Standard Reactions – Driver Reactions in Critical Driving Situations

Abstract

Accident analyses performed by the Audi Accident Research Unit reveal that in situations in which the right of way is taken from the right side, drivers tend to react by swerving to the left. For a systematic assessment of how drivers generally react in such critical situations, a study using the Vehicle in the Loop (a combination of a driving simulator with a real vehicle) was carried out. A total of 40 participants passed in a 2x2x2 within-subjects design various situations in which their right of way was taken from the right side. The eight critical situations differed in the combination of acceleration, direction of movement and initial position of the crossing vehicle. The virtual environment was a rural road where in total 20 intersections had to be passed. Descriptive and interferential analyses of the data showed a high rate of collisions for situations in which the critical vehicle accelerated sharply. No significant differences were found regarding direction of movement and initial position. Regarding the steering, the data indicated an increasing tendency of swerving to the left with shorter Time-To-Arrival of the critical vehicle.