The Effects of Driver Age and Gender on Vehicle Stopping Distance Under Different Speeds

Abstract

This study was conducted to estimate the stopping distance that is needed to halt a vehicle at different speeds. In order to improve the equality of evaluation, age and gender of the drivers, which affects the reaction times (RTs), were taken into consideration. The measurements of the RTs in a simulated driving environment were executed and the acquired results were statistically analyzed using "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" (SPSS). The results indicate that participants' ages and genders had a significant relationship with the RTs as P-values < 0.01 and 0.022, respectively. Then, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to compare the effect of the predictors' ages, genders, and vehicle's speeds on the vehicle's stopping distance. The overall regression model showed that these predictors had a high significant effect on stopping distance as F(3, 46) = 777.05, P-value < 0.01, and R-square = 0.98. However, gender exclusively was not significant as its P-value > 0.24.