Safety Tips For Walking In The Dark

Walk Facing Traffic

If possible, you should walk so that you are facing the traffic lane closest to you at all times. This way, if a car loses control and mounts the pavement, you are able to react quickly and potentially stop yourself from being injured. This is especially important on smaller country roads where the pavements or paths might be less visible or well defined. When you are walking in the dark it is harder for drivers to know that you are there, so you have to be alert as well.

Therefore, you should always use pavements and demarcated paths for walking rather than walking on specific bike lanes or the actual road. If you do not use pavements/specific walking paths, you could be putting yourself in danger.

Bring A Friend

If you are walking about in the dark then you should consider bringing a friend with you. It can be dangerous to walk around in the dark alone because criminal activity is more likely to happen when it is dark. However, if you are with another person you are less likely to be targeted. Furthermore, if you suffer an accident, which is also more likely to happen in the dark when walking around in the dark than in daylight, your friend can help you get to safety or to call for help.

Use Visibility Gear

Whether you are just going on a nightly stroll by yourself or you are going trick or treating, it is a good idea to wear some sort of visibility clothing. For example, you should consider bringing a headlamp with you or a flashlight so that you can see where you are going if the path in front of you is not very visible. This can help to ensure that you do not accidentally walk onto the road where you are more likely to be struck.

You might also want to wear reflective clothing, such as Hi-visibility jackets, pants or shoes that have reflective material on them. This can help ensure that cyclists, road users and even other pedestrians can see you. This can then help to ensure that you are not injured when you are walking around in the dark where visibility is lower.

If you are taking little children out trick or treating, you may want to get some reflective clothing for them. You could ask your children to wear reflective shoes or to at least stick close to an adult who is wearing reflective clothing.

Plan Your Route

You should plan your route on Google Maps (or in your head if you know the area well) so that you can ensure that you don’t go anywhere that there isn’t high visibility on the pavements/paths. That way you can decrease the likelihood that an accident will occur, helping to keep you and your family safe.

You can ensure that you are always walking on places where there is a good amount of pavement to safely walk on and where there is likely to be a lot of people around you. Furthermore, it is better to stay in densely populated areas when walking around! Your personal safety is important and so it is a good idea to stick to residential areas or places where there is a lot of visible light.

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