klehner wrote:
Because we can't expect drivers to take precautions when they are driving blind.
I've been doing a lot of morning runs this year. Usually up at 6 and it's dark and/or blowing snow. I use a Black Diamond running headlamp/taillamp and it's great; you get enough light that you can see and definitely be seen, both coming and going. Various bits of my clothing are reflective as well, which helps when I do encounter the occasional driver on the country roads where I'm running.
However, there's this other guy, lives in the next subdivision over, and he has been running every day for years. I see him on TWP Rd. 262 (NW of Calgary, it's a popular cycling route as well) whenever I commute at about 7 AM. Thing is, he doesn't wear a light, and his clothing has relatively little in the way of reflective stuff on it. So every time I go to work or to drive my kid to school early, I know I'm going to encounter this guy on an undulating, unlit two lane road, in the dark, and it might be blowing snow or whatever, the guy will be there as little more than a shadow, on either side of the road (depends on whether I'm earlier or later than his turnaround). I worry about that... it's not that I don't pay attention, and not that I don't give the guy all the room I can, but if there should ever be a combination of mistakes between the half-dozen commuters the guy is likely to encounter every morning, that guy has zero protection, and him running with no lights makes it more likely that he's going to surprise someone at some point.
Not saying in any way that this bears on the case in Hawaii - but as a runner or cyclist we owe it to ourselves and the rest of the traffic to make ourselves as visible as possible. Save the ninja stuff for other venues.
Less is more.