PERILS OF NIGHT
WRECK-LESS DRIVING©
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist
PERILS OF NIGHT
GERMANY: Biological Cybernetics scientists report that the perceived motion of an object at night is really only about 75% of its actual speed. It was a complicated study involving the difference between color reception of retinal cone cells in bright light and the black and white rod receptors which take over in dim light. The research involved color blind persons who frequently have difficulty with moving objects. It is black and white rod reception which detects only 75% of the speed of a moving object.
Reading between the fancy words and translating from the German text, this is what we need to know: Under good night lighting conditions such as in congested areas there may be no problem (except for dark tinted windows?). In dim locations the roadway portion illuminated by the vehicle headlights is properly perceived by the cones. But, outside the headlight beams any objects are seen only by the less than perfect rods. Thereby we are likely to seriously underestimate the speed of vehicles, persons and animals in the distance or at the road sides. And this may cause us to increase our speed with disastrous results.
Have you noticed how much more difficult it is to hold a steady speed on dark roads? Older drivers with reduced vision and reaction time should be especially careful with night driving. Stay to well lit areas; drive more slowly than you really want to; do not drive in night rain; let a younger driver have the steering wheel; turn off distractions such as radio, cell phone, kids, and gabby passengers.
GHD184 all rights reserved
by Gunther Doerfert, Auto Safety Columnist
PERILS OF NIGHT
GERMANY: Biological Cybernetics scientists report that the perceived motion of an object at night is really only about 75% of its actual speed. It was a complicated study involving the difference between color reception of retinal cone cells in bright light and the black and white rod receptors which take over in dim light. The research involved color blind persons who frequently have difficulty with moving objects. It is black and white rod reception which detects only 75% of the speed of a moving object.
Reading between the fancy words and translating from the German text, this is what we need to know: Under good night lighting conditions such as in congested areas there may be no problem (except for dark tinted windows?). In dim locations the roadway portion illuminated by the vehicle headlights is properly perceived by the cones. But, outside the headlight beams any objects are seen only by the less than perfect rods. Thereby we are likely to seriously underestimate the speed of vehicles, persons and animals in the distance or at the road sides. And this may cause us to increase our speed with disastrous results.
Have you noticed how much more difficult it is to hold a steady speed on dark roads? Older drivers with reduced vision and reaction time should be especially careful with night driving. Stay to well lit areas; drive more slowly than you really want to; do not drive in night rain; let a younger driver have the steering wheel; turn off distractions such as radio, cell phone, kids, and gabby passengers.
GHD184 all rights reserved
posted by WRECK-LESS at Sunday, October 07, 2007
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