VEHICLE REAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS

FOUR CONTRACTORS CONDUCTED INDEPENDENT STUDIES TO DEVELOP DATA, CRITERIA, AND PROCEDURES FOR UNIFORM SAFETY STANDARDS TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLE REAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS. REPRESENTED IN THIS RESEARCH TEAM WAS TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN THE AREAS OF: (1) LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF OPTICS AND PHOTOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF LIGHT AND LIGHTING SYSTEMS, (2) SIMULATORS AND DRIVING SIMULATION, (3) FIELD AND ROAD TESTING AND EVALUATION OF LIGHTING SYSTEMS, AND (4) COMPLEX SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS. RESULTS SHOW AGREEMENT ON THE FOLLOWING FINDINGS: (1) SEPARATION OF FUNCTION AMONG STOP, RUNNING, AND TURN SIGNALS SHOULD PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, (2) STANDARDIZATION IN SIZE, SHAPE, LOCATION, FUNCTION OF A FIXED ARRAY OF LIGHTS FOR MOST VEHICLES MAY BE POSSIBLE, (3) REAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS SHOULD HAVE A MULTI-INTENSITY CAPABILITY, WITH THE HIGHER INTENSITIES FOR USE UNDER HIGH AMBIENT ILLUMINATION CONDITIONS, (4) THE USE OF COLORS AS A PRIMARY CODING DIMENSION IS NOT A GOOD CHOICE, (5) THE EARLY WARNING LIGHT PRINCIPLE REQUIRES FURTHER INVESTIGATION, AND (6) THE PRINCIPLE OF REDUNDANCY SHOULD BE USED IN THE CODING OF SIGNAL LIGHTS.

• Corporate Authors:

  Ohio State University, Columbus

  190 North Oval Drive
  Columbus, OH  United States  43210

  Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Incorporated

  ,    

  University of California, Berkeley

  Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering
  Berkeley, CA  United States 

  University of California, Los Angeles

  Los Angeles, CA  United States 
• Publication Date: 1968-10-29

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coding systems; Color; Driving simulators; Lighting; Motor vehicles; Optics; Photometry; Redundancy; Safety; Simulation; Standardization; Standards; Systems analysis; Taillamps; Training simulators; Vehicle lighting; Warning systems
• Uncontrolled Terms: Intensity
• Old TRIS Terms: Coding
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223034
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: pp 33-40
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 24 1994 12:00AM