Each year in Iran, 25,000 people are killed and 700,000 are injured in road-side accidents. The Iranian National Health Organization calls it “the leading preventable cause of death”. More than half of the deaths are pedestrians. And in almost all of the cases, the drivers say that they did not see the pedestrian until the moment of impact. Pedestrians are themselves partly to blame for their invisibility as many wear dark clothes, and especially women wearing the traditional black chador, risk getting hit by a car.

Glow Guardian is a reflective, traditional Islamic ornament printed on the black fabric of the chador. It makes the hijab into a tool that can help prevent personal injury collisions. A driver can only avoid an accident if the driver can see the pedestrian, and many female pedestrians in the Middle East are wearing black hijabs. Adding reflective patterns to their outfits will help decrease the number of roadside accidents.

The Glow Guardian seeks to prevent women from getting hurt or killed in traffic by applying reflective patterns to their black chadors. The patterns are inspired by traditional Islamic calligraphy.

Designed by
Raika Khorshidian and Maryam Heidaripour - Iran