Looming Collisions

May 2023 • Source: Exigent

In many rear-end collisions involving a vehicle that is stopped or moving slowly in the lane of travel, it is common for the driver of the striking vehicle to say that they did not realize the lead vehicle was stopped or moving very slowly until it was too late to avoid the crash. Drivers in these situations ] likely experienced a phenomenon called “looming.” 

Human factors experts address the issue of looming in vehicle collision cases to determine whether the driver perceived and responded to the slower moving orstopped vehicle in a reasonable amount of time and whether the driver’s actions were a cause of the crash. Read the full article.