With the return of warmer days in Connecticut often also comes more people out and about on foot. This change can be a good time for everyone to be reminded of the need to be safe while on foot among traffic. The ability to stay safe does fall to both pedestrians and drivers alike.
When thinking of pedestrians, it might be natural to first think about the people that get out and walk or jog for exercise and certainly these pedestrians are important and deserve to be safe while out doing something good for their health. But, as noted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, everyone at some point is a pedestrian. The mere act of walking from a parked car into a store or office building, for example, puts a person in the position of being a pedestrian among vehicles. This fact takes pedestrian safety to a whole new level.
In 2014, the United States lost 4,884 pedestrian lives in vehicle accidents. The following year, 5,376 pedestrians fatalities were recorded. That is a dangerous trend and was part of what led the U.S. Department of Transportation to launch an initiative designed to improve pedestrian safety nationwide.
The AAA Exchange explains that because pedestrians cannot always predict or control the actions of drivers, they should take care to make themselves visible to increase the likelihood that a driver will see them and therefore not hit them. Wearing bright clothing even in the day is one way to do this. If there is no sidewalk, it is best to walk facing traffic so pedestrians can see a potential risk and ideally move to avoid it.