Reflective Vests / die Warnwesten

About a year or so ago, Suzanne showed up for one of our dark winter runs with a pair of fluorescent yellow reflective vests. I think it was shortly after we almost got run over by a crazy newspaper deliverer driving on the wrong side of a street without streetlights, paying attention to his newspapers and not the road. We felt very clever (though a little dorky) in our vests, which glow very nicely in car headlights and stand out greatly in broad daylight (Woe is the time of year when you depart on a run in the dark and finish in broad day light, visible to everyone!). We called out vests our 'invisibility cloaks' for a while because all the runners and walkers we would pass would simply stare instead of saying hello as they had before. I figure they were either really shocked or really impressed at our fashion statement. I brought my vest with me to Austria for running in the dark just because it had become a habit.

As far as I know, reflective vests are not yet common back home, but here reflective vests are an everyday accessory. Everyone has one, or at least all drivers, because each car is required to have one by law. In case of a breakdown or another problem that requires you to be by the side of the road, you put on your reflective vest making you much more visible to other drivers no matter what time of day. Ikea even sells reflective vests in a variety of sizes for only a few Euros so you can get one that fits you perfectly.

It is on children where you see reflective vests all the time. On the way to school, children on bikes and scooters and strollers wear reflective vests. School groups (who seem to do a lot of walking around town in large well-behaved groups) all wear reflective vests. Spar is currently giving away kid-sized reflective vests discreetly emblazoned with the store's name on the chest, and Nikolas was given a larger vest at the beginning of his tennis kids' club, the name of a bank printed on the back.

Seeing all these reflective vests everywhere makes me wonder why they aren't more popular in the USA. Sure they aren't beautiful, but doesn't it make sense to make yourself (or your children) stand out? It's kind of like a bike helmet, I think, something so easy that can make such a difference in safety.