Day or night, retroreflective and light-up gear can save pedestrians’ and cyclists’ lives

Moreover, wearing retroreflective strips on moving joints of the body like arms, knees, wrists, and ankles has also been shown to greatly increase pedestrian visibility. A study found that participants in a moving vehicle noticed pedestrians who wore retroreflective strips on their arms and legs at distances that were 10 times longer than when the pedestrian was just wearing a retroreflective vest on their chest. This is called biological motion or biomotion…

A pilot study that I led compared the visibility of bicycle mounted lights and bicyclist worn retroreflective materials on roads during both night and day conditions. In this study participants driving a vehicle on a public road, and the distances at which they were able to detect bicyclists equipped with different kinds of visibility enhancing devices like flashing lights, steady-on lights, and biomotion bands were compared. Flashing head and tail lights were detected from farther away than biomotion bands during both day and night.
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