An Evaluation of the Advance Braking Light Device

This report describes a test run on a device (the Advance Braking Light Device, or ABLD) that senses the rate at which the accelerator is released. If the rate is equal to or faster than a predetermined minimum the device turns on the brake lights for one second.

The interest in this study was in determining whether there were any operational problems with the ABLD, and measuring the gain in brake illumination time it provides. The results suggest that there are no significant operational problems, and that the device causes the brake lights to be illuminated 0.2 to 0.3 second sooner when it is energized.