Article ID: | iaor1998306 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 28 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 377 |
End Page Number: | 383 |
Publication Date: | May 1996 |
Journal: | Accident Analysis and Prevention |
Authors: | Luoma Juha, Schumann Josef, Traube Eric C. |
Keywords: | transportation (foot) |
The field study investigated potential effects of retroreflector positioning on recognition of nighttime pedestrians. The subject’s task was to press a response button whenever he/she recognized a pedestrian on or alongside the road, while in a car with low-beam lamps on that was driven at a constant speed on a dark road. The results showed that each retroreflector configuration yielded significantly longer recognition distances than the no-retroreflector configuration. More importantly, the retroreflective markings attached to the limbs led to significantly longer (about 60–80%) recognition distances than when the retroreflective markings were attached to the torso. Furthermore, a pedestrian was more recognizable while crossing the road than while approaching the subject vehicle, except for configurations involving no retroreflective markings.