Highway Construction, Maintenance, and Service Equipment Warning Lights and Pavement Data Collection System Safety

This report presents the results of research to develop recommendations to (1) improve the vehicle and equipment warning light policy for the Texas Department of Transportation, and (2) improve the safety of the department’s pavement data collection activities. Research efforts included a nationwide survey of vehicle warning lights and pavement data collection procedures, a motorist survey of their perceptions and interpretations of vehicle warning light color configurations, field studies of the effect of different warning light color configurations upon traffic operations, and a critique of current pavement data collection equipment and traffic control procedures. Researchers recommend that current policy to allow blue lights to be used with yellow lights on selected vehicles and equipment should be retained. However, researchers do suggest other changes to the policy, and provide recommendations to improve the safety of pavement data collection operations.