Laser dazzling impacts on car driver performance

Ove Steinvall; Stig Sandberg; Ulf Hörberg; Rolf Persson; Folke Berglund; Kjell Karslsson; Johan Öhgren; Zhaohua Yu; Per Söderberg

doi:10.1117/12.2028505

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15 October 2013 Laser dazzling impacts on car driver performance

Ove Steinvall, Stig Sandberg, Ulf Hörberg, Rolf Persson, Folke Berglund, Kjell Karslsson, Johan Öhgren, Zhaohua Yu, Per Söderberg

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Proceedings Volume 8898, Technologies for Optical Countermeasures X; and High-Power Lasers 2013: Technology and Systems; 88980H (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2028505
Event: SPIE Security + Defence, 2013, Dresden, Germany

Abstract

A growing problem for the Police and Security Forces has been to prevent potentially hostile individuals to pass a checkpoint, without using lethatl violence. Therefore the question has been if there is a laser or any other strong light source that could be used as a warning and dazzling device, without lethal or long term effects. To investigate the possibilities a field trial has been performed at a motor-racing track. A green CW laser with an irradiance on the eye of maximum 0.5 MPE, as defined by ICNIRP [1] and the ANZI standard [2], was used as a dazzle source. Ten drivers have been driving with dipped headlights through a course of three lines with orange cones. In every line there has been only one gate wide enough to pass without hitting the cones. The time through the course, the choice of gates and the number of cones hit have been measured. For every second trial drive through the track, the driver was exposed to the laser dazzler. The background illuminances ranged from a thousand lux in daylight to about ten millilux in darkness. The protective effect of the sun-visor of the car was investigated. The drives visual system was carefully examined before and after experimental driving and a few weeks after the experimental driving to verify that no pathological effects, that could potentially be induced by the laser exposure, pre-existed or occurred after the laser exposure. An analysis of variance for a within subjects design has been used for evaluation. It was found that green laser light can have an obvious warning effect in daylight. Dazzling does reduce the drivers ability to make judgments and manouver the car in twilight and darkness. A sun-visor can reduce the glare and give the driver an improved control, but that perception can be unjustified. No damage to the visual system was observed.

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Ove Steinvall, Stig Sandberg, Ulf Hörberg, Rolf Persson, Folke Berglund, Kjell Karslsson, Johan Öhgren, Zhaohua Yu, and Per Söderberg "Laser dazzling impacts on car driver performance", Proc. SPIE 8898, Technologies for Optical Countermeasures X; and High-Power Lasers 2013: Technology and Systems, 88980H (15 October 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2028505

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