Law Teik Hua, Ghanbari Mahshid, Hamid Hussain, Abdul-Halin Alfian, Ng Choy Peng
Road Safety Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Selangor, Malaysia.
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Accid Anal Prev. 2016 Nov;96:64-70. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2016.04.013. Epub 2016 Aug 6.
Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable to injury in crashes with heavy vehicles due to substantial differences in vehicle mass, the degree of protection and speed. There is a considerable difference in height between motorcycles and trucks; motorcycles are viewed by truck drivers from downward angles, and shorter distances between them mean steeper downward angles. Hence, we anticipated that the effects of motorcycle conspicuity treatments would be different for truck drivers. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effects of motorcycle conspicuity treatments on the identification and detection of motorcycles by truck drivers. Two complementary experiments were performed; the first experiment assessed the impact of motorcycle sensory conspicuity on the ability of un-alerted truck drivers to detect motorcycles, and the second experiment assessed the motorcycle cognitive conspicuity to alerted truck drivers. The sensory conspicuity was measured in terms of motorcycle detection rates by un-alerted truck drivers when they were not anticipating a motorcycle within a realistic driving scene, while the cognitive conspicuity was determined by the time taken by alerted truck drivers to actively search for a motorcycle. In the first experiment, the participants were presented with 10 pictures and were instructed to report the kinds of vehicles that were presented in the pictures. Each picture was shown to the participants for 600ms. In the second experiment, the participants were presented with the same set of pictures and were instructed to respond by clicking the right button on a mouse as soon as they detected a motorcycle in the picture. The results indicate that the motorcycle detection rate increases, and the response time to search for a motorcycle decreases, as the distance between the targeted motorcycle and the viewer decreases. This is true regardless of the type of conspicuity treatment used. The use of daytime running headlights (DRH) was found to increase the detection rate and the identification of a motorcycle by a truck driver at a farther distance, but effect deteriorates as the distance decreases. The results show that the detection rate and the identification of a motorcyclist wearing a black helmet with a reflective sticker increases as the distance between the motorcycle and the truck decreases. We also found that a motorcyclist wearing a white helmet and a white outfit is more identifiable and detectable at both shorter and longer distances. In conclusion, although this study provides evidence that the use of appropriate conspicuity treatments enhances motorcycle conspicuity to truck drivers, we suggest that more attention should be paid to the effect of background environment on motorcycle conspicuity.
由于车辆质量、防护程度和速度存在显著差异，骑摩托车者在与重型车辆相撞时特别容易受伤。摩托车和卡车的高度有相当大的差别；卡车司机是从向下的角度看摩托车，而两者之间较短的距离意味着更陡峭的向下角度。因此，我们预计摩托车醒目处理措施对卡车司机的效果会有所不同。所以，本研究旨在评估摩托车醒目处理措施对卡车司机识别和检测摩托车的影响。进行了两项互补实验；第一个实验评估摩托车感官醒目性对未警觉的卡车司机检测摩托车能力的影响，第二个实验评估摩托车认知醒目性对警觉的卡车司机的影响。感官醒目性通过未警觉的卡车司机在现实驾驶场景中未预期到有摩托车时的摩托车检测率来衡量，而认知醒目性则由警觉的卡车司机主动搜寻摩托车所花费的时间来确定。在第一个实验中，向参与者展示10张图片，并指示他们报告图片中出现的车辆类型。每张图片向参与者展示600毫秒。在第二个实验中，向参与者展示同一组图片，并指示他们一旦在图片中检测到摩托车就通过点击鼠标右键做出反应。结果表明，随着目标摩托车与观察者之间的距离减小，摩托车检测率增加，搜寻摩托车的反应时间减少。无论使用何种醒目处理类型，都是如此。发现使用日间行车灯（DRH）可提高卡车司机在更远距离对摩托车的检测率和识别能力，但随着距离减小效果会变差。结果表明，随着摩托车与卡车之间的距离减小，佩戴带有反光贴纸的黑色头盔的骑摩托车者的检测率和识别能力会增加。我们还发现，佩戴白色头盔和白色服装的骑摩托车者在较短和较长距离都更易于识别和检测。总之，尽管本研究提供了证据表明使用适当的醒目处理措施可提高摩托车对卡车司机的醒目性，但我们建议应更多关注背景环境对摩托车醒目性的影响。
