The high-visibility vest, typically worn by police officers and those guys you see standing on the sides of highways leaning on shovels and road equipment, typically come in a very stylish day-glow orange, with either white or bright yellow reflective striping. Especially well-equipped versions may include embedded, battery-powered LEDs which blink when activated, allowing a greater degree of visibility when used in a nighttime environment.

The model I own, thanks to an impulsive decision at the local Value Village, comes with Velcro staps to adjust the vest to fit, and has strips of LEDs embedded in the front and back, powered by two ordinary AA batteries in a plastic holder - which has its own velcro pocket and a rubberized switch. I can only venture to guess that some highway worker, having left his job, kept his vest long enough to donate it. But to return to the details of its construction - it consists of three pieces of Dayglo orange nylon mesh, trimmed with the same colour - though I've seen and worn vests trimmed with black instead - attached to each other by velcro and by the wires connecting the lights. Reflector strips form an X on the back and line the "bottom" of each piece, and go along the 'v-seam' on the front, as the two front pieces attach only at the bottom. The front V and the back X are studded with lights; the bottom strips are not.

Of course, high-visibility vests are useful even for the general public; if you are a "Good Samaritan" and often stop at the sides of roads to assist disabled vehicles, it would be advisable to wear a high-visibility vest to (hopefully) avoid being the victim of an errant motorist. Beyond this, however, very few possible uses for the vest could not be fulfilled by using reflective clothing, which is less cumbersome and almost certainly more stylish.

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