Table of Contents

IPRO 397 The Problem 4

Transportation A The Causes 12
Peter Coppola Why It Matters 18
Garrick Ketelhut
Our Proposal 24
Olivia Kochanek
Kessel Laryea References 37

1 2
The Problem
Of all the accidents recorded in
Illinois since 2004, rear end
accidents have been most
common type of accident every
year on state roadways. In total
they have accounted for 28.7%
of all accidents over the past
11 years.1

5 6
 In 2015 rear end accidents
resulted in 1,775
Type-A injuries, The most
among any type of accident
recorded by the Illinois
Department of
Type-A injury as defined by the Illinois DOT
Transportation.1 Any injury, other than a fatal injury, that prevents the
injured person from walking, driving, or normally performing
before the injury occurred. Includes severe lacerations,
broken limbs, skull or chest injuries, and or control related
to the movement of the traffic units through the abdominal
injuries. 1
7 8
 Red light cameras have Right Angle Crashes Rear End Accidents
become increasingly popular
over the past few years. While
they have decreased the 15 %

amount of right angle crashes 22%

that occur inside
intersections, their
implementation in Chicago
has increased the amount of
rear end accidents at red light
Our solution aims to decrease the amount of rear
end accidents experienced in all types of traffic
while being able to keep red light cameras in place
and take advantage of their ability to reduce right
angle crashes.

camera intersections by
22%.2
9 10
The Causes
 The “Phantom Jam”
Phantom jams are the result of one car braking
unnecessarily and causing other commuters to slow down
for no reason. The resulting jam travels through traffic like a
wave moving backwards as more people enter the jam than
can leave. This results in many cars braking for no reason
causing a traffic jam that was avoidable. These Jams are
hot spots for rear end accidents and can also result in travel
delays depending on the volume of cars caught in the wave
of traffic.3
Traditional brake lights amplify the problem since they do not
provide a warning for when a car will brake. This causes
drivers to over react and brake excessively, which leads
following drivers to brake more than they have too.
13
Below we can see the orange car in the first time frame. He
is accelerating away from a group of red cars that he caused
to come to a complete stop because he applied his brakes
harder than necessary. As time progresses a section of
green cars moving at the speed limit on the highway must
come to a complete stop even thought there is no danger.
This wave of stopped traffic travels backwards through the
flow of traffic. This domino effect is known as the “Phantom
Jam”. Dynamic Brake Lights aim to reduce the occurrence of
such jams by providing following drivers with more
information to better judge the actions of those in front of
them
14
 Distracted Driving
Distracted Driving can be broken into 3 main categories, all Distraction Type Brake Delay
of which severely increase the time it takes for a driver to re-
act to events on the road.
Cognitive
Focus is not on the act of driving
May include:
• Daydreaming

• Thinking of personal, work, family-related issue

• Even listening to your favorite podcast on the radio!4

Visual 100 milliseconds

Looking at anything but the road ahead
May include:
• Focusing on electronic devices (GPS, Phone)

• Adjusting child or passenger seatbelts

Auditory
• Changing the radio or using your phone

Manual
When an individual takes one or both hands off the wheel
May include:
• Eating
700 milliseconds
• Applying Makeup

• Using your cellphone5

• Changing radio station or music

Texting
Because of the brake delay caused by the various types of
distracted driving, accidents that result from these distrac-
tions can potentially be more severe since the driver has less
time to slow down before impact.

15 16
Why it Matters
 Congestion
Time could have been used
• Spending time with family
1
Congestion on Chicago’s roadways can result in as • Extra time to sleep
much as 260 hours of wasted time per commuter • Social Life
every year. This averages to 5 hours of wasted time a • Personal Time
week sitting in traffic that could have been used more
productively.6

2
Congestion results in 6.3 million gallons of wasted fuel
a year on Kennedy Expressway alone making traffic
one of the leading contributors of green house
gasses.6

3 Stressful driving situations lead to

Constant stressful driving situations can lead to a • High Blood Pressure
continual increased heart rate, contributing to cardio • Heart Disease
vascular disease and other long term health problems.7 • Physical and emotional distress
• Fatigue

19 20
 Accidents

1 According to many of the leading auto insurers the

Accidents cost money to fix, and a single $2,000 claim premium increase as a result of an accident can
can result in a 41% increase to your insurance last anywhere from 3 to 5 years depending on your
premium.8 accident record during that time.

2
According to the Federal Highway Administration
50% of all delays are the result of non-reoccurring
incidents, half of which are accidents 9 Break Down of
Non Reoccurring Incidents That Impact Traffic

Accidents — 50%
3
According to the Illinois Department of Transportation
Weather — 30%
There were 83,392 crashes reported in 2015 for which
damage to any one person’s property totaled between
$501 and $1,500 1 Construction — 20%

21 22
Our Proposal
 Why do Brake Lights Need to Change?
The current form of communication between a car and the Warning Times Reduced Risk
driver of the car behind it is one-dimensional and insufficient.
1/2 Second
Traditional brake lights are 1 color and are either on or off
and lack the ability to provide detail of the lead drivers 60%
actions.
1 Second
Research shows that by increasing the drivers ability to react 90%
to a situation in front of them by as little as 1/2 of a second,
you can decrease the chance of an accident by 60%. If
drivers have a full extra second of warning the chance of an
Action Time Required
accident can be reduced by up to 90%. 10 Processing event in front of driver

Opportunity Space
1/4 Second
When fully aware it can take drivers up to 1/4 of a second to
react to something happening in front of them, and another
3/4 of a second to move their foot from the gas pedal to a
brake pedal. In situations where drivers are not fully aware, Moving foot and applying brake
reaction times can total 1.5 seconds.11 Our system will take
advantage of this time by displaying a yellow brake light
between the time the gas is released and the brake is 3/4 Second
applied. Without displaying anything between the time the
foot is moved from the gas to the brake time is being wasted
that could be used to warn following driers. Total Time Minimum 1 Second
25 26
 Dynamic Brake Lights
For the Dynamic Brake Light System a combination of yellow
and red LEDs will be used. These colors were chosen
because of their association with informing drivers to take
caution or come to a stop. The variation between the colors
also insures that drivers will see a distinct difference when
either color is activated. With the potential to increase driver
awareness, Dynamic Brake Lights can help reduce
congestion and accidents on crowded roadways.

How It Works
Foot Removed from Gas
The system will take advantage of yellow and reds
association with caution and stop to help drivers better judge
the actions of the driver in front of them. When the lead
driver initially takes their foot off of the gas pedal the yellow
light will be activated, informing the following driver the
brakes may be applied soon. Once the driver applies the
brakes the red light will be shown and the following driver will
Foot Applied to Brake
know the vehicle is actively braking. The warning time
provided by the yellow lights before the lead vehicle actually
applies the brakes will help driver apply the brakes sooner
than they would with normal brake lights.

27 28
 Testing our Theory
To see if our theory was correct we created a test to see if
people would react quicker if given a visible warning. A
circuit was created that once activated would randomly
display a red light that was sometimes preceded by a yellow
light. In the tests where the yellow light came on as a
warning reaction times to the red light were 23% quicker.
This reduced reaction time in conjunction with 3/4 second
early warning will help drivers avoid accidents by being able
to react approximately half a second earlier than they would
have reacted to standard brake lights.
Incandescent vs LED
To further improve available reaction time as much as
possible the effect that light bulbs have on the time it takes
to display information was taken into account. LEDs reach
peak intensity almost immediately while standard
incandescent lights take 1/20 of a second before they
activate and another 1/5 of a second before they reach 90%
intensity. 12 While LEDs may be slightly more expensive, they
have minimal lag between activation and light output and
last longer than incandescent bulbs.
The difference in onset times between LEDs and Standard
incandescent bulbs alone can add an extra 15 feet of
stopping distance at 62 miles per hour.12
29 30
 Comparative Analysis Impact Analysis

Traditional
Brake
Lights

Dynamic
Brake
Lights

When Preforming a Comparative Analysis, it was determined that

Dynamic Brake Lights could help increase driver awareness across
the board at the most common sites of rear end accidents. While
we cannot guarantee to eliminate them completely, the severity of
these accidents can certainly be reduced when they do occur as
drivers have more time to react, reducing the speed of the impact.

31 32
 Cost Benefit Analysis Benefits
After finalizing our prototype and carrying out our experiments to gain our
primary source of information regarding our project, the team decided to Category Details Median Projected Annual Savings
Cost Cost
make a cost benefit analysis to see the value of our project. The analysis
comprised of two parts, the cost (amount of money we spent and are
According to the Ameri-
projected to spend), and the benefits the project will have. Due to the nature can Automobile Associa-
of our project, the benefits mentioned in the table were estimations of how Repairs on accidents tion (AAA), a person in the $1,522 $1,065 $457
much a person could save by using our dynamic brake light invention. The US spends $1,522 on re-
cost and benefits were weighed against each other to see whether dynamic pairs on accidents
brake lights would be profitable to the group, and a great investment for car
industries. According to AAA, a per-
Cost of wasted gas son in the US wastes
Costs in traffic $590 worth of gas in con-
$590 $413 $177
Category Details Median Cost gestion

LED lights will be used in the

LED brake lights. Costs typically $13 According to IDOT a single
range from $6-$20 $1500 dollar claim can
Cost of Insurance $1794 $1370 $424
result in a 31% increase
The cost to replace brake
Replacing Brake Lights lights ranges from $54- $90 in insurance premiums
$126

The project used the Arduino
microcontroller for display-
Arduino/Microcontroller
ing the alternating light
bulbs
The estimated cost of pre-
paring educational pam-
Educational Pamphlets
phlets/material for the pro-
totype
The group used bagels as an
incentive for people to par-
Testing Prototype ticipate in the experiment.
The cost ranged from $30-
$50
It is estimated that drivers could save as much as $1058 a year from the imple-
mentation of Dynamic Brake Lights. This estimate does not include the potential
$30
health insurance savings as it varies from person to person. These savings along
with the improved safety of the system are all positives for our users.
$20 In addition to the projected savings drivers can also
potentially see...
• Reduction in time spent in traffic → Savings on gas
• Safer driving→ potential insurance savings
$40
• Reduced stress → improved mental and emotional health

Total cost for 1 system ~$193

33 34
 Making it Happen
Seek
Seek approval manufacturer
The final design of Dynamic Brake Lights will use the Finalize Design
of OVSC for licensing
universal color of the yellow lights found in traffic signals, deal
which all drivers understand to mean caution. The final
design is estimated to take about another year.

Once our system is finalized, we would seek the approval of

the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Vehicle Safety Test new drivers
Inform the
Compliance (OVSC). The OVSC is responsible for testing, and those
Implementation public on the
regulating , and certifying any equipment used on renewing
complete new system and
automobiles sold in the United States. Once approval is license on
how it works
obtained we would look for a manufacturer to implement the system
system on their line of cars, which may take up to five years.

Around the year 2026, a state-regulated driver’s license

renewal would take place and the hope is that it would be
paired with a required instructional class on the function and
usage of Dynamic Brake Lights.
After about a year of license renewals and classes, the
country would see a release of cars with Dynamic Brake
Lights in the year 2027, which is ten years from now.
35
End Goals
Through the implementation of Dynamic Brake Lights, our hope is
to make driving a safer experience and to prevent dangerous
accidents from being a regular occurrence on the road. If accidents
can be avoided not only can congestion be reduced, but
commuters can avoid the costly repair and medical bills that are
associated with them. While the day where every car has a
Dynamic Brake Light system is far away, this system has the
potential to make a great improvement on car safety that will be
beneficial to everyone on the road.
38
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