Control Motor Vehicle Research Articles

Self-Protection: Trauma Patients' Perspectives of their Motor Vehicle Crashes

A grounded theory study was conducted with 21 informants to provide theoretical analysis of behaviors surrounding motor vehicle crashes (MVC). Nonrespondent sources of data included songs, commercials, and automobile advertisements. Data were triangulated using constant comparative analysis. Self-protection strategies were contingent upon the drive revaluating loss of control during the MVC. The derived self-protection theory suggests that if motor vehicle control is perceived to have been lost and motor vehicle control is desirable following the MVC, then self-protection strategies to enhance perceptions of motor vehicle control will be adopted. Thus involvement in a MVC and sustaining injuries from the MVC appear to be insufficient for motivating self-protective actions. Consistent with previous research studies, if injured drivers did not perceive that occurrence of MVCs can be controlled, they did not identify self-protective behaviors that were specific to driving.

Seizure Disorders, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cerebrovascular Disease

For those conditions in which loss of consciousness is the main issue, such as epilepsy, factors that contribute to risk of seizure recurrence are central to the determination of driver safety. Thus, high- and low-risk groups may be identified and factors that contribute to high risk checked. These factors also serve to develop a program to reduce such risk in the future. In the population with seizure disorders, young males under age 25 have the highest risk for traffic accidents and violations. Other factors associated with high risk are partial complex seizure type, history of drug toxicity with anticonvulsant medications, alcohol abuse or poor compliance for medications, and history of psychiatric illness. For conditions such as cerebrovascular accidents or Parkinson's disease, the recognition of the diagnosis alone is insufficient to determine driver competence. In these illnesses, the task is to recognize levels of failure of individual skills and function that specifically render a person incompetent for safe driving. Such a precise determination is currently not possible in individuals with cerebrovascular accidents or other forms of brain injury (e.g., trauma) or degenerative brain disease (e.g., Parkinson's disease). There is intuitive and general agreement that there are those so severely affected that driving has become impossible or very dangerous. Alternately, there are also those with these conditions whose driving skills and competence are virtually unaffected and pose no risk to traffic safety. Physicians vary widely in their ability and experience in judging the competence and safety of those in between these two extremes. For this reason, a standardized approach is essential both to ensure the avoidance of unnecessary bias as well as to ensure the safety of the driver and the general public. At some time in the future when all the necessary driving skills are identified and appropriate tests are developed to judge them, a battery of tests for the elderly at age 65 and at regular intervals thereafter may be used. Until then, some form of clinical judgment and legal regulation may have to be adopted. One option would be to adopt a rule similar to that in the United Kingdom where all persons with TIAs or cerebrovascular accidents would automatically suspend driving for 3 months because of the high risk for recurrence of both cerebrovascular as well as ischemic heart disease in that interval.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Control of motor vehicle emissions‐the U.S. experience

Abstract An historical overview of U.S. experience with highway motor vehicle emissions control is presented. The evolution of new motor vehicle emissions certification practice, end‐of‐assembly‐line inspection, in‐use surveillance and recall, inspection and maintenance, and antitampering programs is discussed. The changes in motor vehicle design and fuel formulation resulting from these practices are also described, along with associated changes in the characteristics of emissions. Although significant reductions of new motor vehicle emission rates have been experienced, excessive consumer tampering and poor maintenance, along with large increases in the number of roadway miles traveled, have decreased the magnitude of air quality improvements resulting from these control efforts. As a result of these and other observations, the U.S. Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990 to require more stringent new motor vehicle emission standards, changes in procedures for identification and repair of motor vehic...

The impact of motor vehicle control technologies on future photochemical ozone formation in the United Kingdom.

Legislation to control motor vehicle exhaust emissions has been introduced in the United Kingdom in stages since the early 1970s. Recently, a further step has been taken towards reducing future exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen in the 'Luxembourg agreement' (Lubinska, 1985). In this paper, the possible impact of these proposed controls on photochemical air pollution formation in the United Kingdom is investigated, including an evaluation of the relative merits of the two principal emission control options for petrol-driven cars: 'Lean Burn' engines and 'Catalyst' exhaust gas treatment.

Air Quality Analysis For Urban Transportation Planning

This book integrates and presents the results of research as it applies to a major source of air pollution--gasoline--and diesel-powered motor vehicles in cities. It includes discussions of the transportation-related air pollutants (mainly carbon monoxide, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide) and their effects on human health and welfare; motor vehicle emissions measurements, standards, and control devices; the effects on air pollution of traffic engineering measures (such as widening streets or creating vehicle-free zones), transit improvements, carpool incentives, pricing and restraint measures, and land use measures; and the modeling of atmospheric dispersion.

A Strategy for Distance Control of Motor Vehicles

Problems of distance control occur when approaching a slower moving vehicle and when following it; the two procedures differing from one another kinematically. These kinematic differences between the approaching and the following range were compiled and analyzed by measurements of the traffic flow on highways. With the results of these observations and on the basis of the car following theory, the author has developed a strategy for distance warning indicators built into motor vehicles and has calculated the effect on capacity of such a strategy.

Effects of the Motor Vehicle Control Program On Hydrocarbon Concentrations in The Central Los Angeles Atmosphere

The body of information presented in this paper is directed to those individuals concerned with the effect of the motor vehicle control program on ambient hydrocarbon concentrations in a metropolitan area during peak traffic hours. The data used in this study are from gas chromatographic analyses of air samples taken in 1963-65, before implementation of the exhaust control program for new motor vehicles, and in 1971 and 1973, after several years’ application of this program. A brief history of the motor vehicle program in California together with emission standards for hydrocarbons are discussed and certain automobile-related hydrocarbons are identified and characterized. Frequency distributions were constructed for total hydrocarbons, non-methane hydrocarbons, methane, acetylene, and isopentane for 1963-65, 1971, and 1973 and the standard deviation (1 sigma) concentration limits are discussed for each of the subgroups mentioned above. The average concentration and relative percent comparisons for methane...

Choice Reaction Time and Location of Vehicle Controls

The reaction time of 24 nondriver Ss was measured to six controls in each of two cars, one with an “American” style layout, the other with a “European” style layout. Ss uniformly reached for and touched the controls in the European style car faster, a finding which has implications for the design and layout of motor-vehicle controls. Implications of the further finding that reactions to immediately repeated stimuli were uniformly faster are also mentioned.

THE EFFECTS OF DOXEPIN, ALONE AND TOGETHER WITH ALCOHOL, IN RELATION TO DRIVING SAFETY

Psychotropic drug effects depend not only on the pharmacology of the drug, but upon the characteristics of the patient, and upon the environment in which the drug is taken. Since the life-style of most patients includes alcohol use and the control of motor vehicles, doxepin (an antidepressant-antianxiety compound) was tested in a laboratory setting for its effects on skills related to driving safety. Subjects were tested when sober and also when intoxicated by alcohol. Twelve subjects received doses of 25 mg/m2 of body surface area, 10 received half the above dose, and 12 received a placebo. Subjects took 2 doses at an interval of 12 hours. The amount of alcohol used gave a mean blood alcohol level of 73–6 mg/100 ml (Breathalyzer reading mean, 0–069%). Physiological measures, questionnaires and a battery of psychomotor skill tests, including two driving simulators, were used to assess the results. These techniques have previously been shown to reveal deleterious effects on performance by subjects consuming some drugs and alcohol. In this experiment the only significant drug effect was an improvement in performance on one driving simulator by the subjects on the higher dose of doxepin. It seemed that the antianxiety effects of doxepin were to some extent antagonistic to the well-documented detrimental effect which alcohol has on the performance of these tasks. An evaluation of laboratory studies is detailed, and the need for caution by prescribers is stressed.

Motor vehicle instrument and control location, accessibility and identification : Woodson, W. E., Canover, D. W., Miller, G. E. and Selby, P. H.Abstr. in US Government Research and Development Reports (Report No PB-188816

Motor vehicle instrument and control location, accessibility and identification : Woodson, W. E., Canover, D. W., Miller, G. E. and Selby, P. H.Abstr. in US Government Research and Development Reports (Report No PB-188816

Dynamics of driver vehicle steering control

The view point and principles of guidance and control theory provide the basis for analyzing the dynamics of driver steering control of motor vehicles. The resultant driver/vehicle system has as its elements the vehicle equations of motion, experimentally derived models for the human operator's dynamic response characteristics, and descriptions of the roadway environment. A variety of single-loop and multiloop systems are synthesized and examined to select several good, simple, and likely alternative configurations: time-advanced lateral deviation, path angle (or rate) plus inertial lateral deviation, and heading angle (or rate) plus inertial lateral deviation. These do not included all the possible multiloop driver/vehicle structures potentially capable of satisfying guidance and control requirements, but they do provide good performance in command-following and disturbance regulation, insensitivity to variations in the driver's dynamic adaptation, and good predicted subjective opinion from the driver. They are not inconsistent with perceptual data from recent driver experiments. The resultant models provide a new framework for devising future experiments, and can aid the vehicle and highway design process.

Some considerations relating to the design of autopilots for legged vehicles

INTRODUCTION THE EVIDENT advantages enjoyed by terrestial animals over wheeled vehicles when traversing difficult terrain has frequently been noted by the designers of military vehicles and others, and has lead to speculation regarding the possibility of constructing legged for off-road locomotion [1-3]. Interest in such has recently been heightened by the construction and testing of several experimental vehicles [4-6]. One of the principal difficulties which have retarded the development of practical walking machines is the lack of an entirely satisfactory solution to the limb coordination control problem. It appears that most serious attempts to solve this problem have been based upon the use of mechanical linkages '[7, 8] and while some such systems have shown a surprising degree of adaptability to varying terrain conditions [6], the relative motions of the various limb segments of this type of machine are rigidly determined by the linkage mechanism. This obviously prevents the machine from achieving the degree of mobility possessed by animals in which every joint of every limb is independently powered and controlled. One alternative to linkage coordination of limb segment motions is to provide a means for individual control of powered leg joints by a human operator. This approach bypasses the coordination control problem by making use of the extraordinary capabilities of human beings to adapt to the dynamics of machines. Historically, this type of control has almost always been used for the solution of very complicated control tasks. Two pertinent examples are the control of motor vehicles on highways, and the control of aircraft during take-off and landing. The feasibility of manual control for legged locomotion systems is currently being investigated by General Electric Corporation by means of an experimental study involving a large artificial quadruped [4, 9]. The legs of this machine each possess three rotational degrees of freedom so a total of twelve independent joint motions must be coordinated, by the operator to achieve forward motion. A third approach to ~he solution of the limb coordination control problem is suggested by an examination of the control techniques employed in modern aircraft. In such systems, not only is the strength of the pilot amplified by the use of electric and hydraulic actuators, but the control tasks he faces are also made easier by the use of an electronic autopilot and navigation system capable of flying the aircraft towards a desired location with little or no human intervention. It appears that it is possible to similarly aid the the operator of a legged locomotion

Motor-Vehicle Transport Pricing in Lebanon

WNESTERN transport observers are accustomed to considerable precision in motor-vehicle pricing and controls. Truck and bus operation have been regulated for decades, and bureaucrats and legislatures have developed over time organizational frameworks w-hich are relatively stable, rational and observable. In the Mliddle East, the regulation of transport enterprise has been much more haphazard than in the W-Vest. Theories of control were borrowed from the W-est, especially during the Mandate period, but over the years these systems, modified in large part to control foreign-owned monopolistic railways, have resulted in substantial deviations from W-Vestern practice. Present pricing practices in the Mliddle East appear confusing and anarchistic, but out of chaos comes a certain order, which this paper attempts to describe. The bulk of transport by common carrier in Lebanon is performed by motor vehicles operating in a relatively uncontrolled market. The few existing railways are not used for local traflic to any extent, and animals and coastal shipping are too slow and expensive except in restricted special situations. Thus in most local markets, motorvehicle transport prices are the only relevent transport rates. Mlotor-vehicle common carrier operations in Lebanon are rather informal by Western standards. Highway operations over the relatively complex and complete network can be divided into four main groupings: dry cargo trucking, tank trucking, buses and services. 1 Trucks seldom operate on schedules as common carriers. The standard operating technique in dry cargo operations is for the shipper to lease the entire truck for a given haul or a given period of time. Drivers are usually supplied by the truck owner. Payment is based on the potential loads which can be carried in the given truck, which results in a volume-weight type rate analogous to ocean shipping rates. Tariffs are seldom printed. Tank trucks in local services are used almost exclusively for hauling petroleum products from refineries at Tripoli and Sidon to storage and consumption points in other parts of the country, most notably Beirut. Since this

Motor Vehicle Control in Maryland

Motor vehicle control, as it has been evolved in Maryland, to keep pace with the development and steadily increasing use of the automobile, is now grounded on four essential requirements. Although continued expansion of motor vehicle traffic may require enlargement of official regulatory power, experience leads to the belief that these four requirements are basic and essentially permanent.

Discussion of “Motor Vehicle Control in Maryland”

Discussion of “Motor Vehicle Control in Maryland”