Evaluation of the Functionality and Visibility of Commercial High-Visibility Clothing for Nighttime Usage

To assist the further development of hight-visibility clothing this study compared the visibility and subjective wear sensation of commercial protective vests with retro-reflecting materials or LEDs. Nine subjects compared high-visibility vests to evaluate how easy they were to see when exposed to the headlight of a car at night, and the subjects assessed the wear sensation of the vests also. The intensity and visibility of five different colored LEDs assembled on the five substrates separately were also evaluated to select the suitable LED color for night protective clothing. The intensity of illumination was measured by an illuminometer, and the visibility was evaluated by 11 participants both in a dark room and in front of a car outdoors at night. Results showed, the most effective LEDs were high intensity LEDs which shift blinking red and white were most effective. However, excessively high intensity of illumination could decrease the working efficiency. In subjective wear evaluation, the most favorable vest had a front opening, were adjustable at the sides, and had an electric power switch on the front of the vest.