Using biological motion to enhance the conspicuity of roadway workers

Clinical and Experimental Optometry

Owens

et al. 2016

Drivers' visual limitations are a leading contributor to night-time traffic crashes involving pedestrians. This paper reviews the basic changes in vision that occur at night for young and old visually healthy drivers, as well as those with common ocular pathology. To maximise their safety at night, pedestrians should be conspicuous. That is, beyond being simply visible (detectable as an ambiguous object), they should attract the attention of drivers and be readily perceivable as pedestrians. Research has established that the conspicuity of pedestrians can be optimised by attaching retroreflective markings to the pedestrian's extremities. Doing so highlights the pedestrian's 'biological motion,' which facilitates the accurate perception of a person; however, retroreflective markings on the torso (for example, vests) are less effective. Importantly, behavioural evidence indicates that most road users -drivers and pedestrians alikeare not aware of the limitations of night vision. For example, drivers typically 'overdrive' the useful range of their headlight beams and under-use their high beam headlight setting. Further, pedestrians overestimate their own conspicuity at night and fail to appreciate the extent to which their own conspicuity depends on their clothing. The widespread misunderstanding of the challenges associated with night driving reflects a lack of awareness of the fundamental limitations of night vision. Educational interventions are needed to ameliorate these dangerous misunderstandings and to improve the safety of all road users at night.

Section: Importance Of Clothing Characteristicssupporting

confidence: 72%

The conspicuity of pedestrians at night: a review

Tyrrell

Clinical and Experimental Optometry

Owens

et al. 2016

“…In this study, we quantified the responses of young visually normal drivers as they approached a pedestrian walking at night on the roadside while wearing clothing incorporating one of two configurations of retroreflective markings. The findings confirmed previous research demonstrating that the ability of drivers to recognise the presence of roadside pedestrians at night is significantly improved when the pedestrians are wearing retroreflective markings configured in a biomotion pattern . We also demonstrated for the first time that drivers could correctly identify the facing direction of pedestrians from a significantly longer distance when the pedestrian wore biomotion markings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This supports previous laboratory‐based research that has demonstrated that observers can quickly recognise a walking human form purely from the motion of points on the moveable joints of an otherwise invisible body, and even correctly judge characteristics of the walker, such as gender, body weight and action . Furthermore, the present research extends the results of earlier on‐road studies into the conspicuity of pedestrians at night . While recent work has also identified the important role that the motion of the feet have in judging the direction of walking in laboratory‐based studies, the resolution of the forward‐facing scene camera of the eye tracking system did not allow us to isolate the specific regions on the pedestrian which drivers fixated on, such as the movement of the feet.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Night‐time pedestrian conspicuity: effects of clothing on drivers’ eye movements

Ophthalmic Physiologic Optic

Tyrrell

Lacherez

et al. 2017

Self Cite

“…Building on this early work, researchers conducted studies on real roads, in order to better capture the visual characteristics of the nighttime road environment, and also found conspicuity advantages of retroreflective markers positioned in the biomotion configuration . In one closed road study, pedestrians walked in place on a closed road circuit wearing black or white clothing, black clothing with a retroreflective vest, or black clothing with retroreflective strips in the biomotion configuration .…”

Section: Visibility Of Vulnerable Road Usersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a subsequent closed‐road study demonstrated that the benefits of biomotion clothing for pedestrian recognition were independent of whether they were surrounded by cluttered retroreflective stimuli (cones, poles, and lights) or not . Consistent with this finding, studies have demonstrated that roadworkers walking in cluttered road construction sites are significantly more conspicuous to oncoming drivers when wearing biomotion markings in addition to a retroreflective vest than the retroreflective vest alone, both in closed and open road studies …”

Section: Visibility Of Vulnerable Road Usersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nighttime driving: visual, lighting and visibility challenges

Ophthalmic Physiologic Optic

2019

Purpose Nighttime driving is dangerous and is one of the most challenging driving situations for most drivers. Fatality rates are higher at night than in the day when adjusted for distances travelled, particularly for crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists. Although there are multiple contributory factors, the low light levels at night are believed to be the major cause of collisions with pedestrians and cyclists at night, most likely due to their reduced visibility. Understanding the visibility problems involved in nighttime driving is thus critical, given the increased risk to road safety. Recent Findings This review discusses research that highlights key differences in the nighttime road environment compared to the day and how this affects visual function and driving performance, together with an overview of studies investigating how driver age and visual status affect nighttime driving performance. Research that has focused on the visibility of vulnerable road users at nighttime (pedestrians and cyclists) is also included. Summary Collectively, the research evidence suggests that visual function is reduced under the mesopic lighting conditions of night driving and that these effects are exacerbated by increasing age and visual impairment. Light and glare from road lighting and headlights have significant impacts on vision and night driving and these effects are likely to change with evolving technologies, such as LED streetlighting and headlights. Research also highlights the importance of the visibility of vulnerable road users at night and the role of retroreflective clothing in the ‘biomotion’ configuration for improving their conspicuity and hence safety.