Measurement of Visibility Through Spray

This study attempts to predict the effect of visual impairment from simulated levels of splash and spray on target vehicle identification distances. Five levels of hand held spray simulation frames were used to compare image digitization methods with visual performance (Snellen acuity or contrast sensitivity) assessment to predict a drivers ability to identify an oncoming target vehicle. The image digitization process was found to be highly correlated with actual target vehicle identification distances. Additionally, very high correlations were found between Snellen acuity and contrast sensitivity and identification distance. There did not seem to be any great difference in predictive power of either method of visual performance assessment over the other.