In 2017, the United States became the first country to pass a law requiring all light safety footwear to include a small, reflective disc to be worn behind the head in the event of a crash.
The law has since become the most comprehensive in the world.
Now a new report from the safety-focused think-tank Nesta is putting the spotlight on how this safety device works and how to buy the best.
The report comes amid increasing concern about the use of small-diameter reflective discs in crash-avoidance devices.
In a press release, Nesta’s director of research and advocacy, Michael J. Siegel, said the report showed the importance of ensuring the safety of consumers.
“This new report shows how the US can take the lead in improving the safety and effectiveness of its safety products by providing better and safer footwear options that include reflective discs,” he said.
“For example, the new report recommends that manufacturers and retailers make the products that are reflective in a clear and conspicuous manner in the product information or packaging.”
Siegel’s group is working with the US Federal Trade Commission to develop a voluntary standard for reflective-disc-less crash-protecting footwear, which he expects to be available this year.
The Nesta report was commissioned by the Safety Research Institute, which is a non-profit that advocates for a safer and more secure future.
It is the latest in a series of reports by Nesta highlighting the dangers of using small reflective discs.
A decade ago, the group published a report that examined the use and safety of tiny, low-density polystyrene (LSPU), which is also used in a wide range of consumer products.
It recommended the use as a protective measure to prevent accidental injury to children and pets.
The US also has a crash-prevention law that requires that all light-weight, non-reflective materials, including sunglasses, be installed behind the eyes and have the disc on them.
The act is currently being challenged in court by companies such as Amazon and the US Postal Service, who claim that the law is being used to target their products.
Sometime this year, the law will be re-introduced, and the Nesta group is looking to push for the law to be included in the 2018 US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report.
“There is a lot of discussion about how we can make the safety product safer,” Siegel said.
Nesta recommends that any company that uses reflective-dip reflective-soles, reflective-reflector shoes or reflective-lens glasses, which use reflective material instead of a reflective disc, should include a reflective-disk warning label on the product packaging.
The firm has also recommended that manufacturers use a warning label that says: “If the product contains reflective material, the product should not be used unless the product is tested for the presence of reflective material.”
Sauer and other safety experts said that if consumers don’t get this warning label, it may not be obvious that the product actually contains reflective materials.
“If consumers don`t understand that the material that is on the disc is reflective, they will just assume that the disc does not reflect back,” Sauer said.
The new report found that the average size of reflective-containing sunglasses has increased by 50 per cent since the mid-1990s.
It found that about 30 per cent of American adults and nearly 30 per to 35 per cent to 40 per cent over 20- to 30-year-olds have at least one reflective-free eye.
Sauer also found that, compared with previous years, the number of American children who have suffered a fatal crash has increased from 13,400 to 15,500 since 2014.
While many of these crashes involve young people, Sauer argued that many of them are being prevented from occurring because the glasses are being worn too high or too low.
“You can see that, if you look at the trend, we`ve seen a huge increase in crashes in children under 10,” he told the ABC.
“What you`re seeing is that it`s the glasses that are falling down and they`re not being worn in a manner that will prevent a crash.”