UMTRI Project

Research on Nonblinding Emergency Vehicle Warning Lighting Systems

Sponsor: Society of Automotive Engineers International
Investigator: Michael J. Flannagan
06/01/2005 - 11/30/2006

UMTRI is performing this work under a subcontract with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The work is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), United States Fire Administration (USFA), and the Department of Transportation (DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program.

The operation of emergency vehicles is inherently more risky than most other types of road use. One of the major ways in which this additional risk has been addressed is by the use of warning lamps on emergency vehicles. Those lamps are believed to be of considerable safety value. However, because these lamps are strong stimuli to other drivers (in terms of number, light output, and flash properties) there has also been concern about possible negative effects in which the lamps may distract or disorient drivers. This research is intended to investigate this possibility and review ways in which the design and use of warning lamps might be improved to reduce any negative effects.

CNTBS will perform four tasks as part of this project: (1) analyze fatal and nonfatal crash data for emergency vehicles in a state crash database, (2) analyze fatal crash data for emergency vehicles in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), (3) collect additional information for crashes in which emergency workers are struck as pedestrians at the scenes of emergencies, and (4) assess possible changes in equipment or in practices that may mitigate safety problems associated with warning lamps on emergency vehicles.