HORNETD
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You need to exercise caution to avoid unintended effects of elaborate lighting on your vehicle. Test done decades ago by the Michigan State Police showed that some drivers drive toward elaborate lighting schemes. Impaired drivers are especially vulnerable to this candle moth syndrome. If the lights are too elaborate the impaired driver may be unable to figure out what it is he is supposed to do. They keep looking at the lights and drive right towards them.
Filming of construction warning sign reactions from overpasses bears out this difficulty by showing that a simpler sign is reacted to earlier than a more complicated one. The case I saw was for directional arrow boards. When the arrow board was set to a fixed single arrow that only flashed on and off the reaction of many drivers was earlier than when the same arrow board was set to the marching arrow mode in which the arrow moves across the board.
Keep in mind that it is difficult to research the problem without causing collisions, injuries, and even deaths. When the Michigan tests were done the test vehicle was located behind deflectors with sand barrels at either end. In spite of those precautions several drivers struck the deflectors. The common thread was that all of the drivers that struck the deflector were legally drunk. Realizing that this was a bad way to detect drunk drivers the test were terminated before conclusive data could be gathered. Dozens of drivers that did not strike anything were pulled over for unsafe lane change and found to be impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Impaired drivers are out there and elaborate lighting schemes may bring them right to you.
--
Tom
Filming of construction warning sign reactions from overpasses bears out this difficulty by showing that a simpler sign is reacted to earlier than a more complicated one. The case I saw was for directional arrow boards. When the arrow board was set to a fixed single arrow that only flashed on and off the reaction of many drivers was earlier than when the same arrow board was set to the marching arrow mode in which the arrow moves across the board.
Keep in mind that it is difficult to research the problem without causing collisions, injuries, and even deaths. When the Michigan tests were done the test vehicle was located behind deflectors with sand barrels at either end. In spite of those precautions several drivers struck the deflectors. The common thread was that all of the drivers that struck the deflector were legally drunk. Realizing that this was a bad way to detect drunk drivers the test were terminated before conclusive data could be gathered. Dozens of drivers that did not strike anything were pulled over for unsafe lane change and found to be impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Impaired drivers are out there and elaborate lighting schemes may bring them right to you.
--
Tom