Photometric Evaluation of Steady-Burn Warning Lights in Work Zones

Author(s):  
LuAnn Theiss ◽  
Jeffrey D. Miles ◽  
Gerald L. Ullman ◽  
Stefanie D. Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Kristin Kersavage ◽  
Nicholas P. Skinner ◽  
John D. Bullough ◽  
Philip M. Garvey ◽  
Eric T. Donnell ◽  
...  

Flashing yellow warning lights notify drivers about the presence of work along the road. Current standards for these lights address performance of the individual light but not how lights should function when multiple lights are used. In the present study, warning lights were used to delineate a lane change taper in a simulated work zone. Lights flashed with varying intensities and either randomly or in sequence, with lights flashing in turn along the length of the lane change taper, either to the right or to the left. In half of the trials, a flashing police light bar was used on a vehicle located within the simulated work zone. Participants were asked to drive a vehicle approaching the work zone and to identify, as quickly as possible, in which direction the taper’s lane change was (either to the right or left). Drivers were able to correctly identify the taper from farther away when the lights flashed in a sequential pattern than when the flash pattern was random; and the presence of a police light bar resulted in shorter identification distances. The results, along with previous research, can inform standards for the use of flashing lights and police lights in work zones for the safety of drivers and workers.


Author(s):  
Timothy J. Gates ◽  
Peter T. Savolainen ◽  
Tapan K. Datta ◽  
Prasad Nannapaneni

Author(s):  
Carlos Sun ◽  
Praveen Edara ◽  
Yi Hou ◽  
Andrew Robertson

Author(s):  
LuAnn Theiss ◽  
Michael P. Pratt ◽  
Gerald L. Ullman ◽  
Stefanie D. Maxwell

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
MS Rea ◽  
JD Bullough ◽  
LC Radetsky ◽  
NP Skinner ◽  
A Bierman

Flashing yellow warning lights are important for worker and driver safety in work zones. Current standards for these lights do not address whether and how they should be coordinated to provide directional information to drivers navigating through work zones. A field study was conducted to assess driver responses to warning lights. The luminous intensities and flash patterns of warning lights along a simulated work zone were varied during daytime and nighttime. During the daytime, driver responses were relatively insensitive to warning light characteristics, although drivers preferred sequential and synchronised flash patterns over random, uncoordinated flashing. At nighttime, the combination of a temporal peak luminous intensity of 25 cd and a sequential flash pattern was optimal for providing directional information. A single initial warning light having a higher luminous intensity may help drivers detect the work zone without creating unacceptable visual discomfort.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Whitmire ◽  
J. F. Morgan ◽  
Tal Oron-Gilad ◽  
P. A. Hancock
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Fatemeh Fakhrmoosavi ◽  
Ramin Saedi ◽  
Farish Jazlan ◽  
Ali Zockaie ◽  
Mehrnaz Ghamami ◽  
...  

Snow removal activities are performed by roadway agencies to enhance winter mobility and safety. Slower travel speeds during these operations, combined with low visibility and reduced pavement friction, mean that safety and collision avoidance remain a persistent concern. Many studies have implemented signing and lighting technologies to improve the visibility of snowplows. Although a few studies have evaluated the use of different colors on snowplows, there is no rigorous study that evaluates the potential impacts of using green warning lights for winter maintenance operations. This study, therefore, investigates the impacts of various warning light configurations on the visibility of snowplows, with the focus on green lights. To this end, 37 warning light configurations are designed using various color combinations (green and amber), and flashing patterns (single and quad) on the back (LED), the top (beacon), or both, of snowplows. These configurations are evaluated to identify the most effective configurations. Three sets of experiments are designed and implemented: static, dynamic, and weather to evaluate the visibility effectiveness in different contexts: day versus night, clear versus snowy weather, and static versus dynamic scenarios. Human subjects are employed to conduct the experiments and the test results are evaluated using statistical analyses. The conspicuity during the day time and glare during the night time are statistically different among various configurations. In addition, adding green lights with a single flash pattern to amber warning lights improves the conspicuity, while keeping the glare at an acceptable level relative to configurations using only amber.


Author(s):  
Anjali Joseph ◽  
David Neyens ◽  
Sahar Mihandoust ◽  
Kevin Taaffe ◽  
David Allison ◽  
...  

(1) Background: The surgical table within a typical ambulatory surgery operating room is frequently rotated and placed in different orientations to facilitate surgery or in response to surgeon preferences. However, different surgical table orientations can impact access to different work zones, areas and equipment in the OR, potentially impacting workflow of surgical team members and creating patient safety risks; (2) Methods: This quantitative observational study used a convenience sample of 38 video recordings of the intraoperative phase of pediatric outpatient surgeries to study the impacts of surgical table orientation on flow disruptions (FDs), number of contacts between team members and distance traveled; (3) Results: This study found that the orientation of the surgical table significantly influenced staff workflow and movement in the OR with an angled surgical table orientation being least disruptive to surgical work. The anesthesia provider, scrub nurse and circulating nurse experienced more FDs compared to the surgeon; (4) Conclusions: The orientation of the surgical table matters, and clinicians and architects must consider different design and operational strategies to support optimal table orientation in the OR.


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