Night Walking Safety Tips | How We Stay Safe While Talking Daily Evening Walk

Let’s talk about walking at night!

Now that the sun sets in the late afternoon (currently 4:21pm for us), we will inevitably be in the dark at some point during our daily afternoon walk. Our youngest doesn’t out of school until after 3:30pm, so that really doesn’t leave us a lot of daylight.

I’m not willing to give that outdoor time up. Over the years, we have figured out strategies to stay safe walking in the dark. To tell you the truth, when we lived in the city, it wasn’t a huge concern of ours. Living in such density comes with a lot of light and activity! Don’t get me wrong, we took precautions, but not to the extent we do now that we live in a more suburban area.

How We Stay Safe While Walking at Night

Gear! We wear safety vests that reflect so that cars can spot us more easily. In addition, we wear hats with built in head lamps, and sometimes carry flashlights. When we had kids in the stroller, we added reflective stickers, so it was always visible to traffic. Our dog even had a light on his collar!

Some of the gear that we find helpful for walking in the dark:

• Reflective Vests: We purchased several safety vests locally from a shop in the mall called Five Star Work Gear. They were very inexpensive, and Georgia and I were able to find our vest in pink (bonus)! Many running companies make reflective gear as well:
  • Amphipod Xinglet Reflective Vest (Bergen uses this one)
  • Similar Less Expensive Reflective Vest
• Light hats: We used to just put a head lamp over our hat, but recently more and more brands have come up with “light hats’ as we call them.
  • LLBean Pathfinder Beanie
  • Knitted Winter Hat with Rechargeable LED light
• Reflective Stickers for Stroller: Inexpensive, and make a huge difference in visibility at night, especially since the stroller is traveling ahead of those walking with it.
• Dog Collar Light: We don’t currently have a dog, but when we did (Norman), we attached a light like this to his collar for even more visibility at night.

Lighted Pathways! We tend to stick to well-lit paths when possible and try to walk in areas that have a lot of foot traffic. Alternatively, we also choose to walk in the woods (or in our old neighborhood, the arboretum), and just bring flashlights, and use our light hats to light the way. No cars to worry about in these areas, and it makes for a quiet, peaceful experience that is remarkably different than during the day light hours!

Pay Attention! Just like our parents taught us, we stay aware of our surroundings. It’s best to avoid distractions like phones, so we can pay attention to the world around us. When walking in the dark, we have to be even more vigilant about making safe choices, staying alert, and using all of our senses to anticipate traffic.

Have a Plan! We learned this the hard way after moving last year. Not all walking routes are created equal. It took some adjustment, but it was worth the investment of time to figure out routes that work best. We suggest studying your neighborhood, and the neighborhoods nearby to find destinations that have lights such as playfields or other parks and recreation centers that may have night activities.

Do you walk at night? What do you enjoy about it?

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