Presentation
Improving Pedestrian Conspicuity at Night: Testing the Efficacy of an Educational Intervention
DescriptionMost nighttime pedestrian fatalities are attributable to poor visibility, emphasizing the need for innovative strategies to educate road users. Retroreflective materials enhance contrast at night and are especially effective when positioned on pedestrians’ extremities. However, they are underutilized, possibly due to pedestrians’ unawareness of their reduced nighttime visibility. This experiment aims to evaluate the impact of an educational video that explains critical visual perception concepts. Participants will evaluate daytime photographs featuring a pedestrian in five distinct clothing configurations, estimating the pedestrian’s recognition distance, perceived visibility and safety, ranking the visibility of each outfit, and responding to video comprehension questions. The study anticipates findings consistent with past research. Participants viewing the video should exhibit improved nighttime visibility comprehension compared to control. This research underscores the potential of online interventions to raise pedestrians’ awareness of visibility concepts, enabling them to enhance their visibility to drivers, thereby reducing risks associated with nighttime traffic.
Event Type
Lecture
TimeFriday, September 13th10:25am - 10:45am MST
LocationFLW Salon I
Student Forum