Volume 2, Number 2, 87-99, DOI: 10.1007/BF00137452

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Society for Ophthalmo-Immuno Infectiology in Europe

New investigations concerning the relationships between congenital colour vision defects and road traffic security

Guy Verriest, Oskar Neubauer, Marion Marre and Andre Uvijls

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Abstract

New extentive experiments demonstrated that: (a) protan observers are more deficient than deutan ones with regard to perception distances of some traffic panels, of vehicle red stop lights, of vehicle red rear-position lights and of white, yellow and red reflectors. Contrarily, deutan observers are more deficient than protan ones for the distinction of differently coloured traffic lights and vehicle rear lights; (b) protan and deutan drivers are nevertheless not responsible for more traffic accidents than drivers with normal colour vision; (c) this apparent contradiction is due to psychological compensation mechanisms. The practical conclusions are: (a) that persons with defective colour vision need not to be excluded from non professional road traffic; (b) that it is nevertheless useful that they should be aware of their handicap; (c) that the red traffic signal has to be larger than the other ones; and (d) that the stop and red position lights of vehicles must be sufficiently intense and that the filters transmitting only pure red should be avoided in them.

Keywords  congenital colour vision defects - road traffic security - vehicle lights - traffic lights

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