A study of the effectiveness of rear lighting arrangements for cars

An account is presented of an investigation into the factors which have an impact on the effectiveness of rear lighting arrangements for cars. The purpose of this investigation was to develop an arrangement to help minimise rear-end collisions which form a considerable proportion of all road accidents. Laboratory trials in daylight and night time conditions are described. These trials were designed to evaluate subjects' responses to various layouts of presence lights, high intensity rear lights, direction indicators and brake lights including high mounted brake lights. The subjects, seated in a stationary car, were required to respond by pressing the brake pedal when the onset of brake lights on a lighting rig placed in front of the car was detected. During the trials the subjects performed a computer generated secondary tracking task using the steering wheel and accelerator pedal to control a cursor to follow a moving target on a video monitor. A total of 8 subjects were used and each subject received twenty presentations of every configuration tested. Location, spacing and intensity of the presence and brake lights were varied during the different phases of the study. The results indicate various ways in which current rear light layouts might be improved. (A)