Using retro-reflective cloth to enhance drivers’ judgment of pedestrian walking direction at night-time

Abstract

Purpose: Fatal pedestrian collisions are over-represented at night and poor conspicuity is believed to be a leading causative factor. Retro-reflective clothing enhances pedestrian conspicuity, particularly when placed in a biological motion or “biomotion” configuration. In this study, we explored how various retro-reflective clothing configurations affected the ability to judge the direction of a pedestrian walking across the road, which has important implications for collision avoidance. Methods: Participants included 21 young drivers (mean age 21.6 ± 2.0 years) with normal vision. A closed-road circuit was used to assess the accuracy of drivers’ judgement of the direction of walking of a pedestrian at night-time wearing one of five different clothing configurations: four with retro-reflective materials placed in different locations (Biomotion, Legs + Torso, Torso Only, Legs Only), and a control wearing only black clothing (Street). Participants were seated in a stationary vehicle with low beam headlamps, 135 m from a pedestrian, who walked across the road from both sides, in different directions (towards the car, straight across the road, or away from the car). Outcome measures included drivers’ response accuracy and confidence ratings for judging pedestrian walking direction. Results: Accuracy in judging pedestrian walking direction differed significantly across the clothing configurations (p < 0.001). Response accuracy was significantly higher for the Biomotion configuration (80% correct), compared to the other retro-reflective (Legs + Torso 64%; Torso Only 53%; Legs Only 50%) and Street configurations (33%). Similar trends were noted for confidence ratings across the clothing conditions, yet the relationship between confidence ratings and response accuracy within each clothing configurations was poor. Conclusions: The use of retro-reflective clothing in a biomotion configuration facilitated the highest accuracy and confidence in drivers’ judgment of pedestrian walking direction, compared to other configurations. These findings highlight the importance of using biomotion clothing for pedestrians at night, to not only facilitate drivers’ earlier recognition of pedestrians, but also increase their accuracy in determining the walking direction of pedestrians as they cross the road. Practical applications: The use of clothing incorporating retro-reflective material in a biomotion configuration for pedestrians crossing roads at night provides enhanced cues for drivers regarding the presence and walking direction of pedestrians.