PSA for early morning runners

[AngryOldDem]

If you run before sunup or in the half-light (dusk or dawn), PULEEZE wear or carry a light, and have on reflective gear, especially if you’re in the street. No amount of visibility is too much. The reflective patches on your shoes are not good enough. Even if you are on a sidewalk, you need to be seen. Same goes for your doggo, if you take him with you.

Prolly don’t need to tell people here this, but I’m seeing this more and more and as a runner myself, it bugs.

TIA.

[radicalleft]

1. And if a sidewalk is available...

USE IT! I get so sick of the "oh look at me crowd...I'm too special to use a sidewalk" numbnuts who take their own life in their hands in my neighborhood.

[underpants]

3. Sidewalks are harder on the knees and back

I know it depends on the conditions but I try to run routes where staying on the road isn’t a problem.

[underpants]

2. Flashlights are much more visible from a distance too

I think 3 or 4 times as visible. I have several that I bought from Northern Tool for maybe $4 each. Any Lowe’s has some too more expensive though. Harbor Freight stuff is cheap for a reason.

Lowe’s also has short and long sleeve yellow wicking shirts fairly reasonably priced. The cheap brown packages of gloves are great in the winter for warmth, snot rockets, and uh…. emergency uses let’s say.

[AngryOldDem]

4. I have a reflective vest and a miner's headlamp

The lamp throws a pretty good light.

One more thing I forgot to mention. Run against traffic, not with it. I see that a lot, too.

[underpants]

5. Always on the left

Yes. Except on tight turns.

[multigraincracker]

6. Cell phone use by drivers is a big problem.

Lucky enough to have a 1/10 mile sandy track in my back yard. The few times I have ran on the road, I've almost been ran over, even when wearing a safety color vest. Use to run at a high school track that was behind my house in Ohio. There is a gym not far from me that has an indoor track 5 1/2 laps are a mile. Cost one dollar a day to use it.

[AngryOldDem]

8. That's illegal here, for good reason.

Even if it weren’t, I sure wouldn’t be on one in a neighborhood in the half-light.

[Bleacher Creature]

7. I use something called a Noxgear Tracer vest.

It's a little pricey, but the lights move and change colors, so visibility is fantastic.

But as others have pointed out, visibility means nothing if a driver is looking at their phone, so like you I'm also pretty adamant about running against traffic so that I'm able to see the car that's closest to me.

Stay safe out there!

[AngryOldDem]

9. I've been looking at Noxgear.

It seems to have replaced the vests, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. I’m always a little behind the curve with stuff.