01366122

Component

Crosswalk lighting is important because a substantial number of nighttime traffic-related fatalities involve pedestrians. Current recommendations for crosswalk lighting are based upon horizontal or vertical illuminance levels, but illuminance levels are not necessarily predictive of the visibility of pedestrians for drivers at night. Four pedestrian crosswalk lighting configurations were evaluated in an outdoor experiment in conjunction with low-beam vehicle headlamps: no fixed lighting, pole-mounted lighting directly over the crosswalk, pole-mounted lighting offset from the crosswalk, and a bollard lighting system. Adult- and child-sized, black silhouettes were used as targets. Subjects identified the orientation of a pedestrian target (facing left or facing right) on each trial as quickly as possible. The bollard-based system resulted in the shortest identification times. Importantly, the identification times were not well correlated with illuminance levels, but were strongly correlated with predictions of the speed and accuracy of detection based upon a visual performance model that considers observer age, target size, target contrast and background luminance.

01362476

12-3348

English

8p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Crosswalks; Drivers; Lighting; Night visibility; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrians; Visual perception

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-3348

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:16PM