Increasing the visibility of a running tether

Penny Stevenson on left of photo guided by Pam Cook on right. Hip tether in between with a pink safety flag hanging off the tether between them

A close up of the back (front facing) not showing safety pin attachments

A view of the hip tether attached to running belt with flag attached

By Penny Stevenson

You’re in a race, maybe grabbing a drink and someone tries to get in between you and your Guide because your hip tether is invisible.

I’ve long thought one of those safety triangles that are used on worksites would be useful to stop runners from running between myself and my guide, but I only wanted one, not an entire string of safety triangles!

The other day I was walking and something bright caught my eye, it was one of these triangles lying on the ground. Perfect! Time to test my theory.

It is made from a plasticy material and is quite rigid but not heavy.

I folded it over the tether and attached it with safety pins. The tether is still free to move and stretch.

My sighted guide and I tested it out at parkrun and whilst it might not solve the issue entirely (I’m sure that if it’s crowded people will still miss it), it provides another level of visibility.

At the time of writing, a 30m length of flags was available at Bunnings for $8.15

https://www.bunnings.com.au/brutus-30m-safety-flag-hanks_p1091338