According to the Federal Statistical Office, winter is the most dangerous time for pedestrians. In Austria alone, almost 1,000 people were injured or killed while walking in the dark in 2024. What is particularly noteworthy is that a third of the accidents occurred on zebra crossings - in December, even half of them occurred.

In detail, the risk of accidents for pedestrians in the dark is two to three times higher than during the day. The reduced visibility begins at dusk and in bad weather.

Lighting on the limbs (arms, legs), at chest height and as far out on the body as possible is particularly effective, as it can actually be seen by drivers from every direction.

Experts from the German statutory accident insurance (DGUV) and the Swiss Advisory Center for Accident Prevention (bfu) particularly emphasize that pedestrians (and cyclists, for that matter) often overestimate how visible they are to drivers.

To train your own awareness, you should actively pay attention to how well other pedestrians are perceived when driving or walking. This active look at others shows you how poor your own visibility is. In such a vision experiment, people with active lighting tend to be noticed first, then reflective clothing. This can also increase awareness of the effect of dark clothing.

The problem of poor visibility does not only affect people on foot. A recent case from Austria made it clear that people in wheelchairs are also affected. In the case, a person in a wheelchair was hit by a van on the side of the road on his way home from the train station.

The driver argued that the wheelchair user was not visible early enough to react. In this case, the court confirmed that wheelchair users are not obliged to make themselves visible. However, the risk to their own health is still obvious.