EFFECT OF DISTANCE AND MOTORCYCLE HEADLIGHT CONDITION ON MOTORCYCLE NOTICEABILITY

THIS PAPER DESCRIBES THE DESIGN AND RESULTS OF A SET OF MOTORCYCLE NOTICEABILITY EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE DISTANCES AND DIFFERENCES IN DISTANCES DURING DAYLIGHT AT WHICH MOTORCYCLES WITH HEADLIGHTS ON CAN BE PERCEIVED BY DRIVERS AS OPPOSED TO MOTORCYCLES WITH HEADLIGHTS OFF. THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN INCLUDED TWO MOTORCYCLE HEADLIGHT CONDITIONS-NO LIGHT AND HIGH BEAM--AND 6 DISTANCES RANGING FROM 50 TO 300 FT FROM THE OPPOSING VEHICLE. THE EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED IN DOWNTOWN PHILADELPHIA. THE RESULTS OF THIS EXPERIMENT INDICATE THAT, WHEN A MOTORCYCLE OPERATES DURING THE DAYLIGHT WITH A HEADLIGHT, DRIVERS OF OTHER VEHICLES WILL NOTICE THE MOTORCYCLE SOONER AND AT GREATER DISTANCES AND SHOULD THUS BE IN A BETTER POSITION TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTIONS WHEN NECESSARY TO AVOID ACCIDENTS. /AUTHOR/