Protect Your Kids - Safees Reflectors Help Keep Kids Safe in Traffic

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This little Safees reflector can make a big
difference in the safety of your child.
Photo: Maria Adcock

“Be Seen, Be Safe” is the motto of Safees, a clip on safety reflector created by Johanna Denize, a mom originally from Sweden where kids wearing reflectors are the norm.

Denize states, “Scandinavian countries have the best traffic safety records in the world and reflectors are household staples. In fact in Sweden every school child wears one and traffic fatalities involving children are the lowest in the world (WHO: Global Status report on Road Safety).”

When Denize gave birth to her child in 2010 in the United States, she noticed that strollers, backpacks, and kids could have a higher risk of not being seen in traffic due to no wearing reflectors. She could not find in the U.S. the type of reflectors that lived up to the high quality hard prism ones found in Scandinavia, thus she founded Safees.

Denize says, “On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 120 minutes. Almost two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities occur when the light condition is either dark or dark with street lights. No matter how well a driver thinks he can drive, the fact is that visibility is severely impaired in the dark. Pedestrians, bicyclists, skaters and others not driving a vehicle are at great risk to be hurt simply because they are not clearly visible to traffic.”

Parents simply attach the reflector to either the child’s clothing or the accessories the child is wearing. If attaching to the child, the reflector should be pinned so that the prism is falling at knee or thigh height. Denize notes, “By letting the Safees swing freely, facing traffic, it will reflect oncoming cars’ headlights and increase your visibility, alerting drivers to your presence on the road and giving drivers more time to stop or steer clear and thus avoiding accidents.”

Safees are available in a wide range
of colors, shapes, and designs.
Photo: Safees

Safees are also great to use on strollers, backpacks and even pets. According to Safees, “Attaching a reflector to yourself or your child will increase your visibility to oncoming traffic by anywhere between 300 and 1,000 percent (depending on distance, darkness, weather).” This can be a main factor on whether you or your child are safe or not.

In addition to the safety benefits, I like that the production of Safees is environmentally-responsible. According to Safees, nothing is wasted, no harmful waste is produced and everything is used directly or recycled. Manufactured in Finland, Safees and are CE and Lloyds certified and adheres to all relevant ISO standards as well as meeting the very high EU standards for environmental consideration.

Safees retail for $6 and are available at www.safees.com in a wide variety or colors and shapes. To save 15% enter this discount code when checking out: Safeesbacktoschool2012 . Discounts are available for schools and nonprofit organizations. Keep kids safe and consider wearing one of these inexpensive reflectors to reduce the risk of injury on the road.

Disclosure: Writer received a sample of the product to assess for this post. All opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.