On-road measures of pedestrians' estimates of their own nighttime conspicuity.
OBJECTIVE
Most pedestrian fatalities occur at night. Although researchers have long understood that drivers have difficulty seeing pedestrians at night and that reflective clothing can dramatically enhance pedestrian conspicuity, the extent to which pedestrians understand these facts is unclear. This experiment quantified pedestrians' estimates of the ability of an approaching driver to recognize the presence of roadside pedestrians.


METHODS
Ten younger and 10 older participants walked in place on the far shoulder of a closed-road circuit and pressed a button when they were confident that the approaching driver could first recognize that a pedestrian was present.


RESULTS
Pedestrians overestimated their visibility and dramatically underestimated the benefit of conspicuity treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that pedestrians fail to understand the magnitude of the nighttime conspicuity problem and the value of conspicuity treatments. Pedestrians may therefore unknowingly place themselves in danger at night.


CONCLUSIONS
These results underscore the need to educate pedestrians about the dangers of interacting with traffic at night and about treatments that increase their safety.
Tyrrell
Richard A
RA
Department of Psychology, Clemson University, 418 Brackett Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-1355, USA. tyrrell@clemenson.edu
Wood
Joanne M
JM
Carberry
Trent P
TP
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009755:Night Blindness; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014792:Visual Acuity; D016138:Walking / Q000523:psychology*