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Stay bright: pick up your reflectors for backpacks, jackets and more

Winter may well be coming to an end in the next while but the mornings and evenings are still dark, foggy and misty. And in summer, many of us are on the roads after dark, returning home from the pub, the beach or friends’ homes.
The Redekopp children model the reflectors.
The Redekopp children model the reflectors.

Winter may well be coming to an end in the next while but the mornings and evenings are still dark, foggy and misty. And in summer, many of us are on the roads after dark, returning home from the pub, the beach or friends’ homes. 

We are all slavish followers of fashion and our outer gear is generally black, dark green or blue, whether we are children, teens or adults of any age. 

How many times have we, the drivers on Bowen, narrowly avoided a dark shape that morphs into a pedestrian almost as we come upon them? 

We have no sidewalks on Bowen and in some areas, the narrow path at the side of our main roads is pretty much non-existent. We have very few street lights and we are happy that we live in an environment where we don’t really need them. However, it will take just one serious accident to bring us to our senses.

All of us walk on our roads at some moment of the day, even if it is just to the mail box at the end of the street. We should all have some sort of reflector gear to protect us from an unsuspecting motorist, not just on our jacket zippers but also somewhere on our backs. 

For the past year or so, the Rotary Club of Bowen Island and Snug Cove House have been spearheading a project entitled Be Bright at Night on Bowen, thanks to a grant from Knick Knack Nook. After some negotiation, we have received a bundle of reflectors (with our logos printed on them) that we are distributing to the local schools, to pedestrians on the ferries, to residents of Bowen Court, to bus travellers and in fact to anyone else who would like one. 

We are asking people to put them on to their jackets or backpacks as soon as they receive one as otherwise they may end up in the garbage.

In this photo of the Redekopp family, you can see that the reflectors can easily be attached to the back collar of a jacket as well as a backpack. Backs are as important as fronts!

There will be a jar of reflectors available in the Undercurrent office for the next few weeks. Come and pick one up.