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there was reference SOMEWHERE official about reflective vests being required (by law?) in Spain for anyone on foot after dark-- i assume in am pre-dawn as well
they mentioned the light weight (??) vests are readily available- can't remember what store they named
does anyone really ever wear these? are they needed if you carry light?
I know some pilgrims head out early or end up stuck out late
nanc
(God, I can sure spend a lot of time with you guys: looking up thoughts, answers, questions, alternatives- had to set you aside so I could get out in the rain and live it - training hike ;-))
Nanc
I always wear one if walking on a main-ish road, even in sunlight. But then I am a what-if sort of person.there was reference SOMEWHERE official about reflective vests being required (by law?) in Spain for anyone on foot after dark-- i assume in am pre-dawn as well
they mentioned the light weight (??) vests are readily available- can't remember what store they named
does anyone really ever wear these? are they needed if you carry light?
I know some pilgrims head out early or end up stuck out late
nanc
(God, I can sure spend a lot of time with you guys: looking up thoughts, answers, questions, alternatives- had to set you aside so I could get out in the rain and live it - training hike ;-))
Nanc
Make your hat a hiviz one as well. If you are already carrying the wwight of an item might as well make it hiviz rather than carrying additional weight, and making yet another purchase.
View attachment 23550 Last year I bought a roll of reflective hiviz tape and wound it around the top section of my pacer poles and applied strips to the back of my pack and to the shoulder straps at the front. I didn't really expect it to stay in place on the pack but it is still there after walking for seven weeks. I had a tiny scrap left over and wrapped it around my electric toothbrush to differentiate it from my partner's. Nothing goes to waste in this household![/QU
Throughout France and most of Europe reflective vests are generally sold in gas stations. Inexpensive and lightweight they are always available in routiers stops which cater to long distance truckers.
(God, I can sure spend a lot of time with you guys: looking up thoughts, answers, questions, alternatives- had to set you aside so I could get out in the rain and live it - training hike ;-))
View attachment 23550 Last year I bought a roll of reflective hiviz tape and wound it around the top section of my pacer poles and applied strips to the back of my pack and to the shoulder straps at the front. I didn't really expect it to stay in place on the pack but it is still there after walking for seven weeks. I had a tiny scrap left over and wrapped it around my electric toothbrush to differentiate it from my partner's. Nothing goes to waste in this household!
Looking at your Pacer Poles,
If I did not have other, similar products, that I personally prefer
I recently saw this video from 3M, showing the effects of headlights on various colours of clothing and various types of reflective tape. Even bright white shirts did not show up until 250 feet, which is much too late for a driver even at relatively slow 30 MPH/48 kph to avoid a walker.If making your own vest/jacket then it needs to also have the reflective tape, not just a bright colour, and that tape must be visible approx 100mts away or more. It is possible to buy the correct grade of tape for the road, we bought ours on-line as we had no local stockist. (We don't have a record of where)
That's too bad, I would happily have used one. But also want the blinking lights.the backpack covers were a promotional wheeze. The local politicians and camino PR outfit Xacobeo handed them out one day while the TV cameras rolled. A Camino activist group (FICS) kept bothering them about "black spots" on the camino, where pilgrims cross busy highways (with sometimes-fatal outcomes). Local officials responsible for highway safety decided that glow-in-the-dark pack covers were the better (cheaper) "solution" to the problem than blinking lights and dedicated crossings.
(We the activists aren't buying it, btw)...
No kidding. It drove me crazy when (more than once), two pilgrims were walking on the wrong side of the road with everyone else walking where they were supposed to. The oncoming drivers (sometimes in very large vehicles) had to weave across the narrow road to avoid both sets of walkers. And on top of that the pilgrims usually seemed to be engaged in conversation to the point that they weren't aware of what was happening, or the danger into which they were placing themselves and others.Must say that pilgrims themselves have great responsibility themselves.
Search your own souls and admit that alertness fails when we are tired, and when somebody is speaking to us and we feel intertained, and feeling like a holiday crowd going to the beach.
Furthermore many pilgrims fail to face the direction of the traffic and it is scaring the living daylight out of me....
In the end of the day I further admit that I feel like a tired crab under the weight of the pack and my reflexes seize up, and I know I better look out sharp.
That´s why I mostly walk alone...
I don't know what is the legal way for a pedestrian to walk in Portugal, but for myself, I will crisscross the roads so as to NOT be in the blind spot of a auto driver - especially when there is no shoulder.
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