Do More Emergency Lights Make You Safer?

• NCJ Number: 205313
• Journal: Law and Order Volume: 52 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 12,14,16,18
• Author(s): Mark Karczewski; John Swain
• Date Published: March 2004
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reports on a study of the effects of two levels of emergency lighting in terms of the safety of emergency responders.

Abstract

Emergency responders utilize emergency lighting to alert drivers that they are stopped at the scene. The tendency among emergency responders is to use the maximum amount of lighting possible under the assumption that more light creates a safer environment. On the contrary, too much lighting may prove distracting to drivers, causing them to actually steer into the lights. The current study was undertaken to discover the effects of two levels of emergency lighting in terms of the distances at which they are perceived at night and in terms of their distractedness to the driver. The test took place in August 2003 in a rural area of northern Illinois along Interstate 80. Twenty-six participants were chosen randomly at a truck stop. Each participant viewed two levels of emergency lighting, the lowest and highest levels on the roof-mounted Code 3 MX 7000, on an Illinois State Police car. No other lights were displayed during the test. Participants indicated when they first saw the lights and gave their opinion about whether the lights were distracting. Participants reported seeing the high level lighting at 5,202 feet and the low level lighting at 4,312 feet. Thus, drivers observing the high level lighting have 900 extra feet to respond to emergency vehicles; at a speed of 60 miles per hour, drivers would have about 9 to 10 more seconds when viewing the high level lights. However, the low level lighting gave sufficient time, approximately 30 seconds, for drivers to respond to emergency vehicles. Thus, the authors conclude that the low level lighting is adequate at nighttime to alert drivers. In terms of distractedness of the lighting, most participants (69 percent) responded negatively toward the high level lighting and positively (62 percent) toward the low level lighting. Thus, the authors conclude that lower level emergency lighting is actually safer for emergency responders than high level emergency lighting.