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"A 2008 US study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests vehicles with amber rear signals rather than red ones are up to 28% less likely

by dchest 3y ago

"A 2008 US study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests vehicles with amber rear signals rather than red ones are up to 28% less likely to be involved in certain kinds of collisions,[81] a followup 2009 NHTSA study determined there to be a significant overall safety benefit to amber rather than red rear turn signals,[82] US studies in the early 1990s demonstrated improvements in the speed and accuracy of drivers' reactions to the stop lights of vehicles ahead when the turn signals were amber rather than red,[76][83][84][85][86]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Turn_signal_colour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Turn_signa...

deleted 3y ago
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donatj 3y ago
Whoever wrote that section of the Wikipedia page either didn’t read the cited documents or heavily cherry-picked. The cited document for that “up to 28%” actually states that a first analysis found amber lights leading to a reduction in being struck “between 3 and 28%” Quite a range of uncertainty. The very same document also states that in their second analysis they found no correlation between signal color and odds of being struck. https://web.archive.org/web/20120712231313/http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NRD/Multimedia/PDFs/Crash%20Avoidance/2008/811%20037.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20120712231313/http://www.nhtsa.... Another one of the cited documents goes so far as to say > Richard Van Iderstine: We have studied the crash involvement of vehicles having yellow rear turn signal lights versus red ones. With our data, we have found it challenging to prove that yellow is better than red. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37484-2004Nov9.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37484-2004No... And yet another of the cited sources states > Analyses revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in rear-end accident rates between the red and amber turn-signal systems. https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/810192/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/81... —- Based on the actual text of the citations I’m inclined to believe there’s very little difference. And I don’t see how there could be. The only practical difference I see between a red signal and amber signal is that the signal might ever so briefly interpreted as a brake light activating before the first cycle completes. The course of action of the driver behind in either case is to slow down, so it’s a distinction without a difference in action.

by dchest 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

donatj 3y ago

Whoever wrote that section of the Wikipedia page either didn’t read the cited documents or heavily cherry-picked. The cited document for that “up to 28%” actually states that a first analysis found amber lights leading to a reduction in being struck “between 3 and 28%” Quite a range of uncertainty. The very same document also states that in their second analysis they found no correlation between signal color and odds of being struck. https://web.archive.org/web/20120712231313/http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NRD/Multimedia/PDFs/Crash%20Avoidance/2008/811%20037.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20120712231313/http://www.nhtsa.... Another one of the cited documents goes so far as to say > Richard Van Iderstine: We have studied the crash involvement of vehicles having yellow rear turn signal lights versus red ones. With our data, we have found it challenging to prove that yellow is better than red. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37484-2004Nov9.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37484-2004No... And yet another of the cited sources states > Analyses revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in rear-end accident rates between the red and amber turn-signal systems. https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/810192/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/81... —- Based on the actual text of the citations I’m inclined to believe there’s very little difference. And I don’t see how there could be. The only practical difference I see between a red signal and amber signal is that the signal might ever so briefly interpreted as a brake light activating before the first cycle completes. The course of action of the driver behind in either case is to slow down, so it’s a distinction without a difference in action.