Criteria for the automatic operation of stop lamps: volume 1: final report

TRL Limited (TRL) was commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) to investigate possible criteria for the automatic activation of stop lamps. There were two main objectives for this study. The first was to investigate the effects of the automatic activation of stop lamps on driver behaviour and assess whether the wide-scale introduction of this feature could improve road safety. The second was to investigate possible methods of discriminating between normal and "emergency" braking, the benefits of such a system, which deceleration threshold, if any, would be recommended and whether any one system can be shown to be better than others. The project was structured in two phases. In Phase I a literature review, technology review and a driver survey were used to identify technology and driver attitudes to assist in identifying the methods of evaluation of the stop lamp systems. In Phase II the data and information gathered in Phase I was used to design and carry out simulator, track and road trials. This is the final report for the project and summarises the results from both phases of the project. Detailed results from each phase are provided in the Appendices contained in Volume II of this report. (A)