Government street and highway workers, along with many pedestrians and cyclists, wear high-visibility clothing to give themselves a better chance of being seen by motorists. New research, however, shows such clothing can challenge some vehicles°®¶¹app™ crash-avoidance systems.
Results of testing from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show automakers need to continue improving sensors and software designed to detect and protect pedestrians, said institute President David Harkey.
°®¶¹appœIt°®¶¹app™s untenable that the clothes that pedestrians, cyclists and roadway workers wear to be safe may make them harder for crash-avoidance technology to recognize,°®¶¹app he said.
The study was limited to three popular 2023 models: the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester. Yet it highlights the issues with safety systems that many drivers rely upon at night when many pedestrian crashes occur. High numbers of pedestrian fatalities are a continuing problem in the U.S., with more than 7,500 pedestrians killed in 2022.
In the institute°®¶¹app™s study, the Subaru had significantly better results than the two other vehicles.
The study used an adult-sized dummy in varying levels of light wearing white or black clothing and, at times, with various reflective items. The study noted that retroreflective strips were similar to those used by highway workers, but their gear is usually orange or yellow.
°®¶¹appœTwo 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°®¶¹app™t slow in the fully reflective jacket scenarios. Their performance was mixed in the other scenarios,°®¶¹app according to a news release. °®¶¹appœThe 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.°®¶¹app
Current high-visibility clothing requirements for government street and highway workers are set by the American National Standards Institute and the International Safety Equipment Association, Fort Wayne Public Works Director Shan Gunawardena told °®¶¹app Monday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also has requirements for high-visibility clothing, he said.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study°®¶¹app™s author, David Kidd, said vehicle crash avoidance 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 in accounting for common types of reflective clothing worn at night.
It°®¶¹app™s not clear why the Honda and Mazda systems struggled with reflective strips or how many other systems might have trouble identifying pedestrians wearing reflective clothing. The lapse, however, is a concern, considering the number of roadway workers and emergency personnel who use similar garments to mitigate risk when they°®¶¹app™re working on the road.
Further research is needed to determine how crash avoidance systems respond to the specific safety equipment used by such workers.
