of transport, and that finally led them to reactivate the operatives. Of course, "There are thousands of motorcycles used by criminals to steal, to assault, to transport the stolen material, to flee from authority, to transport drugs, in such a way that there are real bands of motorcyclists that without any control runs through our streets and avenues representing a risk for society, "said Macedonio Tamez Guajardo, coordinator of the Security Cabinet.

This operation implemented by the last administration and in the end, it suspended due to the precautionary measures issued by the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH). We recommend: More than 40 complaints about fuel theft in Tlajomulco Today, he said, "we are not asking" the CEDHJ. Also, he said that the measure does not violate human rights.

Motorcyclists must carry plate numbers in vests or shirts with a size of 30 by 20 cm; they must have 20% anti-reflective material in their clothing; helmet, lights, flashing signals; carry the circulation card and the license. "This measure will not only allow them to be identified with certainty in an instant but at the same time it intends to avoid delinquency and the misuse of these vehicles, a provision that already exists in the current regulations but has been unduly ignored for many years," argued Tamez.

The fine for motorcyclists who fail the measure is between 844 to 2 thousand 534 pesos. Also, the vehicle will be insured in case of not carrying the driving card and the motorcyclist's license. 638 motorcycles confiscated This operation started last week and until just this Wednesday it became official. The Secretary of Public Security of the State of Jalisco, Daniel Velasco Ramírez explained that 638 motorcycles have been confiscated. Forty percent lacked plates and 60 percent of circulation cards.

In that time, road agents raised 2 thousand 921 infractions was the coordinator of Security, Guajardo said that 80 percent of motorcycles have not been claimed by the owners. Hence, it is presumed that they are stolen and used to commit a crime. "Interestingly of the bikes that have been insured for infractions, most have not been picked up by their owners, which speaks that many of them were stolen and used for crime and is in the corralón, the owner of them must submit documentation, pay the fine and you can recover it, but at least 80 percent are still there," he concluded.