Effects of retroreflector positioning on nighttime recognition of pedestrians

This field study investigated potential effects of retroreflector positioning on recognition of nighttime pedestrians. The subject's task was to press a response button whenever he/she recognized a pedestrian on or alongside the road, while in a car with low-beam lamps on that was driven at a constant speed on a dark road. The results showed that each retroreflector configuration yielded significantly longer recognition distances than the no-retroreflector configuration. More importantly, the retroreflective markings attached to the limbs led to significantly longer (about 60-80%) recognition distances than when the retroreflective markings were attached to the torso. Furthermore, a pedestrian was more recognizable while crossing the road than while approaching the subject vehicle, except for configurations involving no retroreflective markings.