VARIOUS ROAD GROUPS have urged pedestrians and cyclists to light up over the bank holiday weekend – by wearing high-visibility clothing when on the roads.
10 people have lost their lives and 40 more have been seriously injured in bank holiday collisions since 2011.
124 people have died so far this year on Irish roads, an improvement of 36 when compared to the same 10 month period in 2016.
The appeal is being made ahead of the clocks going back on Sunday morning, meaning an hour’s less daylight for road-users.
“Pedestrians and cyclists can be difficult to see in the road traffic, especially at night and in dark weather conditions,” says Moyagh Murdock, CEO of the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
Without wearing something reflective a pedestrian or cyclist is only likely to be visible 30 metres away, in low beam headlights. By wearing something reflective they become visible at 150 metres away.
This gives drivers five times the distance to notice them and, more importantly, to avoid them. There really is no excuse for anyone to be out on the road without a high visibility jacket, especially when you can order one free of charge from the RSA website.
An RSA survey from November of last year found that Irish people’s takeup of high-visibility clothing when using the roads is less than stellar:
There’s much room for improvement then. It’s not like there are no deterrents either – the on-the-spot Garda fine for committing a cycling visibility offence is €40.
The drive for high-visibility on the road isn’t the only measure the RSA is bringing to the table this weekend.
The authority, together with certain Applegreen service stations, is also offering free cups of coffee to jaded drivers between 2pm and 8pm this afternoon and evening, and between the same times on bank holiday Monday, 30 October.
Just say ‘RSA’ or ‘Driver Reviver’ to the till operator to get one. You can’t say fairer than that.
A list of participating Applegreen stations can be found here
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