The Accuracy of Drivers’ Judgments of the Effects of Headlight Glare on Pedestrian Recognition at Night

Abstract

In response to consumer complaints of being disabled by modern headlighting technologies, several recent studies have assessed whether drivers accurately assess the extent their ability to see is degraded by headlight glare. This research has suggested that drivers can overestimate the extent to which glare from headlights degrades their ability to see relatively simple stimuli. The present studies extended this research by quantifying the accuracy with which drivers judge that glare interferes with their ability to see pedestrians at night. In Experiment 1, 21 participants judged their ability to see a roadside pedestrian in two clothing configurations and with three intensities of glare present. In Experiment 2, 65 new participants responded to a roadside pedestrian in the same conditions. On average, participants overestimated the distance at which they would see a pedestrian by a factor of more than three. Interestingly, the participants’ overestimates were significantly greater when the pedestrian wore a retroreflective vest. The participants judged that headlight glare would have a larger effect on their ability to see a pedestrian who was not wearing retroreflective material than for a pedestrian who wore a retroreflective vest.