• 한국도로학회논문집
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• 제17권5호
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• pp.57-66
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• 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.

• 한국ITS학회 논문지
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.12-26
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• 2014

이 연구에서는 교통사고 영향요인 중 야간의 시인성 저하가 교통사고 발생에 미치는 영향을 진단하였다. 연구를 위해 경기지역의 경부선, 서해안선, 영동선, 서울외곽순환고속도로의 기본구간을 58개의 소구간으로 분할하였고, 2009년에서 2012년 상반기까지 소구간에서 발생한 교통사고 410건을 이용하여 야간의 어두움으로 인한 시인성 저하가 교통사고에 미치는 영향을 진단하였다. 실험방법은 준실험설계를 준용하여 시인성 외 교통사고에 영향을 주는 변인을 통제하고 음이항 회귀분석을 활용하였다. 조사 결과, 맑음 기상조건에서의 LOS A 상태 등 특정조건에서 주간과 야간의 시인성 차이가 교통사고 발생에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 진단되었다. 그리고 진단 결과를 이용하여 교통사고의 유형과 원인에 대하여 다양한 분석을 시도하였다.

• 한국생활과학회지
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.1053-1062
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• 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.

• 한국도로학회논문집
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.127-134
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• 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.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.575-584
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• 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.

• 한국도로학회논문집
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.165-173
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• 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.

• 한국도로학회논문집
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.127-134
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• 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.

• 대한전자공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전자공학회 2000년도 추계종합학술대회 논문집(4)
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• pp.69-72
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• 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.

• 한국도로학회논문집
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.131-140
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• 2012

노면표시에 도포된 굴절률 1.5 유리알은 야간 우천 시 효과적인 재귀반사를 수행하지 못하여 교통안전에 심각한 문제를 초래하고 있다. 이를 극복하기 위해 습윤상태에서 효과적 재귀반사를 수행하는 굴절률 2.4인 우천형 bead와 건조 시 최적의 재귀반사를 수행해 내는 굴절률 1.9 bead를 혼합한다. 그러나 고성능의 굴절률 1.9와 2.4 bead는 기존 1.5 유리알에 비해 상당한 고가이므로 전량 사용하기에는 상당한 비용이 소요된다. 따라서 현장 설치 시에는 서로 혼합하여 사용하는 것이 바람직하며, 최적 성능과 소요 비용을 고려한 적정 배합비율을 찾아내는 것이 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 다양한 비율로 혼합된 bead를 국내 고속도로의 길가장자리선에 설치하였을 때 발생되는 각각의 비용 및 편익에 따른 경제성 분석을 수행하였다. 분석 수행결과, 다양한 강수량 변화에도 높은 시인성을 유지하는 대안은 굴절률 2.4가 100% 구성된 차선으로 나타났으며, 경제성이 가장 높게 확보되는 대안은 굴절률 1.5가 80%, 2.4가 20%로 구성된 차선으로 B/C는 약 1.92 수준으로 도출되어 국내 고속도로 길가장자리선의 적용 시 가장 효과적인 대안인 것으로 확인되었다. 아울러 연구의 한계와 몇몇 장래 연구과제가 토의되었다.

• 한국태양에너지학회 논문집
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.49-55
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• 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.