Publication

A “looked-but-failed-to-see” (LBFS) error is a common contributing factor in crashes involving motorcycles and other vehicles. Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable to injury in crashes with truck due to substantial differences in vehicle mass, protection degree and speed. We investigated truck drivers’ judgments of motorcycle time-to-arrival (TTA) across a number of conspicuity treatments. Participants watched a series of video clips captured at a T-intersection, and they were instructed to respond by clicking the computer mouse at the time they estimated the front of an oncoming vehicle (motorcycle or car) to reach the T-intersection. The results showed that the motorcycle conspicuity enhancement effect of daytime running headlights (DRH) diminishes as the distance between the target motorcycle and the truck decreases. However, results indicated that, at a short distance, a motorcyclist wearing a black helmet with a reflective sticker was estimated to arrive sooner than a motorcycle with DRH. We also found that a motorcyclist wearing a white helmet and riding a motorcycle with DRH, as well as a motorcyclist wearing a white helmet and white outfit, would reduce the underestimation of a motorcycle’s speed. Consequently, truck drivers would be less likely to pull out into a small gap in front of a motorcycle, resulting in a higher safety margin for the motorcycle.