FIELD TEST EVALUATION OF REAR LIGHTING SYSTEMS

The objective of this study was to establish the effectiveness of different rear lighting and signalling systems in reducing rear-end collisions. The most significant finding of the study was that the taxicabs equipped with a single center, high-mounted stoplight had less than half the rear-end collisions experienced by a control group consisting of cabs having manufacturer's configurations of taillights. This reduction was achieved whether measured in terms of absolute number or frequency of accidents or in terms of accident rate per million vehicle miles. In addition, the effectiveness of the single light configuration increased during nighttime operation and also under conditions where there was almost complete certainty that the stoplights were illuminated just prior to or at the time of impact. Finally, the mean cost to repair cabs with this rear lighting system was lowest, by an order of magnitude, among the systems tested, indicating that these accidents were less severe than accidents involving other stoplight configurations.