00492055

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1989/1213/1213-006.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...hlen&publication_year=1989

Past investigations and experimental studies dealing with the visual detection of either nonreflectorized or reflectorized objects or targets in the driving environment at night have been limited primarily to foveal or line-of-sight visual detection. A geometric model is developed to analyze reflectorized targets located ahead of a car at different locations along a tangent-curve and curve-tangent section of a highway. Typical night driving eye scanning data are also presented. The model demonstrates that in many cases unknown or unexpected reflectorized targets, such as a reflectorized license plate or an advance warning sign, will appear initially at moderately large peripheral angles up to 15 deg or more away from a driver's foveal eye fixation point, or line of sight. A field study involving the foveal and peripheral detection of a reflectorized target is presented to show that peripheral visual detection distances decrease considerably as the peripheral visual angle away from the fovea, or line of sight, increases. A 10 deg peripheral visual detection angle results in an average visual detection distance approximately one-half of the average foveal detection distance. It is concluded that in a situation where drivers approach or negotiate a curve at night, where reflectorized objects or targets will become visible for the first time probably in the periphery of a driver's visual field, and where there is a need for early detection, the reflectivity of the target should be increased to ensure timely recognition, information processing, and decision making, and appropriate control actions.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1213, Human Performance and Highway Visibility: Design, Safety, and Methods. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

01414055

p. 35-46

1989

Transportation Research Record

0309048095

Figures (9) ; References (7) ; Tables (1)

Angularity; Detection and identification; Detectors; Distance; Drivers; Field studies; Highway curves; Mathematical models; Night; Perception; Peripheral vision; Reflectivity; Tracking systems; Visibility; Vision

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

TRIS, TRB

Mar 31 2000 12:00AM

• AN ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR DRIVER RESPONSE
• DATA ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM BASED ON A LAP-TOP COMPUTER
• DRIVER BEHAVIOR MODEL OF MERGING
• EFFECTS OF LIGHT SOURCES ON HIGHWAY SIGN COLOR RECOGNITION
• FACTORS AFFECTING SPEED VARIANCE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ACCIDENTS
• MEASURING ROAD USER BEHAVIOR WITH AN INSTRUMENTED CAR AND AN OUTSIDE-THE-VEHICLE VIDEO OBSERVATION TECHNIQUE
• PCDETECT: A REVISED VERSION OF THE DETECT SEEING DISTANCE MODEL
• REDESIGN AND EVALUATION OF SELECTED WORK ZONE SIGN SYMBOLS
• SIGN LUMINANCE AS A METHODOLOGY FOR MATCHING DRIVER NEEDS, ROADWAY VARIABLES, AND SIGNING MATERIALS
• SUPPLEMENTAL INTERCHANGE SIGNING AND DRIVER CONTROL BEHAVIOR