THE EFFECT OF GLARE IN SIMULATED NIGHT DRIVING

TWO EXPERIMENTS WERE CARRIED OUT IN THE LABORATORY IN WHICH ILLUMINATION AND GLARE CONDITIONS IN NIGHT DRIVING WERE SIMULATED. STEERING ACCURACY WAS MEASURED AS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE. THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ROADWAY ILLUMINATION, GLARE ILLUMINATION, GLARE DURATION AND GLARE FREQUENCY WERE INVESTIGATED. IT WAS FOUND THAT THERE WERE NO DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE BETWEEN THE GLARE ILLUMINATION LEVELS USED IN THESE STUDIES, AND THAT THE DURATION AND FREQUENCY VARIABLES /WHICH REFLECT TRAFFIC SPEED AND DENSITY/ REQUIRED FURTHER CLARIFICATION. ROAD ILLUMINATION WAS CLEARLY IMPORTANT AS WELL AS THE OVERALL EFFECT OF GLARE IN TRACKING PERFORMANCE. THE PRESENCE OF HIGH ORDER INTERACTION EFFECTS SHOWED THAT THE INVESTIGATION OF THE GLARE PHENOMENON WAS COMPLEX. IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT THE GLARE HAZARD AND THE PROBLEMS OF NIGHT VISIBILITY COULD BE ALLEVIATED BY INCREASED REFLECTANCE OF ROAD SURFACES AND OBJECTS IN THE ROAD. WITH RESPECT TO THE GLARE SOURCE IT WAS FELT THAT THE POWER OF CURRENT HEADLAMP UNITS SHOULD NOT BE DECREASED SINCE THIS WOULD LEAD TO UNDESIRABLE LOSS IN ROAD ILLUMINATION. HEADLAMP UNITS WOULD REQUIRE FURTHER REDESIGN TO REDUCE GLARE. /AUTHOR/

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  • Authors:
    • Mortimer, Rudolf G
  • Publication Date: 1965

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 57-62
  • Monograph Title: Night Visibility 1963 and 1964
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00219548
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: HS-001 609
  • Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Dec 12 1994 12:00AM