ABSTRACT
A fai lure to effecti vely attend to rai lway si gnals, and problems associated with si gnal visibil ity h ave been responsible for a relatively high number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) within the British rail industry - 568 between April 1 999 and March 2000. Indeed, according t o a recent report prepared for the public i nquiry into the Southall train accident of 1 997, the need to divide attention bctween a number of obj ects i n a dynamic scene can lead to confusions in si gnal delL'ction amongst drivers. Consequentl y, in order to attract drivers' attention to the s ignal at the appropriate time, the lise of auditory a lerts slich as the automatic warning system (AWS) arc recommended by this report.
