Introducing the Lit Safety Vest
Cincinnati, Ohio Jul 5, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Kroeger
(513) 236-7864
Photos and video available
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A Cincinnati area police officer has changed the way U.S. law enforcement and other night-time workers are seen in darkness by developing a patented, highly lit safety vest. His goal: is to ensure that no more officers are struck by vehicles due to blurred visibility.
Officer Don Campbell was wearing his department-issued vest one evening when a well-meaning woman pulled her vehicle in front of his squad car. She rolled down her window and said, "Officer, I don't know if you are aware, but I drove past you and couldn't see you at all. Your vest was eclipsed by the light of your squad car."
Campbell saw it as an epiphany. He was well aware of the sobering statistics. Between 2009 and 2018 at least 531 law enforcement officers perished while working near a roadway. Campbell also had a heavy heart for Officer Dale Woods of nearby Colerain Township who had been recently struck and killed. He was 46 years old and left behind three children.
He kept asking himself, "Dale was just directing traffic after a road accident when a pickup truck struck him. Could his death have been prevented?"
The night after the kind woman informed him of his visibility challenge, Campbell and colleagues recreated the scene. Sure enough, tsquad car's lightscar and the highway's lamp posts lessened the glow of their safety vests. He also obtained the over 180-page report of the incident involving Officer Woods so that he could figure out just what happened, and what could be prevented in the future.
A tinkerer at heart, Campbell, 56, hunkered down in his basement and worked with a variety of materials and batteries. He knew red and blue were off-limits since they blended with cruiser lights. Using the purest bright white LED strips on the market, Campbell found the answer: lit, extremely bright, and rechargeable LED vest. It glows through porous fabric through which the strips placed inside the garment project a bright green glow through the small holes. The Lit Safety Vest was born. It glows for 12 straight hours with a light unlike any other. The battery is easily rechargeable and a switch can control the amount of light projected through the vest. It is short enough for officers to still easily reach for their side arms and equipment on their belts. Best of all, the Lit Vest illuminates the wearer's face, distinguishing the presence of an individual apart from any nearby vehicles or competing lights.
Campbell received a patent in March. Soon departments began clamoring to obtain the revolutionary vests. So far, he has had trouble keeping up with demand. The Cincinnati City Council voted to approve the Lit vest for all traffic units of the Cincinnati Police Department. Police and sheriff's departments in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are already using the vest with more squad rooms learning about it daily.
Milford, Ohio, Police Chief Jamey Mills' 21-officer department has been using the vests for a few months. He says he places the investment in the same category as ensuring that his officers have appropriate body armor.
"If I do everything I can to make sure my officers stay safe and can go home to their loved ones after their shift, then I'm doing my job," he believes. "Just about all of us, including myself, have been nearly clipped by a vehicle while on duty at night. If wearing this vest prevents just one accident, it's worth it."
The invention has led to a host of products including ball caps, the car and wall chargers, and special storage bags. Use isn't limited to just law enforcement. The Lit Safety Vest is also catching the eyes of EMTs, construction workers, motorcyclists, tow truck drivers, road construction crews, power company workers, trash collectors, airport workers, and firefighters.
Could the Lit Safety Vest have saved lives at the Travis Scott concert? Can construction workers have been found quicker in a recent building collapse?
"The bottom line is that I am passionate about the future of saving lives," says Officer Campbell. "I'm used to working nights and we face enough danger without having to worry about traffic mishaps. If this vest can save just one life, it's worth the time put into creating it."
For more information on the life-saving Lit Safety Vest
visit litsafetyproducts.com or #bestdamnvest on Facebook.
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Media Contact
Laura Kroeger, Communications Project Partners
Source :Lit Safety Products
This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.
