A SLOW MOVING VEHICLE SIGNAL

Five serious accidents occurred on the Auckland Southern Motorway where a slow moving truck was struck from behind. It is hypothesised that the drivers of the following vehicles did not realize that the trucks were travelling slowly, and if their attention could be drawn to these trucks earlier, these accidents may not have happened. An experiment was conducted to see if a symbol on the rear of a slow moving truck would attract drivers' attention and cause them to approach more carefully. The symbol used was a fluorescent red hollow triangle with a 4" amber flashing light on each corner. It was studied on a divided four lane road. It was found that drivers changed lanes at a greater distance from the truck and approached it more slowly when the symbol was present. These changes are likely to reduce the possibility of a collision and the symbol could be used when trucks are travelling at less than 20 mph outside of a 30 mph area.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the New Zealand Roading Symposium.
• Corporate Authors:

  Ministry of Transport, New Zealand

  38-42 Waring Taylor Street, P.O. Box 3175
  Wellington,   New Zealand 
• Authors:
  • Francis, A J
• Publication Date: 1971-8

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 3 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Divided highways; Drivers; Flashing traffic signals; Four lane highways; Reaction time; Rear end crashes; Slow moving vehicles; Warning systems
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00080802
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 26 1975 12:00AM