Beware of reflective vests from marketplaces

Buying a cheap reflective vest, which is an integral part of the equipment on the market, is a gamble with life. Reflective elements on some of them are not visible in night lighting, and the driver with such a jacket, for example, when changing the car’s wheel after dark, risks that other motorists overlook it. This results from the research of the staff of the Institute of Forensic Engineering of the Technical University of Technology (BUT) in Brno.

 

“We have tested twelve vows bought in the Czech Republic. Two of the vests that we bought at the market were utterly useless. Drivers who use them are at great risk, “Albert Breda told Provo, who has been studying the effectiveness of reflective elements with his colleagues for several years.

 

A high quality vest comes to about two hundred crowns and can be bought at a petrol station, car showrooms or car accessories store. These are believed by researchers. The reflective elements are clearly visible on the vests at night lighting at a distance of about 300 meters. For the best engineers, the engineers can assume that others can see them even a kilometer away.

 

It is cheap to buy a safety vest at a market where its price is around 50 crowns. “We do not say that all vestments from the marketplaces are poor. But if someone buys them, he should spend a few minutes and try to test them the same night,” Breda recommended.

 

The more elements, the better you can see

Engineers recommend that the driver buy the vest and do not go shopping and try to buy one that has as many reflective elements as possible. The principle is that the more they are, the better they are in the field. To measure the effectiveness of the vest, the researchers use a special Lummi DISP instrument developed by the faculty of electro techniques. It is a special camera that can create a so-called bright map. It depicts how much the character is in contrast to the surrounding terrain at night.

 

Researchers also test reflective elements recommended by transport experts. They use, for example, dummies with reflective elements built at night on the road. The engineers then find out by drivers’ reactions how far the motorists have seen the lighting elements in the dark. These are more and more often part of regular children’s clothing or school bags. Breda recommends parents to prefer to always check to what extent these reflective elements are functional.

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