This study investigated which factors have an impact on the effectiveness of the center stop lamp (S3 category stop lamp). The purpose of the experiment was to evaluate whether and under which rear light conditions (no lights, presence lights on, fog lights on) the use of an ensemble light configuration (strip of lamps) affects the effectiveness of the S3 category stop lamp relatively to a "normal" rear light configuration, consisting of separate rear lights. The study used laboratory trials involving reaction measures (speed and accuracy) to determine differences in rear light configurations. Overall, the results indicate that a S3 category stop lamp located at a high location, away from the horizontal plane of the other rear lights, gives a better performance than a S3 category stop lamp located adjacent to the horizontal plane of the other rear lights. In addition, when the S3 category stop lamp is located adjacent (low location) to the horizontal plane, the performance with a strip of lamps is no worse than the performance with separate stop lamps.
Samenvatting