Statpacks has made some of its packs and waistpacks with reflective material, and added the option of LED/fiber optic illumination. Here’s one of their models, the Manager.    We’ve seen other trauma bags with one or two strips of Scotchlite – but these are the first we’ve seen where virtually the entire outer surface is reflective.

They’re careful not to suggest that this would comply with ANSI Class III requirements – because a back or pack isn’t generally going to be visible 360 degrees around the person carrying it. We also don’t know whether they’re using  prismatic, higher-visibility reflective materials – like Reflexite – or not-as-reflective material like Scotchlite.

But this is an excellent design innovation. Anyone who’s watched news footage of EU member country emergency workers has seen pant legs and sleeves ringed with reflective material, on every hem and up, down, and around each garment component. Last night in Brooklyn, we saw a near-miss – a uniformed NYPD officer, trying to keep an intersection clear for ambulances and fire apparatus – nearly get hit by a marked NYPD car. Both cops – the one in the street and the driver – were doing their jobs right – but better “conspicuity” features on uniforms would reduce this risk. We would like to take credit for coining the term “conspicuity.” We wish we had.