The advance brake warning system (ABWS) is a mechanism that activates the brake lights in response to a rapid disengagement of the gas pedal, before the driver's foot reaches the brake pedal. Crash involvement of 764 government cars and light trucks was tracked over an average period of 35 months. The vehicles were matched in pairs: one of each pair with ABWS and one without it. Data analyses focused on collisions in which the vehicles were rear-ended. A total of 142 rear-end crashes occurred, and in all of them the behavior of the striking driver was coded in the accident report as "not keeping a safe distance." The ABWS group was involved in 75 rear-end crashes and drove a total of 44.63 million km, whereas the control group was involved in 67 crashes and drove a total of 42.75 million km. Overall, ABWS-equipped vehicles were not significantly less involved in read-end collisions. However, an examination of the struck vehicles only showed that the ABWS-equipped vehicles were involved in fewer rear-end collisions per kilometer driven than were the vehicles without ABWS. Despite the theoretical appeal and the results of earlier studies, this study failed to demonstrate that such a system is a cost-effective safety device for the prevention of rear-end crashes.
Abstract