AT: The 'moth effect' and LED rollout

After presentations, I spoke to Sean Taylor, one of people invited to critique our concepts. He was enthusiastic about my design, and shared several interesting studies with me that could prove useful.

A 2012 article by Karen Harris explains the startling phenomenon known as the 'moth effect'. The moth effect is the tendency for drivers to veer towards bright lights. This is something many motorists can relate to, especially when driving towards cars with their high beam headlights on. This is due to the human brains tendency to focus on prominent landmarks which are. in this case, the oncoming headlights. This behavior is even more prevalent at night time, with fewer focal points in the darkness.

http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20120715/News/207150316

Another article Sean brought up was on a study conducted by Ian Walker, a psychologist at the Unversity of Bath in England. He found that motorists have a tendency to travel closer to to cyclists when they are wearing helmets, and cyclists themselves are more likely to exhibit riskier behavior than their naked-headed associates. This could be due to the sense of security attached helmet protection, resulting in a lax safety attitude.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-helmets-attract-cars-to-cyclists/

Becoming aware of these psychological peculiarities made me wonder whether my proposed design will have a similar unintended effect on motorists . Will the close proximity of my bus pole lamp to the road cause the 'moth effect' in motorists? It is still a subject of debate in the realm of science, with some researchers being unable to reproduce the effects in a laboratory environment. Nevertheless, I think the brightness of the lamp is still an important consideration.

With the looming roll out of LED street lights replacing the incandescent bulbs, Dominion Road will be bathed in a sterile white light. To counter this, and to retain a sense of homely warmth and inviting comfort, my lamp will utilize a sort of tinting on the LED light lenses to generate a softer, yellower tone. This will provide the aforementioned 'warmth' factor, decrease glare which may effect drivers and will provide a contrast against the harsh white of the LED street lamps.