Effectiveness of Wearable Safety Lights for Nighttime Workers

Technologies for wearable safety lights, such as lighted safety vests, have evolved in recent years, allowing for use in construction to improve worker visibility. The aim of this project is to evaluate wearable safety lights for use to enhance the safety of road workers. The researchers will test the brightness of wearable safety lights as well as various types of lighting through several potential uses such as construction, road maintenance and patrol. The researchers will provide Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and road maintenance agencies with safety-enhancement recommendations for workers, aiming to increase worker visibility and reduce the number of crashes involving workers.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $196,485.00
• Contract Numbers:

  R27-282

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Illinois Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Materials and Physical Research
  126 East Ash Street
  Springfield, IL  United States  62704-4766
• Managing Organizations:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Illinois Center for Transportation
  1611 Titan Drive
  Rantoul, IL  United States  61866
• Performing Organizations:

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, Virginia  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Gibbons, Ronald

  Kore, Rugved

• Start Date: 20250816
• Expected Completion Date: 20270815
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Research and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Brightness; Clothing; Construction and maintenance personnel; Lighting; Occupational safety; Work zone safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01964166
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Illinois Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: R27-282
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 28 2025 9:52AM