April 1984 DOT HS-806 563 Final Report F-. CONSPICUITY
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April 1984 DOT HS-806 563 Final Report F-. D CONSPICUITY FOR PEDESTRIANS AND BICYCLISTS: U.S. Department of Transportation DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM, DEVELOPMENT AND National Highway TEST OF COUNTERMEASURES. Traffic safety Administration Richard D. Blomberg Allen Hale David F. Preusser Dunlap and Associates East, Inc. 17 Washington Street Norwalk, Connecticut 06854 Contract No. DTNH22-80-C--07052 Contract Amount $223,061 This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest .of information exchange. The United States Govern ment assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. DOT HS 806 563 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date April 1984 Conspicu y for Pedestri ans and Bicyclists : it 6 . P er forming O rganization C o de Definition of the Problem, Development and Test of Countermeasures 8. Performing Organization Report No. 7. Author's) Richard D. Blomberg, Allen Hale and David F. Preusser ED84-1(301) 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Dunlap and Associates East, Inc. 17 Washington Street 11. Contract or Grant No. Norwalk CT 06854 DTNH22-80-C-07052 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Final Report U.S. Department of Transportation September 1980 - April 1984 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 400 Seventh Street, S.W. 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington DC 20590 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract A field experiment was conducted to determine the extent of conspicuity enhance ment provided pedestrians and bicyclists at night by var ious commercially available retroreflective materials and lights. The conspicuous materials were designed to be worn or carried by the pedestrians and bicyclists. Detection and recognition distances for the various experimental and baseline con ditions were determined using subjects driving instrumented vehicles over a predeter mined course on a real-world roadway system. Field experimenters were used to model the conspicuity-enhancing materials employing natural motion associated with '-walking and bicycling. The detection and recognition data collected for the experimental treatment are compared to respective baseline or untreated conditions and are interpreted in terms of various indices of "sufficient conspicuity." 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, Document is available to the U.S. public. Conspicuity, High Visibility Materials through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161 19. Security Clessif. (of this report) 20. Security Class! f. of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 128 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized i N r i w 6 I W Coq - 0 EL O e N e r * ^Q * * Q ai a till ill I N e +g -^ E _ _. E "E o Ft oz m m LI EP m IT LE m It m 11 • L S 11 E T IIIIIIII IIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIlltIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIII III IIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIII VIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII ii IIIIII/II III/II .I•I/III/IIIIII I III IIII I I.I.I. ** 9 • IM E E E e s « N U ST W b e rj < OO a N^C 0 WI .0,/0000100 t,. W O * I ii * DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADP4INISTi3ATION 0 TECHNICAL SUMMARY CONTRACTOR Dunlap and Associates East, Inc. CONTRACT NUMBER 17 Washington Street DTNH22-80-C-07052 Norwalk CT 06954 REPORT TITLE Conspicuity for Pedestrians and Bicyclists: REPORT DATE Definition of the Problem, Development and Test of Countermeasure April 1984. REPORT AUTHOR(S) Richard D. Blomberg, Allen Hale and David F. Preusser, Ph.D. This study was designed to identify and test countermeasures to improve the conspicuity of pedestrians and bicyclists. The field study, reported on in this final report was preceded by three principal analytical steps. , A comprehensive examination of the role of conspicuity, or lack thereof, in collisions between - motor vehicles and pedestrians /bicyclists was conducted coincident with the development of an operational definition of conspicuity. Existing accident data bases for bicycle/motor vehicle accidents (Cross and Fisher, 1977) and rural and suburban pedestrian crashes (Knoblauch, 1977) were re-analyzed to identify targets for countermeasure development. This analysis led to the selection of two accident types upon which to focus the countermeasure development, selection and testing processes. These accident types were "Type 25--Walking Along the Roadway" for pedestrians (Knoblauch, 1977) and "Type 13--Motorist Overtaking, Bicyclist Not Observed" (Cross and Fisher, 1977). Both principally involve a motorist at night, on a rural/suburban, two-lane road overtaking and striking a pedestrian /bicyclist along the side of the roadway. Although in many cases a substantial and unobstructed line of sight is available, the pedestrian or bicyclist is not seen until it is too late to avoid a collision. The telling features of this situation are darkness and dark clothing of the pedestrians and bicyclists. Clearly, effective enhancement of pedestrian and bicyclist conspicuity in this traffic situation has the potential to reduce substantially the risks to these individuals. While these accident types were selected as the focus for test efforts, other conspicuity-related situations were also identified as important but could not be addressed in the test phase with available resources. These included the situation of pedestrians and bicyclists who were not visible because a motorist's view was obstructed and the case of "camouflaged" pedestrians and, especially, bicyclists who, though theoretically visible in daylight or twilight conditions, were simply not detected by the motorist. A second preliminary step in the study was to perform an extensive literature review to provide background for both the development of countermeasures and the establishment of field test protocols. The results of this review indicated that there was virtually no information available on consumer attitudes towards conspicuity countermeasures. The literature also suggested that a controlled field test in which measurements were made with alerted subjects rather than an unobtrusive test in free-flowing traffic would (Continut ran additional pages) "PREPARED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF 1RANSPORTA1ION, NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION UNDER CONTRACT NO.i DTNH22-80-C-07052 THE OPINIONS, FINDINGS, AND CONCLUSIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION." HS Form 321 July 1974 iii be likely to provide the best information to meet the objectives of this study. Detailed descriptions of the reviewed literature were separately published as part of this study (Hale and Zeidler, 1984). A third preliminary step was undertaken to attempt to overcome the absence of "market" data on conspicuity-enhancing products. This step, conducted in cooperation with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee F-22 on. "High Visibility Materials for Individual Safety," involved a mailed survey of ASTM members. Responses from '2,864 ASTM members and their friends were collected and indicated a generally positive attitude towards the acquisition and use of conspicuity countermeasures costing up to $10.00. Above that price, interest diminished rapidly. Hence, the selection of countermeasures for testing gave first consideration to commercially available products which could likely be mass produced and sold for $10.00 or less. Although this sample was likely older and more technically oriented than the typical accident-involved pedestrian or bicyclist, the results were unique and therefore of value to the present effort. The basic orientation of the field study was to assess the relative benefits of various active (lights) and passive (retroreflective) materials to increase the nighttime conspicuity of pedestrians and bicyclists. Based on the results of preliminary steps and to maximize the generali z ability of results to the real-world traffic environment, the following experimental procedures were employed : o An operational highway environment with characteristics similar to the accident types being studied was secured and utilized for data collection. o Data were collected from alerted subjects driving instrumented vehicles using low beam headlights. The primary measures were "detection" and "recognition" distances'' for pedestrian and bicyclist targets with and without conspicuity-enhancing treatments. o Live models ("field experimenters") were used to display the pedestrian and bicyclist conspicuity enhancing treatments along with the motion associated with walking and pedaling in order to add realism. The field study was conducted on a section of the naturalistic (two lane with traffic control devices) roadway system of the Camp Atterbury U.S. Army Reserve Forces Training Area near Columbus, Indiana on the nights of October 2, 3 and 4, 1983. Due to military requirements and for the safety benefit of all study participants, vehicles other than the instrumented cars, were excluded from the experimental. course. The experimental conditions tested for pedestrians were: P1 Baseline Pedestrian--wearing an extra 'llarge, white tee shirt over outer clothing and blue jeans and walking in place (limb movement/only, no translational