Features: Jan. 22, 2002

Lighting the Way to Snowplow Safety

Changing the lighting system on the back of snowplow trucks could reduce the number of rear-end collisions between the trucks and other vehicles, according to research at Rensselaer's Lighting Research Center (LRC). About 70 percent of all snowplow truck accidents involve rear-end collisions, according to surveys conducted in the snow-belt states of Iowa and Minnesota.

	Click on photo for animation. Courtesy of Lighting Research Center. Click here for additional illustrations.

Currently, flashing lights are used on the rear of most snowplows in New York state to alert drivers when visibility is diminished by poor weather and to provide information about the vehicle's relative speed and distance.

The LRC developed a steady-burning light bar using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Working with the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) in a field site in Watertown, the LRC tested both lighting systems to measure the ability of observers following a plow to detect when it slows down.

The LRC found that narrow steady-burning lights are more effective than flashing lights at providing those cues to drivers who approach a truck from behind.

Researchers recorded the average time for a driver to detect the plow truck's deceleration was significantly shorter when the truck was equipped with the steady-burning light bar rather thanthe flashing lights. In addition, observers said the steady-burning lights provided slightly better visibility.

The LRC hopes to work with the DOT to incorporate the LED light bars on state snowplows.

"The LED light bar could easily be adapted to existing maintenance vehicles, or incorporated into specifications for new ones," says LRC researcher John Bullough.

LRC's snowplow research was conducted for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program with cooperation from the New York State Department of Transportation.