Hi Viz Vests - Ireland vs UK

[Jasperz]

I was struck by a post on a thread today about weirdest things you pack for a holiday... a poster mentioned that a hi viz vest ended up being packed by their dc, but they didn't know where it even came from. Made me realise that having at least 1 hi viz per person is normal here wherever you go.

And it jogged my memory of visiting a friend's village in the UK where there were very few street lights, but folks (even children) did not wear hi viz vests despite being almost invisible to drivers. I remember being quite shocked.

Got me wondering about why there's a big difference. Almost everyone in rural or small town Ireland wears a hi viz vest when out walking. Lots of people wear them even in daylight, but after dark it's rare to see folks out in towns and villages without a hi viz. We have at least 20 hi viz vests of various sizes in the house currently. I usually have a few in the car too.

Is it really not the done thing to wear a hi viz when walking after dark in the UK?
Do you not have a basket of hi viz vests alongside the hats and scarves at home like I do?

Not for walking. Yes for on a horse - high viz vest, bright orange saddle pad, bright orange bandages, whip with a high viz strip etc. Never want a driver to be able to say "I didn't see you"

I’m Irish. Never worn a high viz in my life. And don’t know this as a thing at all . Don’t recall any friends with them ( apart from those working in construction or those who run/ cycle predominantly at night

Where abouts in Ireland do you live? I lived in a city and it really wasn't much of a thing then I moved to a small town and once winter rolled in I was like wtf am I missing? Why is everyone walking around on well lit streets in high vis vests? It is a strange but harmless quirk.

Not living there now but have lived Dublin, Clonmel, Kilkenny , Wexford, all over. Maybe it’s a recent thing - haven’t lived there for about 10 yrs

It's really become a thing in recent years. Children are given high vis jackets in montessori and older children in various other community activities too.

Yeah, the RSA only started this in 2010ish, so it's been this huge cultural shift over a very short period. 15 years ago nobody except construction workers wore hi viz vests.

The campaign was very well considered, targeting young children and their parents with free hi viz gear abs comms around that. All parents naturally want to keep their kids safe meaning a large proportion got on board, and then wore them themselves and filtered messages to grandparents, etc.

And by sending the messages through schools you get the kids filtering the messages at home - similar to the smiley face/ sad face speed signs. One of the big reasons they work is that kids want to see the smiley face and get their carers to drive at the right speed.

Wow this is really interesting! I had no idea.

I love mn for this kind of stuff! Not usual in Uk but sounds like a great idea. That stupid Tory MP would probably stop it from happening though (the one that talked out the legislation about children learning first aid in school )

Yes, I'm Irish and have 7 or 8 high vis vests in various sizes, plus a few arm bands and a bag cover. DC got most of them from the RSA campaigns at school and preschool. I bought a slightly larger one recently for DC's trip to Irish college. It's compulsory for the kids to wear them when out and about during their two weeks there. You see gangs of them wandering about the Gaeltacht in their high vis.
DH got one at work too (sedentary office based job). The RSA are everywhere.
To be honest we don't use them that much generally as we're not walking places we need them. It's a mindset now though. I even find myself flinging a few into the suitcase when packing for holidays ...just in case.

Wait, what. The street lights go out at 11? Is this common?

No, it's not the norm for streetlights to go out at 11pm. That poster is saying their council is too tight to pay for the energy bill past 11pm.

In the Highlands, streetlights are on until sunrise. Ditto Northern Ireland and England's West Country. Pretty sure the whole UK keeps streetlights on until sunrise as opposed to switching them off at 11pm.

I live in a rural village in England with no pavements or street lights, we always wear high viz jackets and so do the majority of our neighbours.

Meanwhile in England, we still have schools specifying that coats worn to and from school must be dark navy blue 🙄 At least your child’s body will look smart.

Live in England, rural. Several years ago the council were encouraging school kids to walk to school and were giving out high viz jackets to every child who walked to school....loads of the kids wanted one so started walking to school!
I guess funding cuts have meant it all stopped as you don't see kids wearing them anymore, (my kids are now at secondary). My kids have a mile walk off the bus to home, they have hi-viz on rucksacks and coats for walking the lane home.
I think it's really unfair on drivers not to have 'well lit' pedestrians.
Once mornings and evenings get murky I'm in high viz vest for dog walks and Ddog has a hiviz collar and harness (her lead has LEDs init....well cool!).

Give them a high viz vest then, they are light weight and can be shoved in a backpack. My kids had them initially before their coats had reflective detailing. I made them both a reflective strip which they can flick out of their backpacks...obvs it's not cool at school, so they wait until the bus has gone before hi-vizzing themselves and start walking home!

I think every house I’ve been to in Ireland has a collection of them from the ploughing

I've never worn one myself but I'm thinking of getting one for my dog for his evening walk this winter. I'm in Ireland in a large suburb with lots of street lighting as we have a hospital and industrial estate in the immediate area so it's busy and my children all got hi vis jackets and the hi vis Backpack covers in school as walking and cycling is really encouraged. The road safety authority also come into the school to give cycling safety classes every May.

I got one for my dog not because I was that safety conscious but because I felt guilty that we were all wearing them except the dog, who at the end of the day is more likely to run across the road! I googled it earlier, UK is safest for general road deaths in Europe and Ireland comes second, however Ireland had a much higher proportion of pedestrian deaths, hence the campaign. Don't know how successful its been statistically but its certainly made night driving more pleasant and less nerve wracking.

Or they live in a Dark Skies Zone.

It's far nicer to be able to look at the stars on Dartmoor than the side of somebody's AirBnB barbecue terrace.

Unlikely since the poster said "very mean council turns off the street lights at 11pm" suggesting it's not a dark sky area.

Depends. Sit in DP's home village pub for more than half an hour and somebody will start on about how the lights are only switched off to save money instead of enabling people to see the amazing stars, barn owls and bats.