The Effect of Glare on Visual Performance Under Reduced Headlamp Illumination

Target detection experiments were performed to examine the possibility of dimming forward lighting in lit areas while maintaining the drivers' visual performance, both with and without oncoming headlamp glare. These experimental results suggested that target detection distance was reduced as the eccentricity angle of targets increases; detection distance was reduced by up to 30 m with oncoming glare; and forward lighting systems only helped drivers detect targets located on the opponent side of oncoming glare at the highest eccentricity. These results implied that forward lighting systems can be dimmed to reduce glare without significantly impairing drivers' performance if fixed street lighting provides sufficient illuminance, therefore confirming the feasibility of AFS as a glare reduction measure.