An experimental study of signal vigilance errors in train driving

Abstract

Abstract Failure to confirm a railway signal on a train's departure was investigated in four laboratory experiments. In the first two experiments, subjects were instructed to press a key when the signal colour was green as soon as a sign of departure was given by a lit pilot lamp and erroneous responses provoked by false signs were analysed. In the other two experiments, subjects were given a distracting task secondary to the train-starting operation, and signal vigilance behaviour was directly inspected using VTR recording. Results demonstrated that errors were related to two factors: automatism in information processing which may result from repetition of simple reactions to signs given with redundant information accompanying the signal, and the absence of attention to the signal which may be facilitated by redundancy and other distracting factors. A model for the mechanism of signal vigilance errors is offered and some effective countermeasures proposed.