IMPROVING ANALYTICAL APPROACHES FOR EVALUATING VISIBILITY

The Ford CHESS (Comprehensive Headlamp Environmental Simulation System) program uses the Ford seeing distance model to perform a great number of discomfort glare calculations and seeing distance "tests" on pedestrian and delineation targets under a wide range of traffic and driving conditions. The major benefits of these models are that (1) they make it possible to test and compare beam patterns still in the "drawing board" stage, (2) they can reduce the need for field tests, and (3) they permit comparisons and evaluations of headlamps under a much wider range of conditions than is feasible even in the most extensive field testing. CHESS also provides a flexible context for incorporating and integrating new research results in highway vision. For this reason, it has a heuristic character.