Pedestrians all in black or dark clothing...

[HatethedarknightsQW]

I mostly walk to work and wear a pale coloured coat and hat to give me a chance of being seen on the pavements, crossing the road, on zebra crossings.

Driving to the gym in the morning - so many people walking all in black - the street lighting isn't great where I live and it's really hard to see people. Wear some pale clothing - especially kids!

Cars should be bright colours too surely, most cars are black.

But when I’m driving along rural roads, with no pavements, it’s very unusual for there to be pedestrians especially in the evenings, because it is so dangerous.

Should I crawl along at 10 miles an hour on a 60 mile road, with a queue of cars honking behind me, just in case that’s the one day a month I pass a pedestrian? If I did that eventually a car behind me will get impatient and overtake so could hit an oncoming car.

People need to take some individual responsibility for making sure I can see them! Obviously I’m obeying speed limits, and driving carefully, but if you’re in all black, walking on the road in an area with no street lights then I just can’t see you.

Last night I was driving on a 40mph road with a single narrow pavement heavily over-shadowed by trees limiting the range of the already poor streetlighting. There was a group of young men, all entirely in black that were very difficult to see. Fortunately the traffic was light and enabled me to move slightly to the right to give more space which was just as well as I didn't have much margin before realising that they were spread into the gutter off the pavement.

The quality of streetlighting has really declined for pedestrian safety and tends to have much more pockets of light/ dark on the pavements as it tends to be focused on the road carriageway. Add in drivers distracted/ blinded by any oncoming car made since 2020 with its retina-burning floodlights.

I wear bright/ reflective clothes when exercising and tend to avoid dark colours in casual clothes. Work clothes are harder. I deliberately don't have a dark bag, but I wouldn't say that it's fantastically bright either. It can be awkward because dress codes (especially rigid ones like school uniform) are often dark, and the avaliability of bright winter clothing isn't great and there are often a range of considerations when getting dressed.

It’s downright dangerous. It absolutely should be challenged by parents as it’s ridiculous and actually goes against government guidance which specifically says, in the part about uniform being safe for pupils, that they should be allowing pupils to wear coats that make them visible when going home in the dark.

You should be drive at a speed so that you can stop within the distance you can see to be clear. What would you do if you encounter a fallen tree around the bend, complain the local authority should have painted hi-viz stripes on it?

Unfortunately, some of the attitudes here just reinforce my perception that motorists are some of the most entitled people in the country, using perceived and misguided safety arguments to advocate everyone else should bend over backwards to take responsibility (by their personal definition of responsibility), because they can't be bothered to do so themselves. We could do with a Dutch strict liability law here instead of trying to be Americans.

I wear a lot of black. It's practical and black coats don't show the dirt. But it really does mean drivers at night don't see you until they're really close. So I made myself a winter hat in a high viz colour, and my winter jacket is red and black.

Right, but I think you’re still missing the point.

I am driving at a safe speed for the distance that I can see, and am not bombing around corners. I can see the road ahead of me with my headlights, so could stop when I see the fallen tree.

But if I can’t see a pedestrian, because they have chosen to entirely wear black and no lights on a dark road, what do you want me to do? If they are completely blended into the surrounding hedges and effectively invisible, then yes there’s a chance I won’t see them in time.

It’s not sane or reasonable to tell all drivers everywhere to drive super slowly just in case there’s somebody unexpected in the road, pedestrians also need to take some responsibility for making themselves visible.

It can wind you up as much as you let it.
Cyclists, pedestrians and motorists should take responsibility for looking after themselves around roads.

I live on a straight one-way street with a sharp bend at the end. Where the bend is is a convenient place for pedestrians to cross the street.
Pedestrians and cyclists often are looking at screens or wearing headphones.
Motor vehicles take advantage of the straight street and put their foot down
Cyclists including the 'bobbies on the beat' cycle the wrong way down the street.
Most are wearing black.
Cyclists often don't have lights.
The street has dim lighting.
It's a residential street leading to two cul-de-sacs but a convenient short cut for pedestrians.

@AralVorkosigan , Should I crawl along at 10 miles an hour on a 60 mile road, ... Stick to the highway code and use your common sense.

The worst ones in our rural area are the idiots riding bikes in the dark whilst wearing black clothing. I nearly drove into a cyclist last winter, down a country lane. He was wearing dark clothing and the bike had no lights, I only noticed him at the last minute simply because he had an orange Sainsbury's bag swinging from the handlebar.

I really do believe people have less common sense these days.

I live in an area where they’ve switched some of the streetlights off, leaving intermittent black spots.

More than once I’ve been surprised to see someone walking along the pavement wearing all black, with me only spotting them as I drove past them not from any distance.

Currently in the Joules yellow coat so very visible.i am only a pedestrian and would happily wear a warm bright coat if I could find one. Nearest is dark red. I need to get some patches because I have a sash but may forget to put it on.

Victim blaming or not if I get hit by a car or cyclist I’m still the one likely to be injured so better to take steps to be as safe as possible even if I look a bit stupid.

The councils implementing increasingly poor street lighting have to take some of the blame too.

You can't plan for all 'backgrounds' as a pedestrian, unless you change your coat about six times a day! Black will stand out more than a pale colour on an overcast or rainy day.

I suppose you'd be fairly safe in a tangerine-orange or neon-pink coat, if you don't mind looking like you got dressed in 1983.

I have had 2 all dressed in black people shoot out in front of me on those electric e scooters.

I was driving on the main road and they came out of a minor side road.(Yep the illegal ones, and no doubt, the car driver will still be a fault if there is a collision.) It's really scary, I do think people have to take some responsibility for their own life.

Those saying light clothing gets dirty or ruined, most coats are quickly washed and dried... or don't you wash them at all?

I agree. It doesn't have to be much. A white scarf or hat, or a cross body bag in a pale colour makes a difference.

You can. If your coat doesn't have reflective trim, you could carry a hi-viz gilet or cross-body belt for when the daylight is poor. They are cheap and take almost no room.
You might look less stylish but hospital gowns (or worse) are not stylish are they.

“….a light raincoat or a hat is swell, a shopping bag will do as well..”

And if pedestrians also use their common sense that will be fine!

I could, but I do think there are limits to how far pedestrians should go to accommodate careless drivers. It's one thing not to dress all in black in the dark - I agree, however careful the driver, you are going to be difficult to see. But in daylight, unless it's foggy, you should be sufficiently visible in any type of clothing for any driver taking reasonable care to see you.

@FillerTrackOnTheAlbumOfLife yes I agree, in daytime a driver should be able to spot you whatever you’re wearing, I think people on here are really talking about dark areas.

If drivers stop at red lights and use indicators at junctions, and pedestrians look before crossing at junctions/are able to rely on drivers indicating, it should not be necessary for everyone who walks to replace their clothes. I suspect that the drivers who whizz through the green man or unexpectedly turn into junctions would do so regardless of brightly dressed pedestrians. Obviously on country roads without pavements it would be wise to be visible but honestly I just wouldn't, it would not feel safe even in high vi. I would be happy to stick a reflective arm band on at night in the city but walking in our weather there is no way I want to be in light colours, even if clothes were widely available. It is common to be soaked by vehicles going through puddles and with a black or navy coat you can just shrug it off and not bother washing the coat.

But there's not a lot a careful driver can do if a pedestrian or cyclist is almost invisible.
People can be extremely stupid.
You and I clearly aren't stupid but we might encounter people who are.

I was talking about this recently. I drive up a lane that's so poorly lit and with the exception of the older folks with mini torches and reflective stuff; I never see folks until I'm almost upon them.
I try to stay dead centre and pray I clear the lane before another vehicle approaches, as folks also always seem to 'hide' behind the overhanging leaves waiting for you to pass, so you have to be very careful about pulling in to allow the next vehicle to pass.

I have rechargeable lights that clip to my bag, my inner teenager wants to die of embarrassment but I’d be pretty much invisible without them and I’d rather not die for real!