Some reflective vests that are commonly sold here are not visible in the dark. Researchers from the Brno University of Technology found out. For example, vests bought at the market. They have a label on attests, but they are non-functional. Pedestrians outside the village have been obliged to wear reflective elements in the dark for more than a year.
Researchers from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication BUT test reflective vests with reflective tape in the field. They use a special camera device to create a so-called brightness map. It shows how much the character is contrasting with the surroundings at night. “What you can see here is a luminance analyzer, which is built on a digital SLR camera, which is specially adapted for this case, and then we analyze the photograph using the software,” explains Jan Škoda, head of the lighting technology laboratory.
Two helmets went into the darkness, 80 meters from the car. It must be seen at such a distance that the driver can react to the pedestrian at a speed of 90 km. The technician with the device in the car-focused photographed and analyzed the device. “From the brightness map, it can be seen that there is only one vest visible, the other is not visible,” Jan Skoda described the measurement result.
Buying a cheap vest is gambling with life
“A few crowns can mean the difference between life and death. The colleague is wearing a vest from the market hall and he was not able to see it on the record,” said Michal Belák, an expert in Traffic Accident Analysis at the Institute of Forensic Engineering. A quality vest costs about two hundred crowns and drivers can buy it, for example, at a gas station or a car shop. These, according to researchers, can be trusted. Reflective elements can be seen on vests at night at a distance of 300 meters. For the highest quality even a kilometer away.
Even a certificate with a certificate will not guarantee the quality of the vest
The vest costs about fifty crowns. Most of them have the necessary attestations on the label. That he will be seen in the dark, but still not guaranteed.
It is just that the vest has an attestation when checking the Czech Trade Inspection. If it lights up in traffic, it doesn’t know anymore. Pedestrians outside the village have been obliged to wear reflective material elements in the dark for more than a year. The fact that she could not be seen cost the life of a pedestrian, for example, in the accident last year in the Břeclav region. She walked in darkness only in dark clothes. Overall statistics, if people wear reflective elements, but the police do not register.