• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.57-66
• /
• 2015

PURPOSES: Nighttime driving is very different from daytime driving because drivers must obtain nighttime sight-distances based on road lights and headlights. Unfortunately, nighttime driving conditions in Korea are far from ideal due to poor lighting and an insufficient number of road lights and inadequate operation and maintenance of delineators. This study is conducted to develop new standards for nighttime road visibility based on experiments of driver perception for nighttime visibility conditions. METHODS : In the study, perception level and satisfaction of nighttime visibility were investigated. A total of 60 drivers participated, including 34 older drivers and 31 young drivers. To evaluate driver perceptions of nighttime road visibility, fuzzy set theory was used because the conventional analysis methods for driver perception are limited in effectiveness for considering the characteristics of perception which are subjective and vague, and are generally expressed in terms of linguistic terminologies rather than numerical parameters. RESULTS : This study found that levels of nighttime visibility, as perceived by drivers, are remarkably similar to their satisfactions in different nighttime driving conditions with a log-function relationship. Older drivers evaluated unambiguously degree of nighttime visibility but evaluations by young drivers regarding it were unclear. CONCLUSIONS : A minimum value of brightness on roads was established as YUX 30, based on final analyzed results. In other words, road lights should be installed and operated to obtain more than YUX 30 brightness for the safety and comfort of nighttime driving.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.12-26
• /
• 2014

This Study deals with effect of low visibility condition at nighttime on traffic accident. Roads for experiment of this study are Gyeongbu expressway, Seohaean expressway, Yeongdong expressway and Seoul beltway in Gyeonggi province. For this study, I subdivided basic straight section of them into 58 short section. And I analyzed effect of low visibility condition by darkness at nighttime on traffic accident by using 410 traffic accidents between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2012 on those sections. The Quasi-experimental and negative binomial regression were applied to analyze effect of low visibility condition at nighttime on traffic accident. In this study, I only analyzed visibility difference of daytime and nighttime on traffic accident except other effective variables on traffic accidents. As a result, I have found that it is for low visibility condition at nighttime to have effect on traffic accidents at such specific conditions as Los A speed is maintained in basic straight section of expressway in fine weather. And I tried to do various analysis on types and causes of traffic accidents using the result of analysis.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1053-1062
• /
• 2010

To assist the further development of hight-visibility clothing this study compared the visibility and subjective wear sensation of commercial protective vests with retro-reflecting materials or LEDs. Nine subjects compared high-visibility vests to evaluate how easy they were to see when exposed to the headlight of a car at night, and the subjects assessed the wear sensation of the vests also. The intensity and visibility of five different colored LEDs assembled on the five substrates separately were also evaluated to select the suitable LED color for night protective clothing. The intensity of illumination was measured by an illuminometer, and the visibility was evaluated by 11 participants both in a dark room and in front of a car outdoors at night. Results showed, the most effective LEDs were high intensity LEDs which shift blinking red and white were most effective. However, excessively high intensity of illumination could decrease the working efficiency. In subjective wear evaluation, the most favorable vest had a front opening, were adjustable at the sides, and had an electric power switch on the front of the vest.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.127-134
• /
• 2016

PURPOSES : Visibility of lanes on the road improves as retro-reflectivity rises. This helps reduce traffic accidents at nighttime or in bad weather. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of improved visibility on reduction of traffic accidents when the color of the lane in the median of the highway was changed from yellow to white. METHODS : In order to evaluate the accident reduction effect of the white left shoulder line, Hauer (1997)'s Comparison-Group method was chosen as an analysis methodology. The JungBu-2 highway, which is equipped with the white left shoulder line and is in trial operation, was chosen as a target for analysis. Data of accidents for 10 months before and after installation was collected and analyzed. In addition to the number of accidents, the types of accidents were classified into nighttime accidents, accidents in bad weather, and median collisions. The accident reduction effect of improved visibility of lanes was analyzed. RESULTS : The analysis' finding showed that installation of the white left shoulder line decreased the number of accidents by 28%. Moreover, improvement in visibility was effective in reducing nighttime accidents by 67.63%, accidents in bad weather by 55.19%, and median collisions by 48.55%. CONCLUSIONS : Based on the analysis' results in this study, it was concluded that white left shoulder line on the freeway contributed to reduce traffic accidents, especially nighttime accidents, accidents in bad weather, and median collisions.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.575-584
• /
• 2010

The aim of study is to suggest the design procedure of automobile headlamp by considering driver's experience in regard of the visibility and glare during nighttime driving. The characteristics of driver were investigated in terms of the drivers' cognitive ability and reaction time, headlamp specification and visibility, light source and glare. And, the degree of visual discomfort was categorized and recognized as a tool to represent the subjective user experience. The UX point of view was stated when the existing results were seemingly lacking of it. The visual comfort and safety of elderly drivers were also discussed by reviewing the studies of ageing regarding the visibility and driving responses. Finally, this study suggested how to reduce the negative effect of nighttime driving due to the height of headlamp, angle of lighting, color spectrum, discomfort glare, source of light by using the UX perspective and methodology.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.165-173
• /
• 2017

PURPOSES : The current practice in car headlight visibility performance evaluation is based on the luminous intensity and illuminance of headlight. Such practice can be inappropriate from a visibility point of view where visibility indicates abilities to perceive an object ahead on the road. This study aimed at evaluating the appropriateness of current headlight evaluation method. METHODS : This study measured the luminance of object and road surface at unlit roadways. The variables were measured by vehicle type and by headlight lamp type. Based on the measurements, the distance where drivers can perceive an object ahead was calculated and then compared against such distance obtained by conventional visibility performance evaluation. RESULTS : The evaluation method based on illuminance of headlight is not appropriate when viewed from the visibility concept that is based on object-perceivable distance. Further, the results indicated a shorter object-perceiving distance even when road surface luminance is higher, thereby suggesting that illuminance of headlight and luminance of road surface are not the representative indices of nighttime visibility. CONCLUSIONS : Considering that this study utilized limited vehicle types and that road surface (background) luminance can vary depending on the characteristics of the given road surface, it would likely go too far to argue that this study's visibility performance evaluation results can get generalized to other conditions. Regardless, there is little doubt that the current performance evaluation criterion which is based on illuminance, is unreasonable. There should be future endeavors on the current subject which will need to explore study conditions further, under which more experiments should be conducted and effective methodologies developed for evaluating automotive headlight visibility performance. Needs are recognized particularly in the development of headlight visibility performance evaluation methodology which will take into account road surface (background) luminance and luminance contrast from various perspectives as the former indicates the driver's perception of the front road alignment and the latter being indicative of object perception performance.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.127-134
• /
• 2016

PURPOSES : Low visibility caused by dark surroundings at nighttime affects the likelihood of accidents, and various efforts, such as installing road safety facilities, have been made to reduce accidents at night. Despite these efforts, the nighttime severity index (SI) in Korea was higher than the daytime SI during 2011-2014. This study determined the factors affecting daytime and nighttime accident severity through a discriminant analysis. METHODS : Discriminant analysis. RESULTS : First, drowsiness, lack of attention, and lighting facilities affected both daytime and nighttime accident severity. Accidents were found to be caused by a low ability to recognize the driving conditions and a low obstacle avoidance capability. Second, road conditions and speeding affected only the daytime accident severity. Third, failure to maintain a safe distance significantly affected daytime accident severity and nonsignificantly affected nighttime accident severity. The majority of such accidents were caused by rear-end collisions of vehicles driving in the same direction; given the low relative speed difference in such cases, the shock imparted by the accidents was minimal. CONCLUSIONS : Accidents caused by a failure to maintain a safe distance has lower severity than do accidents caused by other factors.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2000.11d
• /
• pp.69-72
• /
• 2000

This study proposes a new calculation method for generating real nighttime lamp-lit images. In order to improve the color appearance in the prediction of a nighttime lamp-lighted scene, the lamp-lit image is synthesized based on spectral distribution using the estimated local spectral distribution of the headlamps and the surface reflectance of every object. The principal component analysis method is introduced to estimate the surface color of an object, and the local spectral distribution of the headlamps is calculated based on the illuminance data and spectral distribution of the illuminating headlamps. HID and halogen lamps are utilized to create beam patterns and captured road scenes are used as background images to simulate actual headlamp-lit images on a monitor. As a result, the reproduced images presented a color appearance that was very close to a real nighttime road image illuminated by single and multiple headlamps.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.131-140
• /
• 2012

Lane markings such as edgelines, centerlines, and lines that delineate lanes generally provide drivers with the various information for safe driving. Drivers can easily recognize the lane markings through the color differences between the markings and road surfaces during the daytime. However, it is a bit difficult for drivers to perceive them during the nighttime due to the lack of artificial lights. Although the glass beads with the 1.5-refractive index have been used to improve the visibility of the lane markings during the nighttime, it is still difficult for drivers to recognize the lane markings properly, especially during the rainy nighttime, which may often lead to traffic accidents. To improve the retroreflectivity and visibility of the lane markings during the rainy nighttime, the high refractive beads with the 2.4-refractive index are essentially required, but they do not work appropriately during the dry nighttime. Thus, the mixed materials with the 1.5, 1.9, and 2.4-refractive beads should be considered for the satisfactory implementation of the lane markings. This study reveals the best mixing rates of the beads by conducting benefit-cost analysis under various weather conditions in Korea. The analysis results show that the lane markings with the 100% of the 2.4-refractive beads provide the highest visibility of lane markings regardless of the roadway conditions, but the benefit-cost (B/C) ratio of the bead mixture is merely 0.46. The best mixing rate of the beads, from the highest B/C ratio viewpoint, was identified as the mixture with a 80% of 1.5-refractive beads and a 20% of 2.4-refractive beads. Some limitations and future research agenda have also been discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.49-55
• /
• 2008

The radiant cooling(RC) effects are studied during the winter night. The plate was viewing the nighttime sky. The data were collected at the rooftop of the Engineering building at the Dongguk University in Seoul, Korea. As observed during the summer night, the plate temperature was lower than ambient temperature under the RC favorable conditions. The parameters under study are the wind velocity, cloud index, and visibility for given system size and surface condition. The results follow the same tendency with these parameters as observed from the previous study for the summer night. As long as the wind velocity is less than around 2 m/s, the radiant cooling was observed with the system under study. In some cases, the radiant cooling temperature differences (RCTD) are higher than those for the summer night. The larger the RCTD as the wind velocity decreases and as the sky becomes clear.