The Importance of Consistent Perceptual Information on Service Vehicles for Safe Driving

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bullough J ; Rea M
• Description:
  Previous research suggests that the colors of flashing lights and of vehicles and their markings provide important perceptual information to drivers about the type and nature of roadway situations involving front line service workers. Building upon that research, participants completed an online survey with video clips containing pairs of scale-model vehicles having different combinations of paint and marking colors, flashing light colors, and flashing modes. In a forced choice paradigm, participants judged which vehicle in the pair was more likely to be responding to an emergency situation such as a fire. The results of the study indicate that the color of flashing lights was the most important predictor of whether a service vehicle was seen as responding to an emergency (red) or not (yellow). Response consistency was substantially greater if the vehicle color was the same as that of the flashing lights. Slightly greater response consistency was found when the flashing mode (e.g., brighter and faster flashing lights) reinforced the color (red) of the emergency vehicle and its flashing lights. While field validation of these findings is necessary, the results suggest that consistency in observer judgments about roadway situations involving front line service workers is maximized when the perceptual information on a service vehicle is consistent. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Minerals Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Drivers Motor Vehicles Situational Awareness Vehicle Safety Visual Perception Warning Signals
• Publisher:
  Transportation Research Board (TRB)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069733
• Citation:
  Transportation Research Board (TRB) 103rd Annual Meeting, January 7-11, 2024, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board, 2024 Jan; :1
• Email:
  John.Bullough@mountsinai.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20211101
• Source Full Name:
  Transportation Research Board (TRB) 103rd Annual Meeting, January 7-11, 2024, Washington D.C.
• End Date:
  20231031
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:236b16a47172661242fbf25162791eb4a854b00489fea0e2050c3106b246ee28b9047d9f79c6c87f2f56aa2d6083ec630370c9b9dcf19aebc298c390deaf049e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208096/cdc_208096_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 250.97 KB ]