Examining Driver Perceptions and Evaluations of Snowplow Rear-End Reflective Marking Designs

The use of reflective tape on snowplows has been shown to be an effective measure to improve vehicle visibility and identification; however, best practices for pattern and color combinations is unclear. The present work assesses reflective marking designs with varied patterns and color combinations through two online surveys. Participants viewed a series of traditional vehicles and snowplows with and without reflective markings and reported their anticipated behavior as a following driver and subjective feedback regarding the designs’ understandability and detectability. Combined results suggest that the presence of reflective markings improves driver understanding and vehicle detectability. Red and yellow reflective markings were shown to result in the highest understanding and detection. Due to minimal differences in responses between chevron and grid patterns, and the ease of application for grid markings, the research team recommends red and yellow grid designs to be prioritized for future human performance and field testing.