20 drivers were selected for the test that had at least three years driving license and regularly rode. They were divided into two groups of ten - younger (21-34 years old) and older (60-75 years old), all of them wear the reflective vest. Their task was to travel 10 times almost 2 km of the road in night conditions. A section of the road was chosen, with curves and hills as well as straight sections.
The road was standard marked (vertical signs and horizontal marking), unlit. In addition, there are several lighthouses deployed by sensors that simulated the lights of vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.
Drivers rode Nissan Maxima from 1997. The car was equipped with cameras, sensors and equipment with a button that recorded the moment when the driver saw the pedestrian.
Pedestrians dressed in five types of clothes walked along the track chosen for the experiment:
- Black: black sweatshirt, pants, gloves and shoes
- Whites: white coat, white gloves and leggings
- In waistcoats: dressed as in black but with a yellow vest containing a reflective box at the chest level
- Safety: dressed as in the black version but with sewn reflectors in the wrists, elbows, arms, hips, knees and ankles
Pedestrians in each of these outfits appeared to the drivers twice - once when driving with the passing lights, once while driving with traffic lights. They also studied the perception of a pedestrian dressed in the same outfit, when he stood in the dark and in a place on the road, in which there were also distracting reflective cones.
It turned out that when driving with the lights on; the pedestrians dressed in black were practically not seen. Younger drivers dressed in white saw from about 50 m, the elders from a smaller distance. They were dressed in a vest with reflections and were noticed by young drivers from over 50 m, in older ones at a distance comparable to pedestrians dressed in white. The safety garment provided pedestrian visibility from over 200 m to young drivers and over 100 m to older drivers.
At traffic lights, younger drivers noticed pedestrians dressed in black with approx. 40 m, the older ones almost at all. Interestingly, both groups of drivers noticed faster pedestrians dressed in white (almost 150 m - young, about 75 m - older) than dressed in a safety vest with reflections (about 75 m - young, about 60 m - older). Reflective wipes were still unrivaled. Younger drivers saw such a pedestrian with more than 200 m, older - with almost 150 m.
