Highway workers and many pedestrians and cyclists often wear high-visibility clothing to give themselves a better chance of being noticed by drivers, but new research shows that this type of clothing can actually prove challenging to detect for some crash avoidance systems.
The results of the testing from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show automakers will need to continue improving sensors and software designed to detect and ideally protect pedestrians, according to study author David Kidd, a senior research scientist.
“I think it points to the (fact that the) software or hardware behind these systems is brittle, it’s not robust,’ Kidd told the Free Press, noting that the systems don’t necessarily accommodate changes in pedestrian appearance.
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The study wasn’t comprehensive, being limited to three 2023 models, the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester, but it highlights the challenges at play for safety systems that many drivers rely on at night when so many pedestrian crashes occur. High numbers of pedestrian fatalities are a continuing problem in the United States, with more than 7,500 pedestrians killed on or along U.S. roads in 2022 alone.
In the IIHS study, the Forester had significantly better results than the other vehicles.
“Two models, the Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5, failed to slow at all in the scenarios with reflective striped clothing. The CR-V also didn’t slow in the fully reflective jacket scenarios. Their performance was mixed in the other scenarios. The third vehicle, a Subaru Forester, avoided crashes completely in nearly all the scenarios, though it did impact the dummy clad in reflective strips in one lighting condition,” according to a news release.
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The study used an adult-size dummy in varying levels of illumination wearing white or black clothing and at times with various retroreflective items. The release noted that retroreflective strips were similar to those used by highway workers, but their gear is usually orange or yellow rather than black.
Kidd, the study author, said these types of safety systems are still in their infancy and are often effective at preventing pedestrian crashes during the day, but this study shows an area for improvement, accounting for common types of clothing worn at night.
Despite the study findings, Kidd encouraged pedestrians to wear clothing that makes them easier to see at night.
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