Mandatory reflective elements of pedestrians: Better than nothing
You would have to live abroad or on Mars so that you wouldn’t hear about the new pedestrian obligation in the Czech Republic to wear reflective elements outside the village in low visibility. In February, it will be published in the Collection of Laws and then will come into effect in 15 days.
The approval process took so long that the media, politicians, and policemen rejoiced for months, as it is a good idea if the measure brings at least one saved life.
The Besipu campaign started in the fall, half a million reflective tapes, 100,000 seniors’ bags and tens of thousands of luminous laces for the young this year. Indeed, the number of victims is really worrying, as 72 pedestrians died in the dark last year. Good experience from abroad, where such an obligation applies for years, and the number of the dead has really decreased rapidly. Will it succeed with us?
Do you know retro-reflection?
Unfortunately, the most important thing in publishing sprawl was to define properly what the “retro-reflective elements” are and how they should look. “We have, for example, fluorescent materials that increase daylight and dusk visibility, but lose their function in the dark,” says Besar’s head, Martin Farrar. In addition, we found that not every orange or light green work vest is wearing true retro-reflective elements — that is, reflecting light in the night and alerting the character to the dark!
Although transport legislation experts suspect that the term “retro-reflective” refers to a situation of emergency stopping of the vehicle outside the municipality or to the permissible marking of pedestrian formations in low visibility, the implementing regulation depicts examples of working orange “road” workers and a “School” sign in both cases, it is hard for the participants to dress up.
In addition, in the passage on their new designation, this reference is missing. Members have already met it during the vote. “Retro-reflective materials — it’s a very difficult word and I admit I’m a little confused about it. It is the word of Latin origin. Reflection means I bend, turn, re — back. How would I translate retro reflector, I don’t know. I probably turn, bend back, backward. Or I bend back, bending back. I wonder in whose clever head the term was born,” commented MEP and linguist Daniel Korte of TOP 09.
Vests for understanding
Therefore, the public interprets the regulation in its own right, and the media for simplification speaks vaguely of mandatory reflective vests, although nobody orders them explicitly. “Nowhere is it said what the reflective element means and how it should be placed,” confirms Roman Budský’s transport expert and recommends to clarify the surface of the reflective element, its location, and color. Most of all, the placement is above the ankle or wrist. “We are not preparing any implementing regulations, the most methodological instruction for the police to evaluate reflective elements. We do not intentionally want to give concrete examples to not favor one manufacturer or one system over another. In short, it is a matter of fact,” says Tomáš Neřold from the Ministry of Transport.
According to the recommendations of the Ministry, Besipu and transport experts, the colors used should be as bright as possible, typically orange, yellow or light green. “It remains to think about what the minimum area should be. Personally, I think it should match the length and width of quality reflective tape. But the information that is sometimes communicated to the public — that is, any reflective material on a jacket or other item of clothing is sufficient, they can be dangerous. After all, these are very narrow strips barely visible even in the immediate vicinity, “ says Buda.
It is visible / not visible
For failure to fulfill obligations, which is already introduced by the 41st amendment to the Road Traffic Act, there is a threat of a block fine of up to CZK 2,000, and in administrative proceedings CZK 1,500 to CZK 2,500. The check will be clear — the pedestrian will see or not. At least initially, the police promise leniency, and in some places, they are giving out reflective tapes.
According to Transport Minister Dan Toko, the tapes are enough, just like any reflective stripes sewn in the clothes. They are common in sportswear and, as we have found in our test on other pages, in children’s clothing. We even had to tape over our shoes and jackets with the school’s test team members to compare their visibility with and without reflectors.