Field evaluation of an enhanced rear signalling system for heavy trucks

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.