Month: February 2018

Required Reflective vest: Can Pedestrian Accident is the culprit

Do you know that even a pedestrian can be found responsible? We looked in detail at what brought about the introduction of mandatory reflective elements.

Since February 20 this year, pedestrians have a new duty to use outside of the village for reduced visibility of reflective elements. As the traffic police chief says, the first statistics suggest that fatal accidents outside the village in the dark have actually fallen. However, the amendment to the Road Traffic Act, which deals with reflexive elements, has brought another dimension to the view of night walks with pedestrians.

 

The share is common

“The obligation to wear reflective elements actually caused a balance between the driver and the pedestrian. A legal situation has arisen where not only the driver has to deal with driving, but the pedestrian has a duty to be seen, “says lawyer Jan Ferny. Before the amendment to pedestrians was effective, the driver was the primary culprit for the police and, therefore, the prosecutor. “I also experienced cases of accusations when the pedestrian walked on the wrong side of the road, he was darkly dressed and even under the strong influence of alcohol,” adds Jan Ferny.

 

Experts agree that today, when investigating traffic accidents, it focuses not only on drivers but also on the potential share of the pedestrian. “We have a duty here, and it is judged whether a pedestrian had a reflective element or not. If a chauffeur with a reflective element had seen it, there may be situations where the driver is fully developed. This was a rare occurrence of a collision with a pedestrian, “Jan Ferny continues.

 

Forget insurance benefits

In some cases, the pedestrian may be found partially or completely guilty. In addition, this can be reflected in the insurance benefit. “It always depends on the investigation of the accident by the police on the spot. It can happen that the insurer of the pedestrian will not be harmed, because he can make an accident himself, “says Jeri. Allianz also agrees: “There is always a general obligation to prevent damage. There is also the possibility of curtailing. In each individual case, we examine whether the element was used, how it was placed, and what its reflective surface was, “he says, pointing to other pitfalls. “It is typical that pedestrians have a reflective vest from behind, which can be useless if they go in the opposite direction. Then it is considered as complicity and guilt – and it can be even one hundred percent, “says Bearn and shows the case from practice.

 

I will see you in five years

“My mother with a stroller went in the dark outside the village and did not wear any reflective elements, and she went to the wrong side, the right side. There was a ninety car coming from behind. The driver registered it for thirty meters, making it 25 meters in a second reaction time before making an evasive maneuver to avoid it. However, the car was running in the opposite direction, so there was a frontal collision with tragic consequences. It is quite clear that the woman is at least a part of the guilt. Probably, at least part of the costs will be recovered – and it can go up to millions of crowns, “Alan Alan describes the possibility that even the amount can be recovered from pedestrians.

 

According to Bearn, the investigation of similar accidents will be very demanding, and will often have to take place in investigative trials. It is now common practice for the traffic police chief that the courts determine the percentage of responsibility of the parties. However, with the new law, a specific interpretation and judicial practice is still awaited. “In a myriad of situations, the walker says he did not expect reduced visibility, or that it is not a bad outlook. This will be the assessment of the experts and, at the same time, the interpretation of the courts. I assume, therefore, that it will take at least five years before we can say how it is, “adds Jan Ferny.

 

Three questions for Tomas, Chief of Traffic Police

How did the February change of the Reflective Obligations Act sign on accident statistics? In general, pedestrians have experienced year-on-year fall in accidents. Over the past ten months, 82 have died, about fourteen less than in a comparable period in 2015. If we only talked about nighttime, we recorded 29 killed pedestrians out of the village in 2016, 41 people in 2015. The decrease is therefore visible. Problems are, however, municipalities where more than eleven more victims have been in sight this year – 37. I would like to emphasize that both sides underestimate the situation here. Drivers do not drive at a speed so they can safely stop. On the other hand, pedestrians should remember that not always the driver sees and records their intention to go. Therefore, they should not suddenly come in front of the vehicle.

 

Do you know how many people killed outside the village have used reflective elements?

We report each accident to the log, but we do not have statistics. However, after the end of the year we will assess how many people the regulation has violated.

 

You advised that during November you would focus on reflective elements. How did it end up?

We surveyed 6,152 pedestrians throughout the Czech Republic, of whom more than five thousand were in places where they were obliged to use a reflective material. Fourteen percent of the regulation did not comply. Some cases were solved by agreement. While we initially talked to pedestrians and gave out the reflective tapes, which we continue, this time, because of the increased risk associated with the winter season, we went to fines. We believe that the length of time that the reflective tapes are being talked about is long enough. We chose about fifty thousand fines.

 

 

Will forest animals also wear reflective elements?

When we talk about human rights (see the newly revised foreign policy concept of the government), I have been feeling for a long time that motorists have the rights somewhat more than they have non-motorists, just need to care the road safety.

 

I will remind you, for example, how long green pedestrians have been lit on the traffic lights and how long they have been in the car, even though they are moving incomparably faster, and it would take less time for them. On the other hand, the tendency to interrupt pedestrian crossings, say, for the good of the infantry, for their greater security. It is only occasionally that someone tells you that those transitions are simply too much and that it disturbs the flow of traffic. Which is wrong, while walking a hundred yards from the aborted crossing is normal and desirable? After all, there is more to “fresh” air.

 

Perhaps it would be enough to reduce the speed

The latest pedestrian good was approved by the government in the form of one provision of the current amendment to the Road Traffic Act, which is now heading to the Chamber of Deputies. I am imposing on it the obligation to wear reflective elements on the garment (the specific shape of the element is not prescribed) if the visibility is outside the village on a road without pavements. Certainly, those abusive non-automobiles are few and the reflective elements purely technically at least some of their protections are, even though they are not wiped before being swept away.

 

On the other hand, however, there should be an obligation, even a financial one (however, if buying a reflective tape for a relatively comprehensible amount, if not counting the non-punitive financial penalties in case of disobedience) to someone who is less of a source of danger, who is by far the greater threat. As more logical, it would seem to me, for example, to provide a type of bad visibility that the driver is obliged to reduce the speed of the road on the road outside the village so that any pedestrian conflict can be avoided or at least minimized. Moreover, on the road, not only the pedestrian but also the wildlife can suddenly appear under the described conditions. She is even more likely. Will she be required to wear a reflective tape? By the way, it is not quite a joke, in one of the Nordic countries they say they intend to use a reflective color to refer to wildlife reindeer.

 

It looks like this as a punishment for a non-motorist for the fact that he even allows himself to move along the road, even for poor visibility. However, the same right to use road communications, unless explicitly forbidden by applicable law, has both a motorist and a pedestrian or cyclist. I emphasize that the right is equal, that the automobile is not bigger, it is not preferred. The right to freely use public roads is perhaps even the oldest.

 

I have my horses, the duty to clean the pine trees

I am not a lawyer, so I can be mistaken. But I believe that if someone insists that moving along the road, surrounded by material tracts, which is multiplied by the speed of movement, becomes a potentially fatal hazard for unintentional (and armored) road users, it should be primarily he, who should be subject to risk-mitigating obligations to slaughter those unwholesome. Lapidary speaking, somebody gets a common, he does not have the right to expect him to clean his horse lobelia after his walk – no matter how much he can slip even after the horse’s lobelia and make a good charge.

 

 

Police want to order reflective vests for pedestrians

While the number of dead drivers is falling rapidly, pedestrians are getting more and more. In November, they accounted for more than a third of the victims of accidents. Police officers want the pedestrian rules to be tightened – perhaps to wear reflective clothing. What other changes can be expected on the roads in 2011?

 

Taking a blue coat and going out in the dark over the road to the next village can be likened to a suicide attempt. According to the BESIP study, the driver of a moving car sees you in such an outfit only 18 meters behind you. She has no chance to react. At eighty-kilometer speed, it needs a minimum distance of at least two times. While the number of dead drivers in the Czech Republic has fallen sharply in recent years, there is more and more victims among pedestrians. Every fifth dead on the road is a pedestrian. Nearly two-thirds of them die outside the village.

 

November’s statistics are even scarier. Of the total number of 82 deaths in traffic accidents, there were 33 pedestrians. “This number is one of the last reasons why we will require the introduction of mandatory reflective vest for pedestrians next year, at least outside of the community,” said Leo Trail, head of traffic police.

 

In order for the driver to be able to react in the dark in the black, blue or even red dress in time, he would only have to go for forty. On the other hand, with the reflective elements on the clothes, one can see on the road at 200 meters. Police officers would like to have the obligation to wear reflective vests or elements in the amendment to the Road Act, which is already in the Chamber of Deputies, and the MPs should definitely vote on it at the first meeting in 2011.

 

However, MEPs do not have a common view on the proposal. “I think it would help to reduce the number of accidents on lower class roads,” the deputy chair of the Chamber of Deputies agrees. “I would support everything that brings people to reason, it is absolutely incomprehensible to me that pedestrians are not doing anymore, especially they should think about themselves,” adds Interior Minister Raked John.

 

Most MPs who have addressed MF DNES would focus on massive campaigns. “At every opportunity for pedestrians to recommend reflective elements,” says Finance Minister. “I walked for three miles to a pub in Belching and I wore a flashlight,” he adds. “Certainly, it would be good for people to have such a recommendation, but I can hardly imagine that this would be the duty of the law, how would she force it?” asks the deputy.

 

It is the issue of enforceability that most unknown to politicians. And also whether the “invisible” pedestrian on the road threatens only himself or the driver. And experts are also wondering if this would bring even greater aggression on Czech roads. “Reckless drivers might find a new excuse for them – if they collided with someone, they would have argued that they had no reflective elements,” says transport expert Petra Moos. Some carmakers already have their luxury cars equipped with night-vision equipment that the pedestrians themselves warn about.

 

Reflective vests and safety features equipped for schoolchildren

For the ninth time, full-round containers from the Gambia travel from Ostrava. Together with them, Africa has a large number of spare parts, including reflective vests and safety features for schoolchildren, as there is no rule in the country.

 

People from the Kola for Africa are heading to the black continent as well. Bicycles submitted will then sort out and hand over selected Gambian schools. He also instructs on-site mechanics to hand over service tools. Three employees and volunteers were gathered while loading two containers. “They were people from the Bicycles for Africa, Moment – a charity second hand and New Chance, where we live and where people are helped by the punishment. The Ostrava Educational Institute and two players of the women’s floor ball team helped us,” coordinator Radar specified.

 

He handled a snake by hand. “One by one, the wheels have to come out of the room full of up the stairs through the stairs into the container and put the wheels next to each other. In addition, 100 banana boxes of spare parts had to be used. Even in frosty weather we did it in four hours,” Radar said. “From here, we are already transporting to our warehouse in Gambia, where they are divided into Gambian schools. 100 pieces for each. Containers sail thirty-three days we pick them up personally in the harbor. In the month after the containers are dispatched, we are talking about a mission to the Gambia. They pick up bicycles, store, categorize, train the school management and school mechanics, and hand them over. Let us go in May, “the coordinator in reflective clothing said.

 

The stories of the bikes and their donors sometimes shoot

Wheels in the organization are received from anonymous donors. They can hand them over to collection points, which are about five dozen across the country. “The most active is probably the southern Moravia, then large disposable collections, last year in Pilsner and Liberec Zoo. Ostrava is average in number of rounds. For some donors we also know the story of the round. They sent us a bike from Little Lose nice in the Highlands, which were donated by a young aunt, who built it in 2013, was driving for a while, but died in a car accident. If we know the story, we try to watch and photograph the donor while loading, “she said.

 

Wheels repair convictions in Prison. “This is a prison program, prisoners are repaired voluntarily, and it’s the way to fix them for zero costs and often smart hands. We must have technical supervision in the prison so that the wheels meet what we expect from them, they have to get fit, adjust, lubricate, equip new souls, mantle and remodel, without derailleur they have a longer life and Gambia is everywhere,” Radar explained.

 

Wheels for Africa are a matter of cooperation between a number of donors and volunteers in yellow vest. “We cannot get around without logistics, transport partners and the Fire Brigade of the Czech Republic is helping us a lot. Without them, we would not get wheels from the collection points to the warehouse in Ostrava, from the warehouse to the prison and back. We do not even have a van, let alone a truck. We provide this service for free,” Radar said.

 

 

Car on vacation: what do you have to know before you go

If you are one of those who travel on your own holiday, it is your duty to monitor the traffic regulations of the target and transit countries. See the most important rules. Since 1 May, new customs regulations about road safety have started to say that if you rent a car outside the EU with a registration plate there, you can not travel to the EU with this car.

 

Low Emission Zone in Paris, ecological plaques and a ban on headphones

In Paris, a low-emission zone has been in force since July 1. From Monday to Friday from 8 am to 8 pm, vehicles with a Euro 2 emission class and below may not enter it. You will be charged from € 35 to € 78 for violating the ban. However, fines will not begin to run until September 1. This is also related to the introduction of ecological plaques in July. They have six types and differ in color, with the highest electric cars. Blanquettes, on the other hand, do not have the chance to get cars produced before 1997 and motorcycles before 1999. These vehicles are no longer in Paris’s streets. The obligation to have a plaque on the car is postponed for three months. Starting October, you will pay a fine of € 35 for a breach of duty; from January 2017, it will increase to € 68 (for € 135). It is not yet certain how the foreigners’ cars will be accessed since October.

 

In France, they have to wear a safety vest and have recently forbidden the use of headphones when driving a vehicle in general (bicycle, motorbike, and car). The prohibition also applies to handsets in the ear.

 

New rules in Austria

You cannot use the phone from mid-June. The Hands free is only allowed if it is firmly installed in the vehicle, either during production or after a professional fitting with an approved homologation service. Special hands free headphones supplied with your phone are also enabled. Only calls are allowed when waiting, standing in a column or red. You will be fined from € 50 to € 72 for infringement. If you have made a mistake in handling or even caused an accident to handle the mobile, you can “earn” a penalty of up to 2180 Euros.

 

Motorcycles are also allowed to light even in good visibility (so-called daylight). In the event of visibility deterioration, the dipped beam must be switched on. The new modification also prohibits any handling of the tachometer status of the car. On the contrary, the reflective vest is newly mandatory only for the driver.