Driver eye fixations and the optimal locations for automobile brake lights

Abstract

This study evaluated the distributions of driver eye fixations when following other vehicles. The aim was to describe the areas of the forward field of view that are most frequently fixated. Such information is important for selecting optimal locations for automobile brake lights: Brake lights that are closer to eye fixations are likely to result in shorter driver reaction times than brake lights farther away from the fixations. A head-mounted, corneal-reflection device was used to monitor eye fixations. The data were collected during daylight hours in slow-moving urban traffic. A total of 3,600 eye fixations were analyzed for three different lead cars. The results indicate that, under the conditions of this study, the eye fixations tended to concentrate on the rear-window of the lead car and not in the neighborhood of the standard low-mounted brake lights. The results provide a possible behavioral explanation for the accident reductions found with high-mounted brake lights in previous field studies. Furthermore, high-mounted brake lights located at the edges of the vehicle might be even closer to eye fixations than a center-high-mounted brake light.