Lower street lighting: tips to make yourself visible!

A number of French municipalities have chosen to reduce their public lighting during all or part of the night, with the aim of achieving energy sobriety.

Road Safety is supporting this movement with a national information campaign from January 7 to 25, 2023, to raise public awareness of good safety habits to be more visible. His message: “When the lighting drops, I increase my vigilance, I increase my visibility.”

Learn about these tips and the traffic laws that apply to travel.

Wear reflective clothing or accessories

Road Safety advises wearing clear clothing or reflective devices such as vests, armbands, gloves, backpacks, etc., which are very effective for being seen from afar.

Make sure you have all the required equipment

Some equipment promoting visibility are mandatory, you must absolutely verify that they are on your bike or scooter and that they work:

• Bicycles: your bicycle must be equipped with red reflex reflectors at the rear, orange at the pedals and visible laterally, and a white light at the front;
• Scooters: they shall have a white light at the front, a red light at the rear and rear and side retro-reflectors.

Vigilance is required

The watchword for road safety is vigilance, but also the basic rules for road users: respect speed limits, avoid distractors and be particularly careful in certain situations.

• When you cross: if you cross at night, you must double your vigilance. If you are walking on a road, always position yourself on the left side of the road to see the vehicles coming in front. Before crossing: look left, right and again left.
• Do not stay in blind spots, especially those of large vehicles.
• When changing direction: Bike or scooter, extend your arm upstream to indicate to other users the direction you are going. Ideally, you will be equipped with a reflective armband.

Discover the Road Safety Campaign.