Improving Pedestrian Conspicuity at Night: Testing the Efficacy of an Educational Intervention

Most pedestrian fatalities happen at night, and poor conspicuity has been identified as a critical problem. Researchers understand what typical pedestrians do not: At night, a pedestrian’s conspicuity heavily depends on contrast and the presence or absence of retroreflective markings and biological motion. This experiment aims to evaluate the impact of an 11-min educational video that explains these critical concepts. Half of the participants will view the video while the other half will not. All participants will provide quantitative estimates of the nighttime conspicuity and safety of a pedestrian wearing each of five clothing configurations. We hypothesize that participants who view the video will exhibit improved comprehension of safety-relevant concepts and the visual challenges experienced by drivers at night. This research could underscore the value of online interventions in educating road users about critical concepts that impact nighttime conspicuity, thereby encouraging them to adopt evidence-based methods to enhance their conspicuity.