With the clocks turned back overnight, darkness will now fall an hour earlier – right at the height of the busy evening hours.
Unfortunately, this time of year has in the past brought with it a rise in pedestrians being struck by vehicles.
TLS has in the past reported on multiple such incidents around this time of year.
Drivers: please be extra alert during the early evening hours, when pedestrians are far harder to spot. Take an extra moment at intersections and crosswalks, and expect pedestrians on roads without sidewalks and shoulders.
Pedestrians: make sure you can be seen. Wear a reflector or other reflective gear whenever you are out after dark – it can make all the difference between a driver seeing you in time or not.
Clocks Changed: Pedestrians, Beware Of Drivers; Drivers, Wear Reflectors
After reading Sunday morning’s TLS safety reminder, Lakewood resident Yanky Blinkerman told reporters that he has decided to take the advice “one step further” and cover himself, his wife, his 7 kids and his 2014 Odyssey in reflective tape from head to toe.
“If the pedestrians have to wear reflectors so that I can see THEM, then it’s only fair that I wear reflectors so that they can see ME!” Blinkerman declared. “Now when I pull up to the corner of Forest and 14th, the pedestrians can see me coming from Toms River! Fair is fair!”
Not to be outdone, longtime Lakewood pedestrian Shmuel Walkowitz announced Sunday afternoon that he will be strapping two halogen high beams to the brim of his hat. “A little reflector? Please!” Walkowitz scoffed. “A reflector only works if the driver remembered to turn his lights on. With these babies, I can see the driver, the driver can see me, and the folks in Jackson can see both of us!”
Township officials, meanwhile, issued a statement warning drivers to beware of the glare from pedestrians, and pedestrians to beware of the glare from drivers. “We’ve already received reports of a driver and a pedestrian standing at Clifton and 2nd blinding each other for 20 minutes,” a spokesman said. “Nobody was hurt, but nobody could move either. People, a reflector is a reflector. It is not a lighthouse!”
Upon hearing the news, the geese at Lake Carasaljo announced that they will not be wearing reflectors this year. “We’ve been crossing South Lake Drive in the dark for 40 years and we’ve never once been hit,” a spokesgoose told reporters. “Then again, we’ve never once looked both ways either. We just honk.”
They’re important the entire year; night is night, but even more so now.