Step Lightly (1968)

my name is John Damien my line of work has kept me involved in many facets of radio and television all of my years in the news field have required that I be is well informed on current events as possible this often means spending many hours of research time in getting the facts behind the headlines in analyzing the many statistics that most people just don't have time to dig out for themselves then and only then can I give an unbiased report of my findings well this particular report should be an eye-opener in many ways an inside story that I call step lightly [Music] [Music] [Music] you're all familiar with the headlines that point up the critical seriousness of the traffic accident problems throughout this country of ours the headlines that add up to over 50,000 people killed and over two and a half million injured every year at an annual cost to the nation in excess of ten billion dollars there's a story behind this and behind these headlines that most people aren't fully aware of did you know that 20% of these deaths and injuries are not a driver or even a passenger in an automobile one out of every five is a person on foot one out of every five traffic casualties is a pedestrian that's over 10,000 pedestrians killed every year and over 500,000 injured that may come as a surprise but did you know that more than half of these accidents happen after dark even though the number of pedestrians and vehicles out at night is far below the number during the day it happens every night just like this the University of California's institute of transportation and traffic engineering film be seen using realistic life-sized dummies to show the effects on the human body of being struck at only 30 miles per hour but the same thing is happening thousands of times every night to real people and in most cases it happens because the pedestrian is lost in the surrounding darkness and the driver just can't see him in time to stop for years people have been considered reasonably safe walking down the highway after dark if they were wearing white or light-colored outer clothing but studies show that even white garments aren't is visible to oncoming drivers as most people think here are four pedestrians [Music] at about 55 feet the one with dark clothing disappears at 80 feet the second pedestrian with red clothing disappears [Music] and at 180 feet even the person in white clothing is invisible to the motorists how fast can a motorist react and stop his vehicle after he has seen a pedestrian in this demonstration a cardboard cutout is used to represent a pedestrian at 30 miles per hour on a flat dry Road a distance of 72 feet is required for the average driver to react and stop had this been a child in dark clothing he could have been a casualty at 60 miles per hour the odds are a hundred percent that he would have been at 60 miles per hour the stopping distance is increased 260 feet even stock white clothing fails to provide complete protective nighttime visibility a drain and the glare of oncoming headlights or the effects of alcohol and the driver has even less time to avoid an accident white clothing simply cannot offer all the protection you need at night nor can the bright fluorescent colors fluorescent colors are great on overcast days or a dust but at night they actually prove to be no more visible than ordinary clothing to be safe at night you must be sieved if white or fluorescent cars won't protect pedestrians what will reflective materials will reflective materials that are specially designed and manufactured for pedestrian these special reflective materials return the light from headlights directly back to the driver although the person wearing the reflective material can't see this reflection the driver of the car gets a brilliant reflected signal in plenty of time to avoid an accident now reflective materials aren't new many states use them on license plates and everybody recognizes the familiar red stop sign that flashes the same red warning at night that it does by day reflective signs warn of dangerous turn provide information alert you to road hazard reflectors or light are now required by law on the sides and rear of trucks and automobiles to make them visible to drivers at night but reflectors are not required by law for the protection of pedestrians who are the most vulnerable of all nighttime uses of the road many pedestrians whose work requires them to be on roadways at night already wear reflective materials and it makes good sense policemen Trainmen paper boys firemen in fact almost all the fire coats purchased in america are reflectorized what about the rest of us it makes sense for us to to take advantage of this kind of protection these tags for instance are commonplace in Europe pin to your pocket or pocketbook they're carried just as easily as your car keys when you're out at night just drop them out to flash a bright warning as the tag twists and turn from the normal movement of your walking the reflected light attracts the attention of oncoming motorists and gives them ample time to react inconspicuous reflectors can even be applied to the instep of shoes these reflectors in no way change the appearance of shoes and are all but hidden during the day but at night they stand out brilliantly in the beams of headlights it's hard to believe that the sole of your shoe is this visible when you walk but there it is good-looking reflective materials are easily applied to cane hats umbrellas briefcases and pocketbooks or styled into attractive emblems and wearing a power they can be designed as attractive appliques that will enhance the appearance of the garment by day and give brilliant protection at night more and more clothing manufacturers are trimming their outerwear garments with reflective materials a great move toward nighttime protection for pedestrians without sacrificing style just how effective are these reflective materials well here again are the four pedestrians in a combination of dark and light clothing this time they are joined by four pedestrians who are identically dressed except that they're using reflective materials designed for pedestrians briefcase markings reflective of buttons and trims reflective material under the cups and color and each one also has reflectors on the instep of the shoe [Music] the for pedestrians without reflective markings are lost in the darkness at a distance of about 180 feet but the for pedestrians with reflective markings will be brightly visible at distances of over 500 feet now recalling that it takes about 260 feet to react and stop a car at 60 miles per hour we know that the four pedestrians with reflective markings are provided with safe nighttime visibility night visibility for the pedestrian means everybody not just the people who work at hazardous jobs as soon as you leave your car step off a bus or walk out the front door of your house you are a pedestrian and if you aren't wearing reflective materials you're an invisible pedestrian the most vulnerable time people on foot are not the only ones experiencing this tragic increase in nighttime accidents each year over 2,000 motorcyclists and 700 bicyclists are killed in accidents involving motor vehicles again a large number of these accidents occur needlessly during the hours of doctors of course all motorcycles and bicycles should carry the approved rear reflectors and when broken or damaged they should be replaced however a high number of cyclist accidents occur when the cycle is crossing the roadway reflector ization added to the side of the cycle itself identifies the object to the motorist and gives visibility protection to anyone riding it but since the writer actually makes up over 50% of the visible area it is important that both the vehicle and the rider be made visible with reflective materials well since we have seen reflective materials on traffic signs on license plates and even on some policemen and firemen why then haven't we used reflective protectors ourselves maybe it's because we haven't realized how invisible we really are and another reason maybe that it just never occurred to us that there is this inexpensive and simple way to let the motorist know that we're out there in front of them without worrying about having a flashlight that works or having it available when we need it the Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service of the United States government is doing something about they are conducting demonstrations like this for public officials and public service groups to assist them in setting up programs in their local community to encourage pedestrians to use reflective materials at night of all people using the roads and streets of our nations the pedestrian is the slowest and most ill-equipped for the uneven match of man versus machine yet this slow-moving unprotected Road user is the only one who is allowed on public roads at night without any lights or reflector whatsoever it is not mandatory at this time for pedestrians to protect themselves and the drivers of Motor Vehicles by carrying lights or wearing retro reflective materials so the choice is yours you can make certain that you and all the members of your family young and old alike use protective reflectors or gamble on being responsible for increasing the tragic casualty statistics of our nation that's my story behind the headlines my story of step lightly I feel that the motorist has the right to be warned of the pedestrian on the road at night no one wants to go through life knowing that he has killed or severely injured another person and for the pedestrian it's a matter of life itself the time to shed some light on pedestrian visibility is now not the night after treasure [Music]