Work Zone Glare Application v 2.0

Abstract

The Work Zone Glare (WZG) application (app) was developed to overcome the limitations of subjective, inspector-based glare assessments by delivering objective, data-driven measurements of both vertical and horizontal illuminance using off-the-shelf mobile devices. Drawing on evidence that vertical illuminance at driver eye height correlates strongly with perceived glare (Bhagavathula & Gibbons, 2019), the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) research team engineered an iOS prototype that captures geotagged illuminance readings along every roadway segment and computes an average perceived glare index for each. Initial laboratory calibrations versus professional light meters demonstrated that the WZG app’s vertical readings deviate by no more than 5% and its horizontal readings by an average of 5.4% under controlled conditions, validating its measurement accuracy.