The Effectiveness of Glare-Obscuring Glasses on Nighttime Driving Performance

Abstract

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GLARE-OBSCURING GLASSES ON NIGHTTIME DRIVING PERFORMANCE by Heath T. Friedland Currently no driver-aid system effectively addresses glare-reduction for oncoming headlights. Glare at night has the ability to decrease our visual acuity and cause discomfort or pain. This decreased visual ability constitutes an increased risk for driver error and a potential roadway safety hazard. The severity of these detrimental effects has previously been shown to increase with driver age and is thought to be further exacerbated by the increased brightness of High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights. In the current study, the effects of headlight glare from HID and halogen lights on driver performance was examined in a custom driving simulator. A novel polarized headlight glare-blocking system was also examined for its effectiveness in reducing headlight glare. Decreased visual field perception occurred across all age groups with the use of oncoming HID headlights compared to halogen headlights. In addition, older drivers' performance on the visual awareness task was significantly decreased as compared to their younger counterparts. The performance-restoring effects of the headlight-blocking system were especially beneficial to older adults exposed to HID headlights, restoring visual field perceptual abilities to nearly that of the younger age group. As even brighter LED-based headlights reach the automotive market in the midst of an expanding older driver population, it is urged that automotive manufacturers consider glare-mitigation strategies when designing current headlight systems. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who assisted in turning the concept for this thesis into a reality. I would like to thank my committee chair Dr. Sean Laraway for an outstanding amount of help with everything from the analysis to final edits, and everything in-between. When I came to you with the jumbled ball of yarn I called my data, you calmly and orderly untangled it in a way I could never have tackled on my own. This thesis never would have become a reality without your steadfast dedication and I am forever grateful. I would also like to sincerely thank my committee members Dr. Cary Feria and Dr. Louis Freund for their amazing diligence in supporting me through this process from conception to the final draft. I would like to thank my parents RuthAnn and Myles Friedland for their unwavering support which sustained me through this process, beginning to end, assisting me in overcoming each of many hurdles that stood in my path. I was ready to throw in the towel many times throughout this process and you never let me. I would also like to thank my sister, Kimberly Friedland, who voluntarily jumped in to save the day in a time of crisis, spending countless hours gathering participants from around campus, in quantities I did not believe were possible. Without her last minute and unrelenting help this elaborate experiment would have sat silently waiting for participants that otherwise wo...