On-road measures of pedestrians’ estimates of their own nighttime conspicuity

Tyrrell, Richard A.; Wood, Joanne M.; Carberry, Trent P.

doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2004.06.004

Cited by 75 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…This is because pedestrians' behavior near traffic at night may be influenced to a great extent by a particular misunderstanding about how visible they are to drivers. A line of research extending back through most of the history of driving has demonstrated that pedestrians strongly overestimate the distances at which drivers can see them with typical headlamps (Ferguson & Geddes, 1941;Ferguson, 1944;Shinar, 1984;Tyrrell, Wood, & Carberry, 2004). Public information specifically addressing this misunderstanding might therefore be more effective than general appeals to be more careful at night.…”

Section: Known Countermeasuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traffic safety in the U.S.: Re-examining major opportunities

Sivak

Luoma

Flannagan

et al. 2007

Journal of Safety Research

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Based on current understanding of the five major risk factors, and of the available countermeasures, there appear to be a variety of opportunities to make substantial gains in road safety using existing knowledge. The limited implementation of a variety of known countermeasures therefore appears to be inconsistent with high-level, strategic goals to improve road safety. Consequently, a recommendation is made to comprehensively re-examine the balance between the countermeasures discussed in this article and economic, mobility, and privacy concerns. IMPACT ON PUBLIC SAFETY: Such a re-examination is likely to result in broad support for these countermeasures, with a consequent major improvement in road safety.

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Section: Known Countermeasuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traffic safety in the U.S.: Re-examining major opportunities

Sivak

Luoma

Flannagan

et al. 2007

Journal of Safety Research

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“…First, consider expectation: in some circumstances, a driver does not expect to encounter pedestrians and this reduces their conspicuity, 190 leading to the 'looked but didn't see' phenomenon. Second, pedestrians tend to render themselves less visible to drivers by wearing dark clothing; there is a tendency for pedestrians to over-estimate their visibility to drivers and under-estimate the benefit of reflective clothing, 191 and to avoid using devices known to significantly enhance visibility such as reflective markings to highlight bio-motion 190 or active visibility aids. 192 Third, a potentially significant approach to reducing accident frequency is to consider legal responsibility for accident compensation.…”

Section: Drivers' Detection Of Pedestriansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Road lighting research for drivers and pedestrians: The basis of luminance and illuminance recommendations

Fotios

Gibbons

2018

Lighting Research & Technology

111

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This article discusses quantitative recommendations for road lighting as given in guidelines and standards, primarily, the amount of light. The discussion is framed according to the type of road user, the driver and the pedestrian, these being the user groups associated with major and minor roads, respectively. Presented first is a brief history of road lighting standards, from early to current versions, and, where known, the basis of these standards. Recommendations for the amount of light do not appear to be well-founded in robust empirical evidence, or at least do not tend to reveal the nature of any evidence. This suggests a need to reconsider recommended light levels, a need reinforced by recent developments in the science and technology of lighting and of lighting research. To enable improved recommendations, there is a need for further evidence of the effects of changes in lighting: This article therefore discusses the findings of investigations, which might be considered when developing new standards.

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“…Ferguson concluded that participants overestimated their visibility "to a dangerous degree" with estimates typically exceeding their actual visibility by a sizable margin. Later studies confirmed this conclusion (Allen, Hazlett, Tacker, & Graham, 1970;Shinar, 1984;Tyrrell, Wood, & Carberry, 2004). Allen et al (1970) found that more than 95% of their participants overestimated their own visibility and that the participants" estimates were up to three times greater than their actual visibility distances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Pedestrians' Estimates of Their Own Visibility at Night Are Not Reduced When Headlights Are Severely Weakened

Whetsel¹,

Rosenberg²,

Balk³

et al. 2011

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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Although it is clear that pedestrians typically overestimate how conspicuous they are to oncoming drivers at night, little is known about the factors that affect pedestrians" estimates of their own conspicuity. This study explored the extent to which pedestrians judge that their own conspicuity is affected by headlight intensity and their clothing. Forty eight participants walked to and from a parked vehicle until they felt they were conspicuous to the driver. Unknown to the participants, headlight intensity was manipulated between subjects by filtering the vehicle"s high beams. Estimated recognition distances did not change with variations in headlight intensity even when up to 97% of the illumination from the headlights was blocked. This suggests that when pedestrians judge their own conspicuity they do not consider the magnitude of the headlight illumination that reaches them. Participants estimated that their recognition distances were only somewhat shorter when wearing black clothing relative to more reflective clothing. Together these findings underscore the need to educate pedestrians about their own nighttime conspicuity.

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On-road measures of pedestrians’ estimates of their own nighttime conspicuity

Cited by 75 publications

References 18 publications

Traffic safety in the U.S.: Re-examining major opportunities

Traffic safety in the U.S.: Re-examining major opportunities

Road lighting research for drivers and pedestrians: The basis of luminance and illuminance recommendations

Pedestrians' Estimates of Their Own Visibility at Night Are Not Reduced When Headlights Are Severely Weakened

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