Research methodology to assess the importance of peripheral visual detection at night.

This study presents a research methodology which includes a geometric analysis of reflectorized targets located ahead of the car at different locations along a tangent-curve and curve-tangent section of a highway, typical driver eye scanning data, and demonstrates that in many cases unknown or unexpected reflectorized targets such as a reflectorized license plate or an advance warning sign will initially appear at moderately large peripheral angles up to 20 or more degrees away from a driver's foveal eye fixation point or line of sight.