Road Safety Advice from the RSA

Although you can’t be responsible for the way people drive, you can take a number of steps to make yourself safer as a pedestrian:

• Stop, look and listen

• Don’t try to cross the road between parked cars

• If possible, cross at a pedestrian crossing or traffic lights

• Never cross at a bend

• If there is a footpath use it

• If there is no footpath, walk/run/jog on the right hand side of the road, facing oncoming traffic and keeping as close as possible to the side of the road

• Walk no more than two abreast and if the road is narrow or there is heavy traffic, walk in single file

• Increase your visibility

  More than two-thirds of fatal pedestrian collisions happen at night. Although you can hear a car coming and see its lights, the driver may not see you (and certainly won’t hear you).

  To protect yourself make sure you:

  • Always wear a pair of reflective armbands, high-visibility belt or other reflective or fluorescent clothing which will help you to be seen from a distance

  • Carry a torch on country roads