The Russian roulette of “invisible” pedestrians traveling through unlit sections between villages has new rules. Since last weekend, an amendment to the Road Act imposes the obligation to wear reflective material elements outside the village.
Pedestrians are obliged to wear a reflective element if they move outside the village along the side of the road or at the edge of the road in a place not illuminated by public lighting, “states a press statement of the Ministry of Transport with the slogan that” range from zero to two thousand block, from 1500 to 2500 thousand in administrative proceedings. ” However, the Hradec police officers have not yet applied these sanctions.
“The law allows us to resolve the situation by agreement. We will respect this principle at the beginning of the amendment. However, people should be worried about their health instead of fines, “said the spokeswoman of Hradec police Lenka Burýšková. However, when the” defending period “ends, she did not want to anticipate.
“In our opinion, information is better than repression. Therefore, we will now focus mainly on alerting pedestrians that without reflective elements they are easily vulnerable to roads, “the spokeswoman added, adding that the most dangerous sections are located between the links of individual municipalities.
Five dead
The last fatal accident of an unmarked pedestrian occurred in mid-December in neighboring Rychnov.
“The driver on the stretch between Bílý Újezd and Podbřezí was most likely not able to react to a pedestrian who was walking in the middle of the road in the short distance. The driver did not manage to avoid the pedestrian, who was later driven over by another car. Unfortunately, after the clash of the 53-year-old pedestrian on the spot he succumbed to his injuries, “said a spokesman for Rychnov police officers Alena Kacálková.
Throughout 2015, there were 146 traffic accidents in the Hradec Králové Region, involving a collision of a vehicle and a pedestrian. When these 5 people died, 23 pedestrians were injured seriously and 110 lightly.
“The difference in the visibility of a pedestrian dressed in dark clothing, or the visibility of the reflective element used is up to ten times, but some pedestrians still walk invisible,” regional police spokesman Jan Cizkovsky told the daily.
A new road decree has been in force since the weekend, requiring pedestrians outside the village to wear reflective elements at night or in poor visibility. Police expect less news from the news to tragic accidents where a driver knocks down pedestrians. Last year there were five fatal crashes in the Hradec Králové region.
“If a pedestrian is moving outside the village in poor visibility on the shoulder or the edge of a roadway in a place not lit by public lighting, he shall wear retroreflective elements so as to be visible to other road users,” informs the police website that pedestrians and cyclists are the most vulnerable when on the road, so pedestrians, in particular, should ensure that they are well visible and clear enough to avoid motor vehicle drivers in time to avoid tragic clashes.
A series of tests have shown that when a pedestrian is in dark clothing, he is only 18 meters visible to the incoming driver, 55 meters in white clothing, and if his garment is accompanied by a reflective sign, he sees it driver at 200 meters, which is sufficient distance for safe maneuvering.
“Last year, we distributed pedestrians to a thousand reflective tapes,” said Hradec Bureau spokeswoman Lenka Buryskova, adding that this spring the police will give away two hundred reflective bags with reflective fabrics.
“These are intended primarily for the elderly,” spokeswoman Lenka Buryskova said, adding that police officers will not yet impose fines on people who are caught outside the village without a reflective sign.
First agreement
The police presidium agrees, ie to raise awareness before repression: “We see pedestrians using reflective materials on the street as beneficial. Traffic police patrol vehicles are currently equipped with reflective tapes and are directly issued by police officers to unmarked pedestrians. However, the amendment to the law does not mean that traffic police will start to massively penalize all unmarked pedestrians. Although pedestrians will be a misdemeanor, in these cases police officers will primarily approach the agreement, explanation, preventive action and the actual visibility of pedestrians with reflective tapes. By the end of 2016 we expect to distribute up to 250,000 reflective tapes in this way, “added Tomas Lerch, Director of the Traffic Police Service of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.