Three experiments were conducted to examine the effectiveness of two forward crash warning systems, a flashing brake system and a flashing hazard system, using an advanced driving simulator. In Experiment 1, 20 subjects followed a lead vehicle with a desired time gap and braked when necessary. Results showed that time gap, velocity, and deceleration of the lead vehicle all significantly affected drivers’ brake response times. In Experiment 2, six brake response times to a sudden lead vehicle deceleration (0.6？g at 80？km/h) were measured for six time gaps. Results showed that flashing brake system and flashing hazard system reduced drivers' brake response times by 0.14~0.62？s and 0.03~0.95？s, respectively, in the various situations tested. The effects of flashing color and illuminated size on drivers' brake response times were examined in Experiment 3. Results showed that flashing amber lamps reduced drivers' brake response times significantly by 0.11？s (10%) on average compared with red lamps. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of both flashing systems in reducing drivers' brake response times in urgent situations and may warrant further consideration by manufacturers. 1. Introduction Rear-end crashes, accounted for 32.2% of all road crashes, lead to 1694 deaths and 476,000 injuries in the US in 2010 [1]. In the same year in China, 2691 people died because of highway rear-end crashes which account for 40.4% of all highway crashes [2]. Rumar [3] established that delayed detection of other road users caused by inattention was a primary contributing factor for these crashes in 1990. As in-vehicle systems proliferate, the problem of driver inattention/distraction will become worse. Consequently, many warning and crash mitigation systems are being developed to reduce the frequency and severity of rear-end crashes [4, 5]. One purpose of such systems is to alert drivers of the imminent danger so that they can make evasive maneuvers to avoid a crash [6]. There have been many studies that have examined how to warn drivers of impending rear-end crashes. Jeong and Green [7] summarized 17 studies covering 27 experiments concerning human factors and in-vehicle forward collision warnings. This review showed that warning systems (visual, audio, and/or tactile) led to fewer crashes and shorter brake response times. However, none of these studies considered seat belt pretensioner activation which is an effective way to reduce crashes [8–10]. This review also reported that for audio warnings, intensities 4–10？dB above the background level were the most
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