AUTOMOTIVE REAR LIGHTING AND SIGNALING RESEARCH: FINAL REPORT

PREVIOUS REAR LIGHTING STUDIES WERE REVIEWED AND A RESEARCH PROGRAM CARRIED OUT. EXPERIMENTS CONCERNED WITH THE CODING OF SIGNAL LIGHTS SHOWED THAT SEPARATION OF LAMPS BY FUNCTION AND COLOR WAS EFFECTIVE. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT REAR LIGHTS (CALLED PRESENCE LAMPS) SHOULD BE GREEN-BLUE, TURN LAMPS AMBER, AND STOP LAMPS RED. AN ANALYTICAL CAR FOLLOWING SIMULATION SHOWED THAT USE OF SUCH A SYSTEM SHOULD REDUCE REAR END COLLISIONS. THERE WAS A NEGLIGIBLE EFFECT OF LOW DOSES OF ALCOHOL UPON RESPONSE TO REAR SIGNALS. IT WAS FOUND THAT REAR TURN SIGNALS SHOULD BE AUGMENTED BY FORWARD MOUNTED, AMBER REPEATER SIGNALS. IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIVER SENSITIVITY TO CLOSURE WITH ANOTHER VEHICLE AT NIGHT WERE OBTAINED BY AN ARRAY OF FOUR PRESENCE LAMPS, TWO MOUNTED HIGH AND TWO CONVENTIONALLY. INTENSITIES NEEDED FOR SIDE TURN SIGNALS, REAR TURN, AND STOP SIGNALS WERE DERIVED. NIGHT INTENSITY SHOULD BE LOWER THAN DAY INTENSITY, AND AN INTENSITY OVERRIDE SWITCH SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR DAYTIME USE IN POOR ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. /HSL/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rept No HsrI-HUF-5, 322 PP, 79 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Research Institute

  Huron Parkway and Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • Mortimer, R G
• Publication Date: 1970-1-14

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Car following; Rear end crashes; Signals; Taillamps; Turning traffic; Vehicle lighting
• Uncontrolled Terms: Intensity; Turning movements
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220973
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 26 1970 12:00AM