Study on the Improvement of Pedestrian and Vehicle Visibility by Geometric Patterns Projection Lighting

The proportion of pedestrian fatalities due to traffic accidents is higher at night than during the day. Drivers can more easily recognize pedestrians by setting their headlights to high beam, but use of high beam poses the issue of increasing glare for pedestrians. This study proposes a lighting technology that increases the noticeability of pedestrians for drivers and the noticeability of approaching vehicles for pedestrians while at the same time helping to reduce glare for pedestrians. The newly designed lighting enables geometric patterns projection lighting that makes use of projection technology. This geometric pattern projection lighting was compared with conventional low beam and high beam headlights to verify the effectiveness. Tests were conducted on a closed course with the participation of 20 drivers to evaluate the functionality of each headlight type. In these tests, subjects performed specific tasks such as evaluation of pedestrian visibility from the driver’s point of view, and noticeability of approaching vehicles and glare from the pedestrian’s point of view. Human subject tests used an experimental design in which study subjects experienced all three types of headlights in multiple trials. The results showed that while high beam provided the longest visibility distance, the glare was also the greatest. Geometric patterns projection lighting was shown to be better than low beam in both pedestrian visibility distance and distance at which an approaching vehicle is noticed. Overall, geometric patterns projection lighting was able to achieve a good balance between visibility distance and lower glare, and was verified to be a promising means of increasing visibility for drivers at night.