Project Ninja
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To a certain extent, the rudeness is expected under the circumstances. The corridor which I have been distributing reflective gear for the last 5 years has no street lights at all. When it is dark, it is really dark. That’s why the reflective gear is so important. I’m a stubborn SOB. Pretty much every time I encountered a ninja on that part of the trail, I offer them a reflective band or vest. For years I bought my own to distribute. Bike Arlington has been kind enough to give me some of theirs to distribute.
The reaction when I am moving and slow down to talk to people and offer them reflective gear is almost unanimously negative. The nicest people (about 10%) tell me they’re not interested. About 30% of the people just ignore me and hope that I’ll go away. Close to half are either rude or hostile. A few take them, but either never use them or throw them in the bushes after I’ve gone. (I see them the next day when they catch the beam of my light). I probably successfully distribute reflective gear to walkers and runners between 1 and 2% of the time. I have converted a core few to really taking interest in their own safety.
I grew up in a small town and still keep a lot of that attitude with me these days. Having rudeness and hostility as a first reaction to anything is completely foreign to me. I totally understand that part of it is based on fear in meeting a strange person on a dark stretch of path. But you’d think after a year or two that they might clue in that the best way to keep me from stopping to talk to them would be to wear something reflective. Some of them obviously have. The number of ninjas is WAY down over what it used to be.
Today’s success was based on a few things. I didn’t start giving out stuff until there was enough light that people could see me a ways off. I wasn’t in motion. I stopped along the side of the trail for an hour to talk to people. A lot of people recognize the cargo bike and wanted to take a look at it. I had a bunch of flashy lights on the back deck of the cargo bike that looked really festive.
Some people just want to be in their own little world when they run or walk. I get that. I don’t understand their refusal to take a few basic steps to insure their safety. I’m gonna take some pictures of people with and without reflective gear and make a poster board with it so people can better understand. I know there’s always going to be some people that just can’t look past themselves and their own situation…. they just can’t think about other people. I’ll resist the temptation to tackle them and staple a reflective triangle to their caboose.
(TOTALLY JOKING ABOUT THAT LAST PART)Okay, Rant over.
Dog lights: I purchased all of my dog safety gear at Unleashed in Falls Church. It is a kinda cool store… the up-scale version of Petco. I was talking to the manager about the animal rescue stuff that I do and that also lead to talking about pet reflective gear for my give-away. He gave me a discount on the stuff I bought as well as some $5 off coupons for shopping there to give out. Those got snatched up pretty quickly by the doggy walkers.
I purchased simple dog lights. They are a little LED Fob that hangs on the dog’s collar. If your dog has a harness, it attaches nicely to the back, giving pretty good visibility. If they’ve got a conventional collar, it hangs down front giving visibility from the front only. I suggested people either get a reflective leash (the ones I brought got snatched up very quickly) or put a bike Arlington reflective band around the leash they already have. Lights were $5. Collars were $6-8. Leashes were $9 and up.
Unleashed also has some very nice collars with LED strips all the way around. They had rechargeable batteries built in and came with a charger. They were AWESOME and lit up really well. They were a bit expensive for me to be giving away though. I think they were $25. I may buy one for my most persistent ninja’s dog…. the woman who yells “Pay your personal property tax!” at me every week. Luckily she shuffles her feet when she walks. I can hear her way before I see her.
Did I answer the question?
Pete
I don’t get the rudeness either. Is visibility under light and dark that difficult a concept?
@Dirt 10996 wrote:
I’ll resist the temptation to tackle them and staple a reflective triangle to their caboose.
(TOTALLY JOKING ABOUT THAT LAST PART)Got a chuckle from me.
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