Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

My focus is on improving safety, but telling people what to wear to not be run over is not a policy that improves safety...it's a policy which blames the victim.

And I never said "who to blame", I said, what to focus on. I think it's entirely reasonable to focus on the SOURCE of the harm and risk on our roads.

If wearing bright and reflective clothing makes you less likely to be hit, then it improves safety. This is not victim blaming, it's suggesting that people take precautionary steps to avoid being a victim. I look both ways before I cross at a walk signal, even though I shouldn't have to, because it improves my safety. In fact, we require cars to have lights to help them avoid being hit (or to help other cars avoid hitting them). Drivers are also suggested to look both ways before proceeding at a fresh green light. All of these things improve safety, despite the action being required of the would-be victim.

That said, there are much more meaningful ways to improve safety and statements about wearing bright and reflective clothing is a deflection from them, so I understand the frustration.

Wearing reflective clothing is different from telling people to wear reflective clothing.  Telling people what to wear is not a thing which changes people's behaviour.

I'd also question the effectiveness of brightly clothing on a well lit city street, and argue that you'd have to give data proving that. Given drivers propensity to hit reflective objects like signs and pylons...I'm guessing that's going to be a high bar to demonstrate.