Improving the Effectiveness of Nighttime Temporary Traffic Control Warning Devices, Volume 2: Evaluation of Nighttime Mobile Warning Lights (original) (raw)

Vehicle-mounted warning lights for nighttime mobile highway operations provide critical protection to workers and the driving public. Alerting the traveling public of the approaching work activity and providing guidance is vital to maintaining safety and mobility. Previous research conducted for IDOT on mobile lane closures (Steele and Vavrik 2009) identified driver confusion as a concern to the safety of nighttime highway operations. Users are subject to warning lights from multiple agencies with varying characteristics and configurations, but we know little about driver comprehension of these signals and their influence on driver behavior. Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) studied the effectiveness of warning lights on nighttime highway operations, including mobile lane closures, incident responses, and police activities, by reviewing pertinent literature, performing observational and experimental field studies, and conducting driver surveys and focus groups of driver percep...