Parents across our home of West Lancashire are being reminded by local school clothing suppliers to ensure their children are visible outside the house and on the school run as days run darker into the winter months. We thought it would be a good idea to echo those reminders to all of our readers with the top 5 high visibility shopping list.
Top 5 tips
The tips were provided by Ormskirk based school clothing provider “Your School Uniform” as they talk about the best options for parents to provide their children with to ensure they are seen during dark mornings and nights.
- Colourful coats: Outer clothing like coats, jackets and hats would benefit from being bright, vibrant colours, ideally with some flourescant sections to make your child as easy to spot as possible and keep them warm during the winter months.
- Reflective materials: Wearing synthetic materials that reflect well like waterproof materials will likely catch light reflected from cars and bikes better than natural fabrics. Most waterproof coats and high visibility jackets will use these fabrics.
- Tabards for young children: Often seen as part of pre school and early years school uniforms, it may be worth having a high visibility tabard to go over any external clothing as extra insurance
- Stickers and bags: High visibility bags, bag straps and bag accessories are all available for older children. Placing a couple of badges or stickers on their satchel, rucksack or instrument case can give a little extra warning to passing motorists similar to a cyclists reflectors.
- Flashing lights and torches: Often kit you may see on runners, when the darkest nights arrive at 4 to 5pm even reflective gear becomes hard to see. Having attachable lights that blink using belts, hats or armbands can help play an active role in visibility rather than a passive, reflective role.
Legal rights
If you have done everything within your power to ensure your child is visible on a dark night, like wearing visible clothing or having reflective gear, then you have done all that you can to help keep them safe.
Should the worst happen and you or your child find yourself injured at the hands of a motorist, cyclist or biker who was not paying attention on the road, you are entitled to compensation.
If you, a family member or friend have suffered an injury while out and about at night or when it was dark by a driver not paying attention, give one of our team a call on 01695 722 222 (lines are open weekdays from 9am to 7pm) to receive free, impartial, conscientious advice on how best to deal with your situation.
Alternatively you can get in touch via our contact form online, giving details of the incident. We can then call you at your convenience to go over the best course of action for you or your loved ones.
We offer a ‘no win no fee’ system for our clients ensuring there is no risk to starting a claim as you know you will not pay a penny if your claim is unsuccessful. With no risk to starting a claim, call us today to see what we can offer you.