In 2008, heavy trucks were found to be 3.2 times more likely than other vehicles to be struck from behind in two-vehicle fatal crashes. The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration awarded a contract to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to perform Phase III of the Enhanced Rear Signalling for Heavy Trucks project which was directed at investigating methods to reduce or mitigate those crashes where a heavy truck has been struck from behind by another vehicle. The focus of this article is to discuss the dynamic evaluation of the final Enhanced Rear Signalling countermeasure system on public roadways of Virginia. Results indicated that the system was robust in real-world driving situations. The system performed well at detecting rear-end crash threats, activating a trailer-positioned warning-light system, drawing the gazes of distracted following-vehicle drivers back to the forward roadway and resulted in minor following-vehicle unintended consequences. An increase in false alarm rate was found for the warning light activation system during low-speed, high-traffic-density scenarios and the propensity of these false alarms should be addressed prior to a field operational test.
Field evaluation of an enhanced rear signalling system for heavy trucks
IET Intelligent Transport Systems ; 7 , 3 ; 345-350
2013-09-01
6 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
signalling , closed-loop activation system , heavy truck , enhanced rear signalling countermeasure system , United States , road safety , road vehicles , crash mitigation , warning light activation system , alarm systems , accident prevention , US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration , Virginia Tech Transportation Institute , false alarm rate , distracted following-vehicle driver gaze , trailer-positioned warning-light system , crash reduction
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