A systematic review on retro-reflective clothing for night-time visibility and safety

Abstract

The use of retro-reflective materials and clothing play a critical role in improving the orientation, visibility and conspicuity of road users at night time. Nevertheless, it appears that these inherent benefits have failed to generate research attention that would improve the design and properties of retro-reflective materials and clothing. This article presents a systematic review of retro-reflective clothing for night-time visibility and safety on the road. The Scopus database is used to identify appropriate studies in the field. After scrutinizing a large number of publications, 43 studies are selected for the systematic review. The results show that countries like the United States and Australia are the top contributors in research to this area for more than decades. The findings indicate that the design and characteristics of retro-reflective clothing influence its use by pedestrians and other road users since these two groups prioritise comfort over functionality. Additionally, biomotion configurations coupled with colour retro-reflective materials are vital for ensuring visual contrast which enhances the conspicuity and recognition of pedestrians. This study therefore recommends innovation of these products as normal casual safety apparel, information that highlights the benefits of these products and effective consultation and implementation of legislation for use as safety measures on the road at night.

Keywords:

• Retro-reflective clothing
• visibility
• biomotion configurations
• safety
• night-time
• systematic review

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the financial support of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University which is provided by the Research Grant Council in the form of postgraduate award. This paper forms part of a PhD research project that aims to develop a smart visibility clothing with inherent retro-reflective abilities for improving pedestrian safety at night-time.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no financial or any conflict of interest in this study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are presented in this manuscript.