REAR END COLLISION: STATUS, DRIVERS’ PERCEPTION AND IMPACT OF REAR LIGHT CONFIGURATIONS ON DRIVER REACTION TIME

Both the reconnaissance and the experiment surveys are conducted in this study. Hit pedestrians, head on, and rear end are found to be the major causes of the total fatal road accidents. Though pedestrians are being hit by the vehicles in almost 50% of the total road accidents, rear end collision contributes a significant fraction to it. More than two-third of the fatal road accidents caused by rear end collision takes place in national and city roads. Drivers consider ignorance about the traffic rule and carelessness as the top ranked reasons; and absence of appropriate lighting arrangement and negative attitude towards road safety are the second major sources of road accidents caused by rear end collision. However, they are only familiar with rear braking lights in straight line configuration. Driver reaction time is found to be shortest for the rear lights with rectangular configuration and has U-shaped relationship with divers’ age and experience.