As the days grow shorter, more of us are traveling at times of day when lighting is poor, so it’s important to take affirmative steps to avoid the often tragic mixture of speed and reduced visibility. We’ve already seen four crashes in the last couple of weeks that have happened during low-light hours and, while it’s too soon to know the precise cause of these particular crashes, we do know that crash rates involving vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians increase at this time of year.
What can you do?
If you’re driving:
Slow down. Just slow down. It is a well understood aspect of human physiology that vision is relatively poor at dawn and dusk, a phenomenon that grows worse with age. So, if your vision is somewhere between 25 and 30% worse at these low-light hours, drive 25 to 30% slower. You may just save a life by doing so; maybe even your own.
If you’re biking or walking:
Wear a reflective outer layer or, failing that, a reflective pendant, as is required in some countries for those out at night. Those wearing a reflector can typically be seen 5 to 8 times further away than those without one. That may account for the drastic reduction in low-light crashes in the countries where reflectors are required. Reflectors are cheap, so get some for everyone in your family and put ‘em on dogs, jackets, backpacks, bikes, scooters, and whatever else will be with you or your loved ones when out and about in low-light hours. Community Cycles sells reflectors & reflective vests.
Wear a blinking pendant when walking or a lighted helmet when biking. These are not a substitute for reflectors (since the reflection of headlights is brighter than most lights) but they can be very helpful at dawn and dusk, when reflectors aren’t as noticeable as they are at night.
Travel defensively. Don’t assume that eye contact means a driver has actually seen you. Instead, wait until the behavior of their vehicle demonstrates that you’ve been seen. Too often drivers report that the cyclist or pedestrian “came out of nowhere” when the facts show otherwise, so make sure that you’ve been seen before you go where a car is headed.
As a resident:
Demand that your community has implemented a signals policy that does the most it can to protect cyclists and pedestrians at intersections, where most of these low-light crashes happen, at least during the hours that lighting is poor. Keep an eye on this space as Community Cycles presses for real action on this front here in Boulder.