Traffic Safety

The Safety Reflector Saved My Life!

/ thoughts /

Kids are back to school and nights are getting longer. I’m back to full-time focus on helping people be safe and visible in traffic at night. Seven years ago today, I almost lost my husband.  While some question the effectiveness of reflectors, I know they save lives. I know it from statistics comparing the US and Sweden, and stories like these illustrate the statistics. I originally posted the day after the almost-accident happened, but it deserves to be re-told so here it is again:

The story

August 27, 2011
Last night, I was struggling with a new blog post when my husband, a father of three, stepped through the door, sank down on a chair and said “I think, the funflector safety reflector on my umbrella just saved my life!”  So, forget about the not-so-great blog post. Here is his story:

“I was on my way home from a late trip to the library. It was a nice walk down quiet residential streets. I was on the last of these little streets before coming to the main road. I hadn’t seen a single car since leaving the library, only a couple of people walking their dogs. That last neighborhood street has no sidewalks, so I was walking in the street, like everyone who walks their dog, visits a neighbor or just heads out for some exercise.

I was where the street makes its final curve up to the highway. Before I knew it, a Hummer came flying around the blind corner, in the oncoming lane and right at me after an illegal left turn from the highway. The driver got a fraction of a second to notice me in the dark but I’m still here to write this because the folded up umbrella I was carrying had a safety reflector dangling from the handle. I doubt that the driver would have noticed me without it since the street is badly lit. The shining reflector swinging on the left side of the road let the driver know that something was very wrong (something more than just that the car was driving on the left) . The Hummer dodged to its right and just missed me.”

It’s Up To Us to Save Lives

He was of course relieved not to be another tally mark in the night time accident statistics, but quite shaken and so was I. It just takes a split second of bad decision by someone to destroy their own and/or someone else’s life. 7 out of 10 pedestrian accidents happen at night, and it is up to you as an unprotected pedestrian to make yourself visible to avoid another tragedy.

Since this almost-accident happened, there have been big improvements in the attitude towards pedestrians. Infrastructure improvements and drivers’ attitudes have changed. However, we still have a long way to go. Until then, I’m making sure my customers, friends and family are seen in the dark.

Now, click here to order a couple of funflector safety reflectors before it’s too late!

Have fun and stay safe!

Elisabeth

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Trabant or Volvo Style Safety?

/ reflector basics / ,

Like most everything else, not all reflectors are created equal. You can buy “reflective gear” and “safety reflectors” and yes, or course, they all reflect – at least a little bit. But how do you know if they reflect enough? You want the Volvo, not the Trabant when it comes to the safety of yourself and your loved ones, but how do you know which is which?
Let’s take a look at two reflective slap bracelets/slap wraps, both with a black and white pattern, but made with different manufacturing techniques and different reflective materials. The striped one, we found online, while the other one is “Baroque” from our own webshop.

Comparing good and bad safety reflectors and reflective gear.
Diagonal stripes printed ON the reflective surface while the baroque pattern of the funflector wrap is printed on the material UNDER the 3M Scotchlite material. Surprised about the result?

How is the safety reflector printed?

As you can see in the image, the two safety reflectors may look similar, but the way they are manufactured are vastly different. The striped one is made in bulk and then printed with logos and patterns as orders come in. But what happens if you print on top of the reflective material? Well, obviously, you loose reflective power where the ink is as you can see in the image. The funflector wrap, on the other hand, has been assembled with a printed material that goes UNDER the reflective layer. That way you can get as much colors/prints as you want, and the entire surface is still totally reflective. Obviously, this makes manufacturing more complicated as the sealing machine needs to be fired up for each order. You can tell the difference by wiggling the reflector and see if the clarity of the print looks different depending on the angle. If the clarity changes, then you know that the microprism layer is on top of the print and will reflect the car headlights back to the drivers to its fullest capacity. Learn more in one of our previous posts.

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Trabant or Volvo Style Safety?Read More »

Trabant or Volvo Style Safety? Read More »

Pedestrian Crash Statistics :(

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Walking is good for you. Every day, more people experience the wellbeing that comes from simple walks around the neighborhood or to nearby places. Unfortunately, as walking increases, so do traffic fatalities. The development of safe cars and better infrastructure has not yet caught up to the trend of walking. A whopping  3/4 of the crashes occur during the dark hours, at dusk or at dawn.

usa pedestrian fatailites 2014-2015
GHSA reports about an alarming 10% increase in pedestrian fatalities in 2015, of which 75% occur when it’s dark.

GHSA reports about an alarming 10% increase in pedestrian fatalities in 2015, of which 75% occur when it’s dark.

In a new report on pedestrian crash statistics, the GHSA (Governors Highway Safety Association) estimates a 10% increase in fatal pedestrian crashes from 2014 to 2015. Here are some quick facts:  …

Pedestrian Crash Statistics 🙁Read More »

Pedestrian Crash Statistics :( Read More »

Walk & Run On the Left Side!

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We drive and bike on the right side of the road. But did you know that on roads without sidewalks, it is safer to walk on the left side? That way you are facing the oncoming traffic and are more aware of potentially dangerous situations. It is quite obvious when you think about it, but it seems like most people have never been told.

(If you are in Britain, Australia or any other country where you drive on the left, just reverse the whole picture and walk on the right.)

The road below is the last stretch of my bike route to work and I keep looking over my shoulder the whole time. …

Walk & Run On the Left Side!Read More »

Walk & Run On the Left Side! Read More »

Fall Safety

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High viz without #highviz colors. #bicycle and #pedestrian #safety with #style because it's better to be seen than sorry! #reflectivegear

Reminders to move the clocks back were many when daylight saving time ended a couple of days ago. What few talked about is that we now have one more dark hour in the afternoon with higher risk for pedestrian and bicycle crashes. In Time, we can read “Adding an hour of sunlight in the evening year-round would save the lives of more than 170 US pedestrians annually, according to a 2004 study in Accident Analysis and Prevention.” Since that is not happening anytime soon, we all need to make sure we are visible in traffic, especially when it’s dark.

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Fall SafetyRead More »

Fall Safety Read More »

Call it Crash, Not Accident

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The Vision Zero Initiative is taking root in the US. It is a fundamental principle that requires ambitious work on infrastructure and attitudes: “Vision Zero is the Swedish approach to road safety thinking. It can be summarised in one sentence: No loss of life is acceptable. The Vision Zero approach has proven highly successful. It is based on the simple fact that we are human and make mistakes. The road system needs to keep us moving. But it must also be designed to protect us at every turn.” We wrote about it here and a good Vision Zero primer is given here.

Today, a big attitude changer showed up in our Twitter feed. …

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Call it Crash, Not Accident Read More »

5 Things You Need to Know Before Buying Reflectors

/ reflector basics / , , ,

Good reflectors have saved lives in the Scandinavian countries for decades. There are funflector® and other brand name as well as generic pedestrian reflectors on the market. What is the difference? And how do know if you are buying a “good” reflector or not?

Reflective slap bracelets in cheerful colors and designs
Reflective slap bracelets in cheerful colors and designs. How do you know if they are effective?

What do consumers, walking and running groups, PTA boards, corporate buyers and other organizations need to know before they buy safety reflectors?

If you want to make it easy for yourself, look for the mark EN13356, a European standard grown from research in the Scandinavian countries. It’s become the de-facto world standard for reflectors for non-professional use. Behind the fun designs, we take safety very seriously and you should too. Here are the most important things that you need to know:

1. Distance

The purpose of safety reflectors is to let drivers know that you are there so they can adjust their driving accordingly. …

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5 Things You Need to Know Before Buying Reflectors Read More »

Distracted Driving

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April is distracted driving awareness month, a subject that is near and dear to us. We keep telling walkers, runners and bikers to make themselves visible with reflectors to help drivers see them in the dark, but drivers also need to be focused on what’s on and along the road!

It’s estimated that 5,000 deaths a year or 16% of all fatal crashes involves distractions mainly from cellphones (texting/talking/downloading music) or passengers. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has put faces to the numbers. See here what distracted driving looks like inside some cars. Hold on: …

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Distracted Driving Read More »

Snowflakes

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Snowflakes are amazing creations. It’s mind-boggling that they are all different. At a time when large parts of the USA and Canada are buried under inches of snow and the northeast is expecting snowmageddon tonight, the uniqueness of each snowflake is hard to comprehend.

Follow funflector’s board Snowflakes on Pinterest.

Snowflake Safety Reflector

The funflector® snowflake pedestrian recflector is currently our bestseller. We’ve shipped to places with and without snow. Could it be that some northerners living in southern states miss snowy winters?

Stylish snowflake safety reflector for walking, running and bicycling.
Stylish snowflake safety reflector for walking, running and bicycling. Thanks Mae, you look fabulous!

We have noticed how unshoveled sidewalks make people choose to walk or run in the streets more often. Please don’t do that between dusk and dawn without any reflective gear! The icy/snowy roads make stopping hard and when the roads are lined with ploughed-up snow there is nowhere to go. No driver wants to hit pedestrians, but many walkers, runners and bikers are too difficult to see  in the dark and crashes sadly happen . 7 out of 10 American pedestrian crashes happen at night and that number could be greatly reduced with reflectors! Mae is a Chicago area realtor  and often out and about in the dark. We think she made a fabulous choice for her purse, don’t you?

As you can see above, we have collected some pretty snowflakes on our pinterest board. Many of them, we’ve found on snowcrystals.com where we were surprised to learn that there are over 30 types of snowflakes. Some of the shapes you would not necessarily think of as being snowflakes. The funflector® snowflake pedestrian reflector is of the type “stellar dendrite” which means “tree like”.

We wish for all our readers in the northeast to ride out the snow storm safely and patiently. When the wind has mellowed out and before the cabin fever get’s to you, it’s time to go outside and be amazed by nature’s artwork!

The funflector team

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The Vision Zero+ Initiative

/ thoughts, traffic safety / , ,

The Vision Zero Initiative is not about nothing. On visionzeroinitiative.com we can learn that it is in fact a fundamental principle that requires ambitious work on infrastructure and attitudes:

“The Vision Zero is the Swedish approach to road safety thinking. It can be summarised in one sentence: No loss of life is acceptable. The Vision Zero approach has proven highly successful. It is based on the simple fact that we are human and make mistakes. The road system needs to keep us moving. But it must also be designed to protect us at every turn.”

Vision Zero Initiative
Vision Zero was initiated by a decision of the Swedish parliament in 1997 and I saw firsthand how road safety improved in Sweden until I moved to the US ten years later. It was a bit of a shock to come here and experience the car-centric culture reflected in both citizen behavior/attitudes and infrastructure decisions. I’m happy to see that the Vision Zero has attracted a lot of attention and several American cities are adopting it to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. Just a week ago, the first-ever Vision Zero for Cities Symposium (VZCS) took place in New York City – yay! There are a lot of needed improvements in infrastructure, but also in shifting attitudes among the general public. …

The Vision Zero+ InitiativeRead More »

The Vision Zero+ Initiative Read More »

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