THE PERCEPTION OF LIGHT SIGNALS : THE EFFECT OF MIXING FLASHING AND STEADY IRRELEVANT LIGHTS

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Abstract
A previous experiment has shown the danger of increasing the number of irrelevant lights in a driver's field of view and that the signal most easily seen is one which flashes while the irrelevant lights are steady. However, a flashing light which may be an important signal to one driver may be irrelevant to other drivers in the vicinity. A second experiment with the same general conditions as before has been carried out to find the effect of a mixture of flashing and steady irrelevant lights as a background to an essential signal. It was Found that tho advantage gained by the use of a flashing light as a signal was lost if even one other light in the background was flashing. It was a definite disadvantage to have the signal flashing if three of ten irrelevant lights flashed, and when the number flashing was more than four, the ability to perceive flashing signals was seriously impaired.

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