Be careful out there and light up
As there is a bit of a stretch coming in the evenings and hopefully this incessant rain and wet period eases, people may be tempted back to walking on the public roads. Be sure to where a reflective jacket.
The purpose of reflective clothing, also known as high-visibility warning clothing, is to signal the presence of the user in places and situations which may cause potential threats to their health and safety. Such signalling must be effective at any time of day and night when it is dark - in the light of vehicle lamps headlamps as well as street lighting e.g. on public roads.
Drivers are particularly at risk of being hit by passing vehicles in the case of a breakdown when they need to repair the vehicle on the road. It should be noted that in all situations of risk when reflective clothing is used it does not guarantee complete safety but it optimizes appropriate visibility and will significantly reduce the risk of an accident. Reflective clothing should also be used in non-professional situations, in particular on the roads. This applies mainly to pedestrians and cyclists also while walking and cycling to work. When moving along streets with no lighting or insufficiently lit streets and/ or absence of separate walkways pedestrians who are often poorly visible are at a risk of being hit by cars. This risk is a concern especially in the autumn and winter period when people usually wear clothes made from materials in dark colours with a low luminance factor. Reflective clothing protects its user against risks but does not eliminate the risk.
In order to fulfil its essential function ie signal the presence of the user both during the day and night, reflective clothing should be made from two kinds of high-visibility materials: the background material with fluorescent properties which ensures visibility during the day as well as retroreflective material or combined-performance material. The retroreflective and combined-performance materials reflect the light back to its source and thus ensure that in the darkness the clothing is visible in the light of the vehicles.
Reflective clothing has traditionally lacked the aesthetic appeal and performance of other more stylish kit options while also being associated with casual or commuter cycling and walking. But now with major kit brands getting on board, reflective gear is now being designed for the performance market. It is interesting to note the distance that driver can typically see different colours by night on a person and thus have time to react: blue - 16 metres, red - 24 metres, yellow - 36 metres, white - 55 metres, reflective jacket - 150 metres.
Now if you suppose that the driver is travelling at 80km per hour you get the sense that the driver has only a split second to react to a poorly lit up person and that supposes that they are concentrating on the road and not engaging with others in the car or fiddling with the radio / CD player.
So as a character on the 1980s television police drama ‘Hill Street Blues’ used to say “Let’s be careful out there.” On the show Sgt Phillip Esterhaus was imparting these words of caution to officers policing the streets of San Francisco. Killavullen is no San Francisco but the message is the same. For the young people who never heard of Hill Street Blues it was a good show, gritty and worth a watch on your device, but not while walking!
TARGET ACHIEVED FOR REBELS’ BOUNTY SALES
Killavullen GAA Club, devoid of its weekly lotto and thus its main income stream, set themselves a very ambitious target of 200 units in the revamped Cork GAA Rebels’ Bounty Draw. That target seemed far-fetched when we set out at the start with 104 participants from 2020. But juvenile parents were asked to contribute, a letter was sent to all parents setting out our stall and a greater participation rate from our junior players sought. We are glad to report that we have met that target of 200 sales which is phenomenal and there is still some time to go before the first draw on 25th March. The draw in its current guise suits Killavullen, we are a very aspiring and motivated junior club which has plans to improve. Improve on the playing field, improve our facilities and improve our administration.
We are obligated to give €5,500 to Cork GAA who put up all of the prizes - nearly half a million spread out over 12 months, and once that target of €5.5k is achieved and all other monies stay with our club.
SOBERING ALL-STARS SHOWS HOW FAR STANDARDS HAVE DROPPED IN CORK
The All Star presentation on RTE television on Saturday evening last made for grim viewing from a Cork GAA perspective. No All-Star award came to a home by the Lee and only two nominations for Cork hurlers in Mark Coleman and Shane Kingston. Money does not kick a ball over the bar but it does in reality. In Dublin there are 134 clubs, Donegal has 40, Tyrone there are 53 and Cork who have 259 clubs. In Limerick there are 101 clubs. Incidentally Kerry has 73 clubs.
In 2019 Dublin had 54 Games Development Officers employed by the Dublin County Board, Cork had six. Some clubs in Dublin employed their own GDAs in addition to that 54, the larger Dublin clubs have two GDAs. Dublin GAA is awash with money and yet the percentage of schoolchildren playing GAA in Dublin is still relatively small, especially given their population.
The narrative from Jim Galvin and his successor Dessie Farrell is that Dublin are successful because of the bloody hard work which their coaches are doing. To insinuate that Dublin are where they are because they’ve worked harder smacks of complete hypocrisy. It is creating a major issue in football where only a handful of counties can get close to Dublin but the truncated format of the championship in 2020 did instil new hope into a despairing scenario with the breakthrough of Tipperary and Cavan. That Cavan were rewarded with 3 All-Stars and Tipperary one was reflective of that excellent year for those counties. In Cork collectively we all have work to do, on and off the field.
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Howard Farm Feeds.