Psychological considerations in the design of automotive signaling systems

There are many ways in which the study of highway crashes can be segmented. One broad subdivision is to consider the events leading up to the crash and also those that occur after the crash has happened. The man-machine-highway system must be designed to minimize the occurrence of crashes and their severity when they do occur. In this paper we shall be concerned with one aspect that is related to the reduction of the occurrence of crashes. Probably the most important work in this context has to do with the design of information systems utilized by the driver. It is rational to assume that crashes are produced because a driver does not have specific information available to him at a particular time or that his interpretation of displayed information may be inappropriate. Both situations reduce to the same thing, since either the lack of information or its misinterpretation impairs decision-making. Design of an improved rear-lighting system requires consideration of two major characteristics. First, the system must present only the kind of information found to be of genuine importance to following drivers, because it is essential to keep the system as simple as possible. This is not to simplify electromechanical design, but to simplify the decoding task of the driver. However, as the system becomes more complex, its reliability must also be increased because drivers may tend to rely on it more than they do at present. Second, signals must be displayed in such a way that contained information will be transmitted in the shortest possible time. The display arrangement must have a high arousal value. Obviously, a signal that does not catch the driver's attention is of no value. It is important to determine the value and effectiveness of a vehicle rear-lighting display by considering the role of the system as an entity operating in the highway situation. Its effectiveness will be a function of its ability to perform in the great variety of highway situations.