REAR LIGHT CONFIGURATIONS: THE REMOVAL OF AMBIGUITY BY A THIRD BRAKE LIGHT

IN TWO EXPERIMENTS, SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN SIMULATED REAR-END CONFIGURATIONS OF CARS ON A VECTOR DISPLAY. THEY WERE ASKED TO REACT TO BRAKE LIGHTS BY PUSHING A BUTTON. IN EXPERIMENT 1, THE EFFECT OF THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES WAS INVESTIGATED ON THE SPEED AND ACCURACY OF THESE BRAKE REACTIONS: (A) THE REAR-END LIGHTS ILLUMINATED AT THE ONSET OF A TRIAL (ONLY PRESENCE LIGHTS, PRESENCE LIGHTS WITH ONE FOG LIGHT, PRESENCE LIGHTS WITH TWO FOG LIGHTS); (B) CONFIGURATION OF PRESENCE AND BRAKE LIGHTS (COINCIDENT AND SEPARATE); (C) CONTRAST BETWEEN PRESENCE AND BRAKE LIGHTS; AND (D) DELAY BETWEEN ONSET OF THE TRIAL AND THE ONSET OF THE BRAKE LIGHTS (0, 1400 AND 2800 MSEC). THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE PRESENCE OF FOG LIGHTS IN PART OF THE TRIALS RESULTED IN TWO TYPES OF ERRORS: FALSE ALARMS (BRAKE REACTIONS TO ILLUMINATED FOG LIGHTS) AND MISSES (NO REACTIONS TO ILLUMINATED FOG LIGHTS).THE REACTION TIME DATA WERE COMPLETELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE FINDINGS.IN EXPERIMENT 2 IT WAS INVESTIGATED WHETHER THE APPARENT AMBIGUITY RESULTING FROM THE USE OF FOG LIGHTS IN PART OF THE TRIALS CAN BE REDUCED BY AN ADDITIONAL SINGLE HIGH-MOUNTED BRAKE LIGHT. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT A THIRD BRAKE LIGHT REDUCES REACTION TIMES UNDER ALL CONDITIONS, ALMOST COMPLETELY ELIMINATES THE MISSES, BUT HAS NO EFFECT ON THE NUMBER OF FALSE ALARMS. IT IS ARGUED THAT THE NUMBER OF FALSE ALARMS WILL ONLY DIMINISH WHEN A THIRD BRAKE LIGHT IS USED IN ALL BRAKING SITUATIONS AND NOT JUST IN A SUBSET OF THE TRIALS. (A) FOR THE COVERING ABSTRACT OF THE CONFERENCE SEE IRRD 858984.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0444893628
• Corporate Authors:

  NORTH-HOLLAND

  P O BOX 211
  AMSTERDAM,   Netherlands  1000 AE
• Authors:
  • AKERBOOM, S P
  • KRUYSSE, H W
  • LA HEIJ, W
• Publication Date: 1993

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 129-38
• Serial:
  • VISION IN VEHICLES IV. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VISION IN VEHICLES, UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS, 27-29 AUGUST, 1991
  • Publisher: NORTH-HOLLAND

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Brake lamps; Conferences; Errors; Fog lamps; Height; Motor reactions; Perception; Test procedures; Time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Three
• ITRD Terms: 1351: Brake light; 8525: Conference; 6440: Error; 1332: Foglamp; 6489: Height; 2229: Perception; 2247: Reaction (human); 6288: Test method; 9079: Three; 5414: Time
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00639315
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV
• ISBN: 0 444 89362 8
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 13 1993 12:00AM