The Effects of Car Headlight Height on the Amount of Light Reflected and Visibility for Different Reflective Apparel
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Physics
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
Reduced visibility at night is a significant cause of many night time pedestrian casualties, and the ability for a pedestrian to be easily seen can be the difference between life and death. Reflective clothing can be used by pedestrians to increase their conspicuity, making it easier for drivers to see pedestrians and giving drivers more time to react and avoid a collision with the pedestrian. The purpose of this research was to provide a comparison between four clothing types, a reflective vest, the reflective bands, the white shirt, and a black shirt. The hypothesis would reflect the most light for the light reflected trials with the Forerunner and the Corolla headlight height. For the visibility trials, it was hypothesized that the reflective bands would have the longest distance at the corolla headlight height, and the reflective vest would have the longest distance for the Forerunner headlight height. For the first experiment, a light sensor was used to determine the amount of light reflected by each type of reflective clothing worn by a pedestrian standing approximately 1 meter in front of each vehicle type. Subsequently, pedestrian visibility was tested by having a human wearing one of the four randomly selected types of clothing, standing 215 m from the vehicle. The hypothesis was supported regarding the lux trials by the One Way ANOVAs, but was not supported for the distance trials, due to the vest being more effective for both headlight heights. A One Way ANOVA was used to analyze the data.
Recommended Citation
Wyatt, Lucas, "The Effects of Car Headlight Height on the Amount of Light Reflected and Visibility for Different Reflective Apparel" (2023). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 46.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2023/all/46
Location
ECL 116
Start Date
3-25-2023 11:30 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The Effects of Car Headlight Height on the Amount of Light Reflected and Visibility for Different Reflective Apparel
ECL 116
Reduced visibility at night is a significant cause of many night time pedestrian casualties, and the ability for a pedestrian to be easily seen can be the difference between life and death. Reflective clothing can be used by pedestrians to increase their conspicuity, making it easier for drivers to see pedestrians and giving drivers more time to react and avoid a collision with the pedestrian. The purpose of this research was to provide a comparison between four clothing types, a reflective vest, the reflective bands, the white shirt, and a black shirt. The hypothesis would reflect the most light for the light reflected trials with the Forerunner and the Corolla headlight height. For the visibility trials, it was hypothesized that the reflective bands would have the longest distance at the corolla headlight height, and the reflective vest would have the longest distance for the Forerunner headlight height. For the first experiment, a light sensor was used to determine the amount of light reflected by each type of reflective clothing worn by a pedestrian standing approximately 1 meter in front of each vehicle type. Subsequently, pedestrian visibility was tested by having a human wearing one of the four randomly selected types of clothing, standing 215 m from the vehicle. The hypothesis was supported regarding the lux trials by the One Way ANOVAs, but was not supported for the distance trials, due to the vest being more effective for both headlight heights. A One Way ANOVA was used to analyze the data.
