THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SINGLE CENTER, HIGH MOUNTED BRAKE LIGHT CONFIGURATIONS IN REDUCING REAR-END COLLISIONS ON TAXICABS OPERATING IN NEW YORK CITY. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FINDING OF THE STUDY WAS THAT THE TAXICABS EQUIPPED WITH A SINGLE CENTER, HIGH-MOUNTED STOPLIGHT HAD APPROXIMATELY HALF THE REAR-END COLLISIONS EXPERIENCED BY A CONTROL GROUP OF CABS HAVING A STANDARD TAILLIGHT CONFIGURATION. TWO EXPERIMENTAL BRAKE LIGHT CONFIGURATIONS WERE STUDIED, A SINGLE BULB UNIT AND A DOUBLE BULB UNIT. THE TOTAL VEHICLE EXPOSURE WAS 60,000,000 VEHICLE KILOMETERS FOR THE TEN MONTH STUDY. THE REAR-END CRASH RATE FOR THE SINGLE BULB UNIT WAS 44% LOWER THAN THE RATE FOR THE CONTROL GROUP AND 58% LOWER FOR THE DOUBLE BULB UNIT. BOTH REDUCTIONS WERE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT, BUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS WAS NOT. (Author/publisher).
Abstract