Driving In Fog Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow and this is The Weather Notebook. Yesterday on the show, I spoke with perceptual psychologist Robert Snowden about his research having to do with fog and the perception of drivers. Now, his research took place at the University of Wales and in it he suggested that conditions where visibility is reduced by fog, an object will appear to be moving slower than it really is. The next step in testing his theories was to set up a real-world simulator. Professor Snowden explains:

Early morning radiation fog: NOAA Historical Photo: Ralph F. Kresge

Bob: "Right, yes. One thing that fog does is scatter light and therefore reduce the contrast. Reduce the amount of black and white between things in the scenery as you move along in a car. So, it predicted that if that little visual illusion we had in the laboratory actually transfers out of the laboratory into real life, then we should have the illusion that as it becomes foggier things appear to slow down."

Dave: Even though you're driving at the same rate of speed?

Bob: "Even though you're driving at the same speed, it'll feel as if you're driving slower."

Tomorrow we'll hear more from Professor Snowden as he takes his theories from the lab to the real world. Our shows producer is Bryan Sejvar and our engineer is Sean Doucette. If you have any questions about weather, you can call us at 1-888-724-6001 and leave them on our machine. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory, underwriting is provided by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive with major funding provided by the National Science Foundation.