Cars and trucks share the roadside with countless cyclists, walkers, runners, and wheelchair users.  Who among nighttime motorists has not come up behind a cyclist or runner in dark clothing, with no aids to improve their visibility?  These individuals cannot be assumed to have a death wish.  But if you are one of them, the numbers suggest that your trust in approaching motorists is high-risk.  Even for those who wear light-colored clothing or a reflector, the risk to personal safety is growing. 

Persons who wish to share the roadside are increasingly faced with the threat of motorists who drive while holding a distracting cell phone conversation.  Their attention is too often focused on some other issue, in some other place. 

Considering just the cell phone factor, aside from all other distractions, recent evidence suggests that dialing motorists have become a threat to other motorists, and even themselves.  Scientists at the Ford Motor Company have performed tests in their advanced driving simulator VIRTTEX which reveal that when placing a cellphone call:

1. An adult goes from missing 3% of events occurring around them, to missing 13%.

2. A Teen goes from missing 3% of events occurring around them, to missing 53%.

3.  Adult incoming hands-free calls cause significant distraction while the driver determines who has called, and for what purpose.

4.  And if it isn't enough that busy dialers are putting you at risk, consider the sleep-deprived.  These drivers do microsleeps up to 2.5 seconds in duration - about the length of a football field at highway speed.  If you happen to occupy that stretch of roadside, you want to improve your chance of being seen before the driver nods off.

5.  Bear in mind that unlike many real-world circumstances, the tested drivers were neither drunk, enraged, nor speeding.

Particularly during periods of darkness, improved visibility affords two distinct advantages.  A cyclist or pedestrian gains an additional margin of safety.  A motorist gains an additional margin of response.  Each benefits from a simple but life-saving collaboration between the cyclist who needs to be seen, and the motorist who cannot yield some distance, or the right of way, until they have seen the cyclist.  Any cyclist, runner, or walker using the roadside can benefit from having a driver recognize and respond to his or her presence as early as possible.