Driver's Level Research Articles

Driving on the motorway: the effect of alternating speed on driver's activation level and mental effort

When most of the driving tasks are performed automatically, a driver's level of alertness may decline, as has been pointed out in the study of the phenomenon called ‘highway hypnosis’. One possible countermeasure is to periodically vary the speed (Wertheim 1978), but the authors have not found any studies that directly assess the effectiveness of this countermeasure. The objective of our study has been to provide empirical evidence regarding the effects of this strategy on the level of driver activation on a motorway route in real traffic. In the present study activation level as indexed by a relative measure based on slow EEG activity tended to be significantly higher when speed was modified periodically than when it remained constant. In addition, this index tended to be progressively higher when the speed was constant during the first part of the route, while the same thing did not occur when the speed was modified periodically. Finally, no significant differences between the constant and varying speed conditions were obtained with respect to any of the cardiovascular indices related to the effort put into driving and the stress experienced in the situation.

Development of alertness-level-dependent headway distance warning system

A system that automatically adjusts the timing of headway distance warnings in accordance with the driver's alertness level was developed. For the establishment of timing settings, bench tests were performed to verify the relationship between alertness levels and reaction times, then vehicle tests were performed to establish the maximum and minimum values for free running time (the time between the moment when the driver realizes that deceleration is necessary and the moment when the vehicle begins to decelerate). The system minimizes unnecessary warnings without preventing necessary warnings. It can be expected to increase acceptance among drivers.

An analysis and simulation of curtain wall reflection glare

This paper presents a computer-aided visualization of the influence of reflected sunbeams from glass curtain wall buildings. A boundary of reflection area (BRA) is proposed as a performance index in the evaluation of reflection glare. BRA is conducted through the computer simulation of a 1×1×1 test cube with four façades made by reflective material. The cube is used to reference the horizontal area that would receive reflections in order to provide the comparison base of evaluation. Due to the symmetric shape of the cube, a butterfly-shaped BRA was concluded. BRA is smaller at the summer solstice than at the spring or autumnal equinox. The BRA is compared at different angles of tilt and orientations of walls. In order to reduce BRA, a passive design approach was applied by tilting walls or rotating plans to evaluate how the tilted angles or orientation of the façade would affect reflected glare. The simulation enabled design evaluation, with an inspection above normal eye level and in a broader area, than that which normally could be achieved in a site survey at a pedestrain's or a driver's level. The computer simulation verified the influence of reflection on the urban environment by using a time-based record.

Drivers' familiarity with urban route network layout in Amman, Jordan

Abstract Advanced traveler information systems (ATISs) have attracted a considerable amount of attention in recent years. By providing drivers with traffic information, these information systems are likely to help in reducing travel time, traffic-related congestion and consequently lead to reduced levels of vehicle emissions. With the presence of in-car navigation and communication systems, the ATIS can benefit commuters as well as unfamiliar drivers. However, in the absence of in-car navigation systems – the case in most developing countries, familiar drivers are likely to use these information systems more effectively and hence are likely to make well-informed route-diversion and other travel-oriented decisions. This paper is devoted to developing driver familiarity models to identify the factors that influence drivers' familiarity with the urban route network layout. A number of non-linear familiarity models are developed and coefficients are estimated. Estimation results indicate that travel characteristics such as familiarity with one alternative route, residence leaving times, travel time to job location and the presence of young children have a profound impact on the driver's level of familiarity. Separate familiarity models for male and female drivers are also specified and estimated. When subjected to the same set of predictors, the familiarity of male drivers turned out to be more responsive than the familiarity of female drivers. This result could reflect, among other things, the fact that male drivers have more frequent and diverse activity stops that expose them to different sections of the transportation network layout.

Survey of New Zealand truck driver fatigue and fitness for duty

This paper presents recent research into compliance with current driving hours regulations, the effectiveness of using driving hours to predict fatigue, and alternative compliance and enforcement options. The paper describes results of a major survey of truck driver fatigue in New Zealand, a review of international compliance and enforcement procedures, and research focussing on the social forces and influences that affect truck drivers. The survey of truck drivers was based on interviews and performance tests collected from 600 truck drivers at depots, wharves, markets, and other locations throughout the North Island of New Zealand. The interviews included: questions on driver demographic and work/rest patterns, drivers' attitudes towards fatigue, propensity towards daytime sleepiness, and a self-assessment of the driver's momentary level of fatigue. In addition, a simulator-based performance test of driving was undertaken. The performance test included a combination of a standard driving task, a dual-axis sub-critical tracking task (maintaining speed and steering in a controlled but unstable environment, a virtual roadway affected by the appearance of random wind gusts requiring steering correction), and a tertiary or side-task requiring driver monitoring and periodic responses. The initial results from the first 100 drivers have found a sizable number of drivers exceeding the allowable driving hours, high levels of fatigue and sleepiness, and interesting differences between line-haul and local delivery drivers. A related research project into the social processes and relationships that affect truck drivers has resulted in a good understanding of the social conditions that influence cultural change and the actions of truck drivers and fleet managers. In this paper we will have particular regard to these processes in the construction of ideas concerning safety. This includes an understanding of the role of major stakeholders, such as freight forwarders and the enforcement agencies with respect to drivers and their conditions, actions and understanding of the road transport industry. This knowledge coupled with the survey results and an understanding of compliance and enforcement alternatives will be used to explore potential fatigue management options.

A Basic Analysis of Drivers' Route Choice and Information Acquisition Behavior Based on Stated Preference Data Collected through Intranet Survey

A computer network-based survey was proposed as a method of collecting travel behavior data ondriver's information service utilization and route choice when traffic information is provided, and itseffectiveness was verified. We found that the survey method using the intranet is superior to the conventional questionnaire ones, because its survey time was shorter and the reality of the experimental situation was greatly improved. Furthermore, we analyzed the relation between information utilization behavior and variables consisting of driver's awareness level of congestion and characteristics of information services. As results, we found that the reduction in vehicle speed is likely to increase driver's access to the information services.

Risk factors for ‘whiplash’ in drivers: a cohort study of rear-end traffic crashes

‘Whiplash’ injuries are a common cause of road traffic accident (RTA) related morbidity. However, few epidemiological studies have investigated risk factors associated with the occurrence of such injuries. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between vehicle and occupant factors and the incidence of ‘whiplash’ in drivers with recent experience of a rear-end impact in an RTA. A cohort of 246 car drivers with recent experience of a rear-end impact in the Adelaide metropolitan area was recruited. Structured telephone interviews were used to obtain information about driver demographics, the circumstances of the crash, and injuries resulting from the crash. Two factors were identified as independent risk factors for ‘whiplash’ injury: a history of neck injury (adjusted odds ratio = 4.50, 95 per cent confidence interval 1.97–10.28) and female sex (adjusted odds ratio = 2.08, 95 per cent confidence interval 1.13–3.82). The relative weight of the striking vehicle to the driver's vehicle was also positively associated with risk of ‘whiplash’ injury. There was no evidence that the driver's occupation or level of education are predictors of occurrence. Methodological aspects of the study which might have resulted in bias are discussed and suggestions are given for overcoming these in future work.

Fatigue and Trucking Accidents: Two Modes of Accident Causation

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigated 113 heavy-truck accidents to determine “the role of specific factors, such as drivers' patterns of duty and sleep, in fatigue-related heavy truck accidents” (NTSB, 1995a). For a number of reasons, we believed that a re-analysis of this data, with a different set of variables, might yield a more complete picture regarding the nature of fatigue-related accidents and their causes. Specifically, principal components analysis was employed to determine the underlying factors that contributed to accidents where fatigue was determined to be the primary cause. In this analysis, two principal components were extracted that dealt with (1) the nature of the driver's sleep periods and level of experience, and (2) aspects of the driver's work periods. Subsequent cluster analysis demonstrated that the cases could be divided into two distinct accident modes or types: those with and those without regular sleep/work patterns. Drivers with generally regular sleep/work patterns appeared to develop fatigue while on the job, while those with irregular sleep/work patterns appeared to arrive at the job already fatigued. In conclusion, the variables which contributed to fatigue in the NTSB report were found to contribute to fatigue in the present analysis, but not to the same extent in all cases. Some of the variables that influenced driver fatigue in one of the clusters (or accident modes) had no effect on the other. These different accident modes should be considered when examining the effect of a given variable on fatigue.

Self‐preserving assessments of skill?

The studies reported in this paper had two aims: (a) to identify which psychological variables underlie people's overly positive assessments of their own ability and (b) to explore the relationship between these and actual ability. In a first study, over 300 drivers assessed their driving ability in comparison to that of a novice. A positive view of own driving ability was directly related to the amount of accident‐free and endorsement‐free driving experience a driver had had and the driver's level of Neuroticism. It was negatively related to the number of errors drivers reported in other everyday tasks. In a second study, the actual driving skills of over 100 of the original subjects were assessed by a driving instructor. It was found that self‐assessments did not relate to actual ability, but instead to the comments made by the instructor and the subject's self‐assessment as measured during the earlier study. These results are discussed in terms of a stable, but inaccurate, self‐concept which is established as experience of the domain grows in the absence of contrary evidence.

生体計測応用 画像による瞬目計測と居眠り検知への応用

Many traffic accidents are caused by drowsiness while driving. The purpose of this research is to detect a driver's blinking using facial images obtained by a TV camera and to estimate the driver's arousal level to prevent the occurrence of an accident due to drowsiness. This report presents the method used to obtain the facial images, which are not affected much by the change of the ambient light by day and by night owing to the infrared light sources. This paper also describes the method for extracting the blinks and measuring the blinking durations, which are not influenced very much by individual differences in eye shape. Furthermore, we experiment with the relation between blinking durations and arousal levels as compared with vehicle deviation from the lane and driver's answer to the question about drowsiness. We also examine a method for estimating arousal level which reflects individual characteristics.

Effect of valvular heart diseases, migraine headaches, and perianal diseases on the risk of involvement in motor vehicle crashes.

Impaired health can interfere with driving performance. We have launched this investigation to identify in professional military drivers health parameters that might be associated with involvement in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). All Israel Defense Forces professional male drivers (N = 5,605) conscripted into compulsory military service between April 1, 1988 and April 1, 1990 were divided into two groups according to whether (N = 1,300) or not (N = 4,305) the driver was involved in MVCs during the same time frame. Using the multivariate Cox model, a significant association was shown between involvement in MVCs and the following health parameters: mild-to-moderate valvular heart disease (p = 0.0002, chi 2 = 13.89), migraine headaches (p = 0.009, chi 2 = 6.91), and perianal diseases (p = 0.006, chi 2 = 7.44). We hypothesize that interference with the driver's performance level may be a result of the discomfort associated with those clinical conditions. It is possible that interference with the personal performance level decreased the ability of the driver to cope with the specific driving task demands and resulted in the involvement of the driver in MVCs. We suggest that because of the high social and economic costs associated with road accidents, it is important to investigate further the association of involvement in MVCs and health problems. If our findings are confirmed in the future studies, intervention programs to reduce MVC rates would be suggested and conducted among professional drivers.

An evaluation based on physiological responses, of a driver's stress level while maneuvering a vehicle

An evaluation based on physiological responses, of a driver's stress level while maneuvering a vehicle

Correlation between vehicle's meandering and driver's alertness level

This paper describes a method for measuring meandering using computer vision, and the correlation between vehicle meandering and the driver's alertness level. To calculate the amount of meandering, the system recognizes white lane markings on the road and reads the displacement of the center of both white lines. There is significant correlation between the amount of meandering and blinking duration, so the amount of meandering is an effective index to estimate a driver's alertness level.

Noise exposure in the rural setting.

Noise levels of 155 tractors on 36 farms were studied. The range of noise levels at the driver's ear level with radios off and windows closed (if so equipped) was from 78 to 103 dB. Seventy-five percent of tractors without cabs had noise levels in excess of 90 dB, compared to only 18% of tractors with cabs. The use of a radio adds an average of 3.1 dB of noise. When some cab windows are open and the radio is on, an average of 4.2 dB is added to the cab noise. From the results of this study, the authors recommend hearing protection when time on a tractor with a cab approaches 3 to 4 hours and when time on a tractor without a cab approaches 1.5 to 2 hours. Limited use of the radio is also recommended.

Gir sjåføropplæringen færre bilulykker?

Overskeid, G. (1991). Does driver education and training reduce the number of road accidents? Nordisk Psykologi, 43, 52–61. The litterature reviewed gives little support for the view that formal driver education and training reduce the number of road accidents. Education and training seem to give drivers adequate theoretical knowledge, and basic handling skills. It is difficult to teach a person to always choose to drive carefully, however. This fact is not well understood by relevant authorities in the Nordic countries. It is nevertheless pinpointed as the most important parameter deciding a driver's risk level.

Alcohol and victim compensation as determinants of responsibility attribution in traffic accidents.

This paper reports the results of a study designed to investigate several variables which may underlie the variance in subjects' attributions of responsibility--the effects of the subject's sex, attitudes toward women, locus of control, the driver's sex, the driver's level of intoxication, and victim compensation. It was found that attributions of responsibility and assignment of penalties for fictional traffic accidents were determined mostly by the driver's level of intoxication. Other situational factors and respondent characteristics had little effect.

Vision, visibility, and perception in driving.

Recent research is reviewed and its implications discussed. "On-the-Spot" accident investigations have confirmed that errors of perception by the driver are a major contributory factor to accidents. However, the available evidence suggests that few of these are attributable to reduced or defective vision, since at best only a weak relationship has been found between a driver's level of vision (or visual performance) and his accident rate. A number of reasons for this general finding are considered, including driver compensation. For all drivers, the rapid fall in visual acuity with angular distance from the centre of vision presents particular problems, giving special significance to eye-movement patterns and the problems of visual search. Numerous physical and psychophysical restrictions on visibility could lead to the "looked, but failed to see" type of accident, but their relative importance requires evaluation. There is now much evidence that the driver is quite often operating beyond his visual or perceptual capabilities in a number of key driving situations, including overtaking, joining or crossing a high-speed road, and a number of nighttime situations. It is concluded that "expectancy", based on experience in both the long and the short term, has a profound influence on driver perception and assessment of risk. For all drivers, serious errors of judgment from time to time would seem inevitable. In general, these do not lead to accidents because of, among other things, the safety margins added by the driver and adjustments made by other road users. Thus, despite his limitations and fallibilities, the average driver is involved in surprisingly few serious incidents, particularly in view of the rapid rate of decisionmaking that is required. However, the present accident rate should not be accepted as inevitable and various countermeasures are discussed.

Variation of driver's arousal level during car driving in Japan : Kuroki, Y.et al.Paper presented at the Automotive Engineering Congress and Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, 23–27 February 1976. Society of Automotive Engineers, Paper No 760081, 1976, 12 pp

Variation of driver's arousal level during car driving in Japan : Kuroki, Y.et al.Paper presented at the Automotive Engineering Congress and Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, 23–27 February 1976. Society of Automotive Engineers, Paper No 760081, 1976, 12 pp