Visibility and safety of vehicle traffic in the dark (current reality, future projections)

Abstract

In the problem of traffic safety, a special place is occupied by the issues of visibility of the road situation. The driver of a car has to solve with constant tension perhaps the most difficult visual tasks that a modern person faces in various situations of everyday, technology-rich life. On roads with an ever-increasing traffic intensity, severe lighting conditions are observed at night, and the eyes have to work in a narrow working area of the field of vision (the brightness of the luminous surface of the headlights of oncoming cars). Visual work at night is very difficult, since with a decrease in the brightness of the background, visual functions are reduced. A person as a biological object is poorly adapted for visual work at night. Statistics from countries around the world indicate that the probability of a traffic accident at night is 5-8 times greater than during the day. In Ukraine, approximately 40% of accidents occur in the dark. Visibility conditions and traffic safety on night roads are determined by the “light climate” provided by automobile lighting devices – headlights.