Nighttime athletes and pedestrians, who dress in dark clothing, are not the world’s brightest athletes or walkers!!

Drivers have difficulty seeing them in time to avoid accidents and fatalities.

Though athletes and pedestrians can see the bright lights of an approaching vehicle, they don’t realize, or care, that from the driver’s perspective, at night a typical driver almost can’t see them. Here’s a dose of common sense: at night, dark objects are difficult to see. [D’uh!] And, at night, people dressed in dark clothing are difficult to see.

The world’s  SMARTEST RUNNERS/CYCLISTS  show the world they are BRILLIANT by making their presence known to the world– their brilliance shines. Quite literally, the smartest athletes make it a point to SHINE AT NIGHT:

  • They wear bright– (retro-reflective)See End Note 1
  • [or] They wear light–(white or yellow)
  • [AND wherever one is available] They run on sidewalks or bike paths

Mixing with vehicular traffic in dark Ninja-like clothing places a person among the “STUPIDIST” PEOPLE ON EARTH.  Zero I.Q.

The paradox is amusing.

By day, these athletes care for their bodies in extraordinary ways. Yet, at night, they throw themselves to the wolves, so to say, by unwittingly exposing themselves to life-threatening dangers by wearing dark, nearly un-perceptible clothing that does not CONTRAST with the darkness of surroundings, especially along the roadway or at intersections. SAME WARNING GOES FOR PEDESTRIANS. People!  Be brighter. Wear light.

Sooner or later vehicles will collide with runners, cyclists, (and pedestrians), who do not wear bright-colored and/or reflective clothing at night. TIP: be highly visible by donning bright or reflective clothing at night to avoid being struck by a 4,000-pound vehicle, the speed and mass, of which will make mince meat of a 180 pound squish-able runner, cyclist or pedestrian.

If you exercise or walk at night, give some consideration to how human vision works at night.

Though you, as a pedestrian, runner, jogger, can clearly see the approaching bright lights of a vehicle because those lights stand out, (contrast), so brilliantly from its surrounding darkness, you may think the driver can see you from hundreds of feet away. Well, wake up. Drivers can’t see you all that well at night.  If you are wearing dark clothing, they can’t see you until it is too late for the driver to safely take evasive action.  Here’s another tip.  If you can’t see the FACE of the driver, then, likely the driver can’t see you until it is too late. Simple science: DRIVERS CAN’T SEE YOU AT NIGHT if you don’t contrast from your dark surroundings.

Try it at night.

At night, as the car is approaching you, can YOU see the driver’s facial features? Is the driver smiling, even looking at you?  Is the driver female or male or transgender? Can’t see the driver’s face?  Then why would you expect the driver to see your face, or your body, especially if your body is covered in dark clothing and you blend with the dark background?

How to NOT BE SEEN is called the art of camouflage. By blending with the background, (dark clothing at night),  one becomes nearly invisible. At night, athletes and pedestrians should avoid being camouflaged!!

You must wear LIGHT clothing, preferably trimmed with RETRO-REFLECTIVE material.

BRIGHT PEOPLE WEAR BRIGHT CLOTHING AT NIGHT. 

RETRO-REFLECTIVE is even BRIGHTER.

At night, DRESS BRIGHTER!! 

Wear white or yellow clothing trimmed with RETRO-REFLECTIVE materials.  See End Note 1  

RETRO-reflective, as the name suggests, RETURNS the bright lights of the approaching vehicle BACK TO THE DRIVER, allowing the driver to see something bright ahead. Clever runners’ clothing manufacturers will use RETRO-REFLECTIVE fabrics to outline the silhouette of a human figure so drivers have a clue that it is a person ahead, visible for hundreds of yards/meters ahead.  I can’t emphasize enough: Dark clothing is nearly invisible until it is too late to avoid a disaster.

If you don’t have clothing trimmed in RETRO-REFLECTIVE materials, then default to the next best colored clothing for nighttime visibility:  WHITE or YELLOW.

What about those bright FLUORESCENT orange and lime-green vests, aren’t they good for visibility at night?  They may not help make you any more more visible at night.  They work best when there is large amounts of Ultra-Violet light–at dawn or at dusk or for great contrast during the daytime when the sun emits plenty of UV light, or on cloudy days.  But at night, when there is almost no U-V radiation (light), they are much like any other “normal” yellow or orange clothing.

WHY YOU NEED TO BE A BRIGHTER PERSON…at night:

  1. drivers, (population), are aging, so vision is deteriorating.
  2. population is obese and getting fatter. As younger and younger people contract Type-2 Diabetes, [now starting at ages 11 and 12],  they suffer from the same diseases as any other diabetic, including growing cataracts which grows worse over time and interferes with vision, especially at night.  Cataracts cover the pupil of the eye, making vision cloudy, and disperses incoming light. A growing problem, even by day, as one ages, but as evening descends, driving becomes more difficult as the light entering cataracts becomes scattered and “cloudy”.
  3. other bright objects or smart people wearing retro-reflective materials may distract drivers or be seen with greater ease and contrast than people wearing dark clothing are are difficult to spot. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that “I didn’t see the runner in dark clothing”, may be a viable defense in a court of law if defense lawyers understand the difficulties drivers have detecting people wearing dark clothing at night.
  4. if, at night,  nothing behind you causes your human figure to stand out, to be contrasted to the background, to appear as a silhouette, drivers may not realize you are in front of their vehicle in time enough to avoid colliding with. And count on this: humans are no match for a metal monster on 2 or 4 wheels.
  5. you may be jogging, cycling or walking in an area completely unexpected by drivers.  Runners and pedestrians should stick to sidewalks during nighttime, if they are available; cyclists, to bicycle paths.

Now you know.

So, you can no longer use stupidity and lack of common sense as your excuse. There is no reason to run, walk, or cycle, on the side of a road at night, even if you face oncoming, when viable sidewalks and bike paths exist.

One runner tried to convince me that he had to run on the pavement because it absorbs the foot pounding and provides more protection than running on a sidewalk. Really? That’s why some of the world’s most brilliant designers are engaged to make “running” shoes…That is, for running on HARD SURFACES such as sidewalks.

Common sense, people!!

If pavement of the roadway has to be solid enough to support 4,000 pound vehicles and massive trucks weighing many time more than that, it certainly won’t be squishy enough to provide cushioning for a 180 pound runner. Sidewalks were designed to keep 180-pound humans, or any other human of any other weight,  safe from vehicular traffic.  Sidewalks are expensive to make but are a great safety feature where available. So, use them.

Now you know.  You are an IDIOT if you mingle with vehicular traffic while you wear dark clothing at night.

If you are a parent:

PROTECT you kids at night by ensuring you dress them in clothing that can be seen by drivers at night. As a parent, help protect your kids by minding to their need to be visible to drivers at night.

BRIGHT athletes and pedestrians wear LIGHT and BRIGHT at NIGHT.

At night, only LIGHT is RIGHT.

SMART nighttime athletes go one better by demanding RETRO-REFLECTIVE trim.

END NOTE

  1. RETRO-REFLECTIVE material consists of microscopic, silver-coated beads or prisms each of which captures and reverses the light to send it back, in a straight line, to the source of the light. The concept originated from scientists at 3M replicating the same principle that made the eyes of animals appear to light up a glow in the distance at night as light from car headlights entered the animals eye and bounce off the rounded back surface which acted like a silvered mirror and sent the light back to the driver. Since a driver is sitting right behind the headlights of his or her vehicle, the driver sees the light coming back to them that originated from their own headlights. This exact principle is what makes STOP SIGNS, overhead HIGHWAY SIGNS, STREET SIGNS, appear to LIGHT UP in the darkness when a driver’s headlights shine on those signs. Those signs are made of highly effective RETRO-REFLECTIVE beads that capture and return the cars’ headlights back to the drivers of those cars.
  2. HOW TO TEST FOR SMART CLOTHING FOR NIGHT RUNNING:  A runner’s garment ought to be trimmed in a silver fabric, (silver because of the silver mirror coating at the back of each of the millions of microscopic glass beads), OR, a shiny plastic material, (to encase millions of microscopic plastic prisms).  To be sure, hold a flashlight to your temple, so as close to your eye as possible, step back about 5 yards/meters or more and shine the flashlight on the material. If the material, or the trim is retro-reflective, it will appear to “light up”, yes even in the daytime while conducting this test, but if in doubt, darken the room somewhat and shine the flashlight–alongside your temple–at the garment.
  3. A word of caution.  Over time, after about 25 to 50 washings, the retro-reflective material may lose some of its ability to return light to the driver as beads wear out or become dislodged from the base material. So, from time to time repeat the test for detecting retro-reflectivity to ensure it is working to your satisfaction.