The Benefits and Many Uses of Reflective Tape

You’ve probably come across a reflective tape numerous times throughout your life and never put a second thought into why it might be there and what its purpose is. You might have seen it on trucks, bicycles, in a warehouse, manufacturing plants or construction sites and wondered what all of these things have in common. These are all instances where the chances of an accident are higher than normal, which is why reflective safety tape is used as a safety measure.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the features of reflective safety tape, it’s basically a tape that reflects any light that comes in contact with it, even if it’s in low light conditions. That makes reflective tape a common safety measure used in a wide range of industrial applications and even in everyday life. In fact, you can use reflective tape for a lot of things that you might not have even thought of.

You can use it for sports activities. For instance, a boating crew that’s returning at dusk just after the sun has set can greatly benefit from reflective tape as it can be used to guide them to the dock. Similarly, a small fishing boat can have a bit of reflective tape applied to its sides to help other boats in proximity to identify it at night. Campers and can also take advantage of reflective tape, as it can help them to easier find their camp after they’ve been out hunting or hiking.

Furthermore, they can be used on means of transportation, including cars, trucks, trailers, bicycles, etc. For the most part, reflective tape is used on commercial vehicles, but people who haul trailers also use them to increase the visibility on the trailer. Snow plows, garbage trucks, mail trucks, construction, and landscaping vehicles can all benefit from adding reflective tape to the sides, simply because these vehicles are driven slowly and frequently park on the side of narrow streets.

But the aforementioned uses of reflective tape aren’t what reflective tape was originally made for. Its main purpose is marking driveways, parking lots and roadways. Backing up in an unmarked or curvy driveway that has obstructions on both sides can be quite the struggle without the proper vision. This is where reflective tape comes into play – you can use it to mark the edges around the driveway to improve situational awareness. Alternatively, you can use it to mark nearby obstacles and objects so that you can see how close you are to them when maneuvering.