Pedestrians’ Estimates of Their Own Visibility at Night Are Not Reduced When Headlights Are Severely Weakened

Abstract

Although it is clear that pedestrians typically overestimate how conspicuous they are to oncoming drivers at night, little is known about the factors that affect pedestrians’ estimates of their own conspicuity. This study explored the extent to which pedestrians judge that their own conspicuity is affected by headlight intensity and their clothing. Forty eight participants walked to and from a parked vehicle until they felt they were conspicuous to the driver. Unknown to the participants, headlight intensity was manipulated between subjects by filtering the vehicle’s high beams. Estimated recognition distances did not change with variations in headlight intensity even when up to 97% of the illumination from the headlights was blocked. This suggests that when pedestrians judge their own conspicuity they do not consider the magnitude of the headlight illumination that reaches them. Participants estimated that their recognition distances were only somewhat shorter when wearing black clothing relative to more reflective clothing. Together these findings underscore the need to educate pedestrians about their own nighttime conspicuity.