The reflective, “high-visibility” safety vests worn by road workers and first responders, not to mention joggers and dog walkers, may do absolutely nothing to protect their wearers from automated driving systems, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said in a report released this week. These systems are already known to struggle in low light, and now IIHS says that the reflective strips on these vests, which are vital for nighttime visibility, seem to be virtually invisible to at least some automated safety systems. And that’s a problem, because most pedestrian fatalities happen at night.
IIHS tested the performance of three different driver aid suites: Honda, using a CR-V; Mazda, using a CX-5; and Subaru, using a Forester. The Institute mocked up a crosswalk and outfitted a dummy in four different outfits: two with reflectors (one made of reflective material, the other fitted with patches), and the other two unadorned—one white and one black. The dummies were then sent into the crosswalk at three levels of outside illumination (dark, twilight, and 20 lux—the requirement for lighting crosswalks) to see whether the onboard pedestrian safety systems would detect them at 25 mph. While the results varied from test to test, the Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5 starkly demonstrated the potential severity of these systems’ limitations.
Of the dummies without reflectors, the black one predictably fared the worst in the tests with no additional outside illumination. With just their low beams, both the Honda and Mazda struggled. The Mazda slowed down by about 1/3, while the Honda hit the dummy without slowing. With high beams on, both vehicles detected the dummy and slowed substantially. With the lighting increased to the legal requirement for crossings (20 lux), both the Honda and Mazda performed much better, IIHS said.
The white dummy was likewise invisible to the Honda without any additional outside illumination, but improved significantly with 10 lux (twilight) or 20 lux of illumination. The CX-5 likewise performed better with the dummy dressed in white. As soon as reflectors enter the equation, things go sideways.
“When the dummy was dressed in the reflective jacket, the CR-V didn’t slow in any of the trials, regardless of additional roadway lighting,” IIHS said. “In contrast, with no roadway illumination and with 10 lux of added light, the CX-5 slowed much more than it did when the dummy was clad in black. But with 20 lux of added light, it performed worse with the dummy in the [natively] reflective jacket than when it was wearing the black outfit.”
At this point, you’re probably wondering just what the heck happened to that Forester. Well, that’s because the Subaru was busy acing virtually every test.
“The CR-V and CX-5 hit the dummy in 84% and 88% of the test runs, respectively, while the Forester avoided a collision in all but one trial,” IIHS’s summary said. “Neither the CR-V nor CX-5 slowed at all when the dummy was wearing clothing with reflective strips that articulated its limbs.”
“In contrast to the two other vehicles,” the summary continued, “the Subaru came to a complete stop without hitting the pedestrian dummy in every trial except one run in which the dummy was wearing clothing with reflective strips and the roadway was illuminated to 10 lux. Even in that run, it slowed by more than 80%.”
So, even Subaru’s Eyesight, which seems to get this right the vast majority of the time, can potentially be flummoxed by reflective patches. Why? IIHS President David Harkey calls it a “worrying blind spot.”
“It’s not clear why the Honda and Mazda systems struggled with the reflective strips or how many other systems might have trouble identifying pedestrians wearing this type of clothing,” IIHS said.
Our takeaway: Reflectors or not, if you’re going to walk around at night, wear something bright enough that a human being can see you. It could save your life.
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