EFFECTS OF RETROREFLECTOR POSITIONING ON NIGHTTIME RECOGNITION OF PEDESTRIANS

This held study investigated potential effects of retroreflector posit ioning 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 ea ch retroreflector configuration yielded significantly longer recogniti on distances than the no-retroreflector configuration. More importantl y, the retroreflective markings attached to the limbs led to significa ntly longer (about 60-80%) recognition distances than when the retrore flective markings were attached to the torso. Furthermore, a pedestria n was more recognizable while crossing the road than while approaching the subject vehicle, except for configurations involving no retrorefl ective markings. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd