A new test is demonstrating how important wearing high-visibility clothing is when it comes to helping improve a driver’s reaction time.

Ahead of Road Safety Week, which starts on November 16, the test by Leasing Options aims to highlight the difference high-visibility clothing can make in aiding a driver’s observation.

Research by the car leasing firm found if someone is wearing high visibility clothing, reaction times are reduced by 2.1 seconds.

That means that if a car is travelling at 30mph, that extra 2.1 seconds it takes a driver to notice the risk, would result in the car moving 92.4 feet further down the road, greatly increasing the chance of an accident.

Irvine Times: A new test is highlighting the importance of wearing high-visibility clothing if you are near roads. For this question, people are asked to identify the cyclistA new test is highlighting the importance of wearing high-visibility clothing if you are near roads. For this question, people are asked to identify the cyclist

Not only that, according to the AA, an additional 75 feet would need to be added to the total stopping distance due to a driver’s thinking and braking time, totalling a shocking 167.4 feet.

That’s over 11 average car lengths.

To demonstrate the difference, a new quiz asks people to find a specific subject on each screen.

First, you'll see the subject without any high visibility clothing, then the same scene but the subject has been moved and is now wearing high visibility clothing.

>> Take the test here <<

A Leasing Options spokesperson said: “Reaction times are vital when driving, as it can be the difference between a scary ‘near-miss’ and a terrible accident.

"In order to stay safe when driving, we’re told never to get behind the wheel when we’re tired, affected by drugs or when we’ve got alcohol in our system.

"However, darkness is another factor that can drastically reduce a driver’s reaction time.

"And no matter how aware a driver is, pedestrians, dog walkers, cyclists and anyone else that will be near or around busy roads, over the next few months in particular, must take the adequate precautions before heading outside.

"One vital precaution should be to wear some high visibility clothing.”

So, hi-vis does work?

The limitation of hi-vis clothing is that fluorescent colours work by converting UV light in sunlight to something we can see so they’re bright in daylight, but street lights and headlights don’t give off much UV light, so it makes little difference in darker conditions.

A 2006 review by health network Cochrane of 42 studies found that drivers were more likely to see pedestrians and cyclists in fluorescent clothing during the day.

It also said that the use of lights or reflective clothing improves cyclists being seen at night.

More recently, in 2010, a study in the Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety detailed a series of controlled experiments with cyclists in different clothing to see which was most recognisable to drivers at night.

It found only two per cent of drivers recognised cyclists in black clothing; this rose to 15 per cent for those in a hi-vis vest but reached 90 per cent for cyclists in a reflective vest and ankle and knee reflectors — the movement of the cyclists’ legs aids being seen.