The Effectiveness of Educating Pedestrians about their own Nighttime Visibility

Pedestrians consistently overestimate their visibility at night. This experiment examined the effectiveness of several strategies of educating pedestrians about their own nighttime visibility. Forty-eight undergraduates were assigned to one of four groups: Lecture, Demo, Combo, or Control. Several weeks prior to data collection, participants in the Lecture and Combo groups had heard a lecture on applied visual physiology in their Introductory Psychology course. Immediately before data collection, participants in the Demo and Combo groups sat in a car and watched a nighttime pedestrian visibility demonstration. Under various clothing and illumination configurations, all participants walked towards a stationary car until they believed they were recognizable as a pedestrian. The lecture significantly reduced estimated visibility distances. This result is encouraging since it suggests public education efforts may be useful. The demonstration did not produce significant changes when participants wore either white or black clothing, but significantly increased estimates when wearing retroreflective strips.