Validity of the Holmes-Wright lantern as a color vision test for the rail industry

Abstract

A simulated field test was designed to determine whether the Holmes-Wright A lantern (HWA) is a valid color vision test for the rail industry. The simulation replicated viewing rail signal lights at 0.8 km distance under daylight conditions. Using the worst-normal as the maximum number of allowable errors on the simulation, 94% of the color-defectives failed both tests on the first trial and 92% failed at the second session. The HWA had a higher false negative rate than a false alarm rate. The majority of individuals who had discrepancies on the two tests were mild deutans. Results from the Ishihara test were marginally better at predicting performance on the simulation.