Abstract
Objective: The objective of this research is to investigate the impacts of drivers’ demographic factors on speed patterns in response to a smartphone based warning message, while driving through the advance warning area of a work zone. Methodology: A smartphone application was developed using Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) App Inventor 2, which was used to provide test drivers with a warming message on traffic control and incident awareness. Twenty-four subjects with different demographic features (different gender, age, education background, and driving experience) were recruited to drive through an advance warning area of a work zone twice in two scenarios (with and without the warning message). The advance warning area was divided into three segments for the convenience of analysing the significant difference in subjects’ reactions to the warning messages and the static traffic control signs, in terms of speed patterns. Findings: Under a traditional traffic control, drivers’ driving speed patterns were not significantly sensitive to the four studied socio-demographic features; but their mean driving speeds and speed variance were noticeable higher than in the situation with an audio warning message. When the smartphone-based messages were provided, drivers drove noticeably slower within the work zone, and the variance became narrower in the most studies of sociodemographic features. Experienced drivers and highly educated drivers drove significantly slower after receiving a warning message from the second and third segment (AWM 2 and 3). Conclusion: The smartphone-based warning messages were able to help drivers to control their driving speed better for cautious driving in a work zone area, especially for the experienced and highly educated drivers driving through a merging area and an activity area of workers.
Highlights
According to The U.S Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), hundreds of fatal crashes each year in work zones were recorded nationwide [1]
The smartphone-based warning messages were able to help drivers to control their driving speed better for cautious driving in a work zone area, especially for the experienced and highly educated drivers driving through a merging area and an activity area of workers
To enhance the safety in a conflicting area like work zones, various wireless technologies have been adopted to build up a wireless communication system between vehicle and vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure, and vehicle and workers [3,4,5], such as Radar, Lidar and Telecommunication (LTE) from a low-cost smartphone [6,7,8]
Summary
According to The U.S Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), hundreds of fatal crashes each year in work zones were recorded nationwide [1]. It is convinced that the conventional static traffic control devices may not be adequate to alleviate crashes in a work zone. Drivers’ lane-changing time and distance are sensitive to their socio-demographic factors, while driving through a work zone [11]. This paper is proposed to explore the impacts of socio-demographic factors on drivers’ driving speeds to a smartphone-based audio warning message, while driving through the advance warning area of a work zone. Since a virtual driving simulator could record drivers’ immediate response to the stimulus of static traffic control signs as well as audio warning messages at sampling up to 60 Hz, a driving simulator test was designed
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