AN EVALUATION OF A REAR-MOUNTED VEHICLE SPEED INDICATOR /ABRIDGMENT/
THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF VEHICULAR TAILLIGHTS AT NIGHT IS TO ALERT DRIVERS TO THE PRESENCE OF A VEHICLE AHEAD. ONCE THE TAILLIGHTS ARE DETECTED, THE DRIVER PROCESSES SUCH VISUAL CLUES AS TAILLIGHT SIZE, HEIGHT, MOTION, LIMINANCE LEVEL, AND APPARENT INTER-TAILLIGHT SEPARATION. INTERVEHICLE DISTANCE AND SPEED INFORMATION IS EXTRACTED FROM THESE CLUES, AND THE DRIVER THEN REACTS ACCORDINGLY. THE EXISTING REAR VEHICULAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS HAVE MANY SHORTCOMINGS, AS SHOWN BY HIGHWAY ACCIDENT STATISTICS INDICATING THAT 15 PERCENT OF ALL VEHICULAR COLLISIONS ARE OF THE REAR-END TYPE. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT A REAR SIGNAL LIGHT SHOULD BE OF DUAL PURPOSE, I.E., CONVEY VEHICLE SPEED INFORMATION DIRECTLY IN ADDITION TO ITS PRIMARY TASK OF ALERTING THE FOLLOWING DRIVER. HENCE, IT WAS DECIDED TO CONSTRUCT A SPEED INDICATOR SIGNAL SYSTEM AND COMPARE IT WITH A CONVENTIONAL TAILLIGHT SYSTEM IN TERMS OF A SUBJECT'S ABILITY TO ASSESS THE SPEED AND INTERVEHICULAR DISTANCE OF A CAR BEING OVERTAKEN AT RIGHT. CHI-SQUARE TESTS INDICATED NO STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF SPEED JUDGMENT ERRORS AND INTERVEHICLE DISTANCE, DIRECTION OF JUDGMENT ERROR AND VEHICLE SPEED, OR DISTANCE JUDGMENTS VERSUS SIGNAL TYPE. HOWEVER, A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP WAS FOUND BETWEEN DIRECTION OF SPEED JUDGMENT ERROR AND SIGNAL TYPE. /AUTHOR/
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Supplemental Notes:
- Sponsored by Committee on Motorist Information Systems. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
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Authors:
- Jolliffe, Clinton
- Graf, Carl
- Alden, David
- Publication Date: 1971
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: Figures;
- Pagination: pp 130-132
- Monograph Title: Traffic control and driver information
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Serial:
- Highway Research Record
- Issue Number: 366
- Publisher: Highway Research Board
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Distance; Evaluation; Perception; Rear end crashes; Speed; Taillamps
- Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00226194
- Record Type: Publication
- ISBN: 0309019818
- Report/Paper Numbers: HS-011 999
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Mar 20 1972 12:00AM