MOTOR NOTES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 177, 29 July 1941, Page 10

MOTOR NOTES

WEAR WHITE! AID IN BLACKOUT PEDESTRIANS' CLOTHES Official tests recently carried out in Wellington showed conclusively that the wearing of a white coat will greatly increase the visibility and safety of a pedestrian on the road at night time. The purpose of the tests was to ascertain the limits of a driver's vision with restricted headlights. A cloudy night was chosen, and there was no moon and no street lighting. The tests were carried out by the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. G. L. Laurenson, and his staff. with representatives of the Automobile Association (Wellington), the Press and the Wellington municipal traffic staff. Four cars were used, all with headlights correctly adjusted. The minimum distance at which a walking pedestrian clad in black was visible from a stationary car was 95ft, and the average distance from the four cars was over 100 ft. A pedestrian wearing a traffic inspector's white coat was seen 343 ft from one car and between 162 ft and 220 ft from each of the other three cars. Even a white waistband increased a pedestrian's visibility by approximately 40 per cent. With a headlight "mask such as is used in the English blackout, a white-clad pedestrian was visible only 24ft. Tests were also made from a car moving at 30 miles per hour. The brakes were applied as soon as the pedestrian was discerned, and the car stopped 57ft from a browncoated pedestrian and 66ft from a pedestrian clad in grey.