The results of the investigation show that for the background fluorescent material the medium luminance factors are reduced to less than 25% of the virgin values. Many of the fabrics exposed for 2-3 years are totally without fluorescent effects. The fluorescent levels after the washing of the clothing are generally not checked. The retroreflective material in use on roads have in many cases due to ageing effects and dirt only 10% of the virgin retroreflective values. Washing brings up the retroreflective value a bit, but it is mainly wearing of the clothing, which creates the low retroreflective working values. The visibility of the retroreflective material is very dependent of the position and orientation of the material. A moving person is much more visible compared to a still standing person. Oncoming traffic with headlamps on reduces the visibility and the recognition even down to 25%. Snow and rain will reduce the visibility through the windscreens down to 30% of the initial values. People above 50 years have just 30% possibility to recognize persons in bad weather conditions compared to persons in the age of 20-30 years. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123380.
Abstract