Night Discernability
Night Time Sight Distances
*Denotes that the number was estimated based upon other results given
The darker the pedestrian's clothing at night, the closer the driver will be before the driver perceives the pedestrian.
These numbers (in feet) were collected from observes who were in a moving vehicle with low beam Halogen headlights and were asked to look for pedestrians. They pedestrians were stationary and were in unlit environments. IN the research by Muttart, two of 40 subjects exposed to the 3 retroflective colors, failed to detect the pedestrian at all while 10 of 39 subjects failed to detect the pedestrian with the yellow shirt. Muttart's research was conducted in real traffic that was moderate to heavy in the evening and lighter in traffic during the later hours of the evening. The research by Turner et al and Muttart involved responses in areas where cones or traffic signals had been placed.
Research involving stationary observers, observations in stark environments or observation distances derived form viewing video recorded scenes have produced results that do not coincide with the results of Olson et al, Muttart or Turner et al.
Response to Standing Pedestrian
- These results were obtained with high beams and all young observers.
- All Subjects were told to look for pedestrians
- Subjects were traveling at 25 mph
The distances may vary depending upon the environment (lighting, background, number of stimuli, anticipation, movement of the pedestrian, different stimulus-response situations, etc...). Also, these distances do not account for the driver's cognitive and motor responses one the object is detected.
