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PubMed1988

Crash involvement of large trucks by configuration: a case-control study.

For a two-year period, large truck crashes on the interstate system in Washington State were investigated using a case-control method. For each large truck involved in a crash, three trucks were randomly selected for inspection from the traffic stream at the same time and place as the crash but one week later. The effects of truck and driver characteristics on crashes were assessed by comparing their relative frequency among the crash-involved and comparison sample trucks. Double trailer trucks were consistently overinvolved in crashes by a factor of two to three in both single and multiple vehicle crashes. Single unit trucks pulling trailers also were overinvolved. Doubles also had a higher frequency of jackknifing compared to tractor-trailers. The substantial overinvolvement of doubles in crashes was found regardless of driver age, hours of driving, cargo weight, or type of fleet. Younger drivers, long hours of driving, and operating empty trucks were also associated with higher crash involvement.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Driving for handicapped people.

Physical handicaps often make it difficult to use an ordinary production car. Access can be a major problem for both driver and passenger, while the design of controls has to be matched to the functional capabilities of the individual driver. Provision of an adequate driving posture and storage for a wheelchair also have to be considered. Many of these problems can be overcome by suitable adaptations to the vehicle. Recent work in this field is reviewed to summarize the ergonomic guidelines that are available. The driving task also requires cognitive skills and adequate speeds of reaction as well as physical skills and capabilities. Better methods of assessing these are gradually being developed, but much further work is necessary in this area. Disabled drivers need instructors who are skilled in training for their special needs. New developments have occurred in powered controls and in their mode of operation, allowing greater numbers of severely disabled people to drive. Steering controls can now be produced which require virtually zero force or very little movement to operate, and driving with a single multi-function control can be expected in the very near future.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1986

Perceived risks and driving behavior.

Claims have been made that safer cars result in drivers who take more risks. However, there are two basic design changes that make cars safer: the first reduces the likelihood of a crash; the second reduces the chance of injury during a crash. Because design changes that reduce the likelihood of a crash also often provide direct and immediate feedback, drivers may change their behavior, although there is no evidence that the change offsets the benefits of the increased crash avoidance capability. Design changes that increase occupant protection usually provide no direct and immediate feedback and, therefore, should have no effect on driving behavior. The data are consistent with this hypothesis and contradict the hypothesis of risk compensation.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1975

Human volunteer and anthropomorphic dummy tests of driver air cushion system.

The dynamic impact tests at Southwest Research Institute for the first time exposed human volunteers to production-like driver air cushion system depolyments at impact levels equivalent to a 30 mph barrier crash (48 kph). No significant injury was produced. At no time was it necessary for the secondary restraint systems to be utilized and the entire program schedule was carried out as planned. All tests were conducted under the most safe and controlled conditions possible, and typify only what the air cushions might accomplish in direct, head-on impacts up to 30 mph (48 kph). In comparing the test results, the anthropomorphic dummies' response to impact was conservative compared to the human volunteers. These and other human volunteer tests were run to help understand what might be expected in real world driving conditions. To further understand the value of this new safety system, 1000 1973 Chevrolets were built and places in a high mileage fleet across the couhtry. They now have accumulated 41 millions miles of experience and have had 15 accidents of sufficient severity that the air cushion depolyed. This fleet was followed with 1974 vehicles with air cushions sold to the general public as an option. These cars, combined with the test fleet, have accumulated approximately 60 million miles and have a total of 25 depolyments with 34 occupants in the front seat. There has been one fatality in accidents involving these vehicles, a seven week old baby boy. The child was not restrained in any protective carrier. All other injuries have been classified AIS-1 except for three AIS-2. Facial injuries have been very minimal and there have been no known hearing impairments as a result of these accident situations. To date, the results have been encouraging but caution must be taken in their interpretation. The population of drivers is not to be considered normal. The 60 million miles may appear to be a large number, but only represents 25 minutes of driving time of the total U.S. car population in 1 year.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2003

Virtual prototyping and testing of in-vehicle interfaces.

Electronic innovations that are slowly but surely changing the very nature of driving need to be tested before being introduced to the market. To meet this need a system for integrated virtual prototyping and testing has been developed. Functional virtual prototypes of various traffic systems, such as driver assistance, driver information, and multimedia systems can now be easily tested in a driving simulator by a rapid prototyping approach. The system has been applied in recent R&D projects.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2004

Emerging technological approaches for controlling the hard core DUI offender in the U.S.

Drivers convicted of impaired driving are substantially overrepresented in alcohol-related fatal crashes. Because many such offenders continue to drive with suspended operators' licenses, monitoring their postconviction driving is a significant problem for the criminal justice system. Technology for tracking the location and drinking of such offenders is a rapidly developing field, which promises to provide methods for monitoring offenders on a 24/7 basis. The status of traditional monitoring methods is reviewed and contrasted with the new technologies that are being implemented. Although those technologies offer considerable promise, they have not yet been evaluated in programs for impaired driving offenders. Eight issues related to the probability of rapid implementation of the new technologies are discussed.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2006

Rough set approach for accident chains exploration.

This paper presents a novel non-parametric methodology--rough set theory--for accident occurrence exploration. The rough set theory allows researchers to analyze accidents in multiple dimensions and to model accident occurrence as factor chains. Factor chains are composed of driver characteristics, trip characteristics, driver behavior and environment factors that imply typical accident occurrence. A real-world database (2003 Taiwan single auto-vehicle accidents) is used as an example to demonstrate the proposed approach. The results show that although most accident patterns are unique, some accident patterns are significant and worth noting. Student drivers who are young and less experienced exhibit a relatively high possibility of being involved in off-road accidents on roads with a speed limit between 51 and 79 km/h under normal driving circumstances. Notably, for bump-into-facility accidents, wet surface is a distinctive environmental factor.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2001

Fuzzylot: a novel self-organising fuzzy-neural rule-based pilot system for automated vehicles.

This paper presents part of our research work concerned with the realisation of an Intelligent Vehicle and the technologies required for its routing, navigation, and control. An automated driver prototype has been developed using a self-organising fuzzy rule-based system (POPFNN-CRI(S)) to model and subsequently emulate human driving expertise. The ability of fuzzy logic to represent vague information using linguistic variables makes it a powerful tool to develop rule-based control systems when an exact working model is not available, as is the case of any vehicle-driving task. Designing a fuzzy system, however, is a complex endeavour, due to the need to define the variables and their associated fuzzy sets, and determine a suitable rule base. Many efforts have thus been devoted to automating this process, yielding the development of learning and optimisation techniques. One of them is the family of POP-FNNs, or Pseudo-Outer Product Fuzzy Neural Networks (TVR, AARS(S), AARS(NS), CRI, Yager). These generic self-organising neural networks developed at the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL/NTU) are based on formal fuzzy mathematical theory and are able to objectively extract a fuzzy rule base from training data. In this application, a driving simulator has been developed, that integrates a detailed model of the car dynamics, complete with engine characteristics and environmental parameters, and an OpenGL-based 3D-simulation interface coupled with driving wheel and accelerator/ brake pedals. The simulator has been used on various road scenarios to record from a human pilot driving data consisting of steering and speed control actions associated to road features. Specifically, the POPFNN-CRI(S) system is used to cluster the data and extract a fuzzy rule base modelling the human driving behaviour. Finally, the effectiveness of the generated rule base has been validated using the simulator in autopilot mode.

Automation↗
PubMed1995

Evaluation of neuropsychological function in patients with liver cirrhosis with special reference to their driving ability.

Ability to drive an automobile was evaluated in 16 patients with well compensated liver cirrhosis. Four tests were performed, namely the emergency reaction test, the continuous emergency reaction test, the signal confirmation test and the accelerator reaction test. Test scores were compared to those of a group of age-matched healthy volunteers. 31% of patients were found to be unfit to drive. Alcoholic cirrhotics fared as poorly as non-alcoholic cirrhotics. In patients with subclinical hepatic encephalopathy (defined by neuropsychologic testing), 44% were unfit to drive. Routine testing of cirrhotic patients for ability to drive could have a major impact on motor vehicle accident rates.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Psychomotor mobility and the elderly driver.

In summary, declines in motor ability and reaction time are noted with aging, although the effect of these changes on actual driving performance needs further elucidation. It may be possible to compensate partially for some of these declines through physical and behavioral training. Attention to the physical, cognitive, and sensory capacities of older individuals in the design of vehicles and roadways also may be beneficial. Considerable work still needs to be done to adequately assess the changes that occur with aging in driving ability, what factors influence these changes and their potential modification, as well as the costs of any interventions planned.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Factors associated with the likelihood of injury resulting from collisions between four-wheel drive vehicles and passenger cars.

The specific effects of vehicular type on the likelihood of an injury occurring are relatively unexplored. This study sought to assess the relative risk of injury to occupants of four-wheel drive vehicles and their counterparts in passenger cars. Data for 1143 occupants from all of the 454 crashes in Oklahoma, in 1995 that involved a four-wheel drive vehicle were used. Multiple logistic regression analysis determined the association between potential predictive factors and vehicular injury. Odds ratios revealed occupancy in a passenger car to be a major predictor of the likelihood of injury. Other factors include the driver being female, driving too fast, travel on curved or level roadways, and being hit laterally or from the rear.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2006

Manual transmission enhances attention and driving performance of ADHD adolescent males: pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Inattention is a major contributor to driving mishaps and is especially problematic among adolescent drivers with ADHD, possibly contributing to their 2 to 4 times higher incidence of collisions. Manual transmission has been demonstrated to be associated with greater arousal. This study tests the hypotheses that manual transmission, compared to automatic transmission, would be associated with better attention and performance on a driving simulator. METHOD: Ten adolescent drivers with ADHD practice driving on the simulator in the manual and automatic mode. Employing a single-blind, cross-over design, participants drive the simulator at 19:30 and 22:30 hr for 30 min in both transmissions and rate their attention to driving. RESULTS: Subjectively, participants report being more attentive while driving in manual transmission mode. Objectively, participants drive safer in the manual transmission mode. CONCLUSION: Although in need of replication, this pilot study suggests a behavioral intervention to improve driving performance among ADHD adolescents.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2006

Driving pedal reaction times after right transtibial amputations.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if right transtibial amputees have the potential to safely operate the foot pedals of a vehicle with their prosthetic foot, and to determine which of 4 driving techniques is associated with the fastest reaction times. DESIGN: Repeated measures. SETTING: Outpatient amputee clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Ten subjects with right-sided, transtibial amputations. INTERVENTION: Brake pedal response times were measured using 4 different driving techniques: right-sided accelerator with (1) prosthesis operating both the accelerator and brake pedals, (2) prosthesis operating the accelerator and left foot operating the brake, (3) left foot operating both the accelerator and brake, and (4) left-sided accelerator with the left foot operating both the accelerator and brake. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reaction time, movement time, total response time, and pedal configuration preference. RESULTS: Total response times were slowest using a 2-footed driving technique (P<.001). Total response times were comparable using a left-sided accelerator versus the prosthesis. Using the left foot to operate both the accelerator and brake in a conventional right-footed accelerator design led to the fastest reaction (P<.001) and total response times (P<.01), although it is unclear if this is a realistic driving technique for all amputees. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that right transtibial amputees should be instructed not to drive with a 2-footed technique, and that they have similar pedal response times using their prosthesis when compared with a left-sided accelerator.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An evaluation of the specific deterrent effects of vehicle impoundment on suspended, revoked, and unlicensed drivers in California.

There have been a number of studies conducted during the past two decades that convincingly demonstrate that license suspension and revocation are some of the most effective countermeasures currently available for attenuating the traffic safety risk of problem drivers. At the same time, it is also known that most suspended/revoked (S/R) drivers violate their illegal driving status and continue to drive, accruing traffic convictions and becoming involved in crashes. In an attempt to strengthen license actions and to better control S/R and unlicensed drivers, California enacted two laws effective January 1995 which provide for the impoundment and forfeiture of vehicles driven by S/R and unlicensed drivers. The study described in this paper evaluates the impact of vehicle impoundment on the 1-year subsequent driving behavior of S/R and unlicensed drivers who experience this sanction. The results show that drivers with no prior convictions for driving while S/R or unlicensed whose vehicles were impounded have, relative to similar drivers whose vehicles were not impounded: 23.8% fewer driving while suspended/revoked or unlicensed convictions; 18.1% fewer traffic convictions; and 24.7% fewer crashes. The differences between the impound and no-impound groups are even larger when the driving records of repeat offenders (i.e. drivers with prior driving-while-S/R or unlicensed convictions) are examined. Repeat offenders whose vehicles are impounded have 34.2% fewer driving-while-S/R or unlicensed convictions, 22.3% fewer traffic convictions and 37.6% fewer crashes. These findings provide strong support for impounding vehicles driven by S/R and unlicensed drivers.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2006

Car following decisions under three visibility conditions and two speeds tested with a driving simulator.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration web site reports that rear-end collisions in the United States exceed 1.5 million per year, or approximately 23% of all vehicle crashes. Car following behavior and the decision-making habits of drivers seem fundamental to understanding how to avoid these rear-end crashes. The present research aimed to reveal factors that govern car following under conditions of reduced visibility. It employed a KQ-Vection high-fidelity driving simulator to measure the behavior of automobile drivers following a lead vehicle at 13.4 m/s (30 MPH) or 22.4 m/s (50 MPH) under three visibility conditions--clear or one of two densities of simulated fog. At the higher speed, fog conditions separated participants into a group that stayed within visible range of the lead car, even though the headway time violated the NHTSA recommendations for the speed involved, and another group that lagged beyond the visible range. Data were compared to the model of Van Winsum for car following (The human element in car following models. Transportation Research Part F 2, 1999). Contrast and image size measurements allowed comparison to a standard contrast sensitivity function and allowed estimation of the JND term in the Van Winsum model.

Acceleration↗
PubMed2006

Unsafe driving behaviour and four wheel drive vehicles: observational study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of compliance with the new law in the United Kingdom mandating penalties for using a hand held mobile phone while driving, to compare compliance with this law with the one on the use of seat belts, and to compare compliance with these laws between drivers of four wheel drive vehicles and drivers of normal cars. DESIGN: Observational study with two phases-one within the "grace" period, the other starting one week after penalties were imposed on drivers using such telephones. SETTING: Three busy sites in London. PARTICIPANTS: Drivers of 38,182 normal cars and 2944 four wheel drive vehicles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportions of drivers seen to be using hand held mobile phones and not using seat belts. RESULTS: Drivers of four wheel drive vehicles were more likely than drivers of other cars to be seen using hand held mobile phones (8.2% v 2.0%) and not complying with the law on seat belts (19.5% v 15.0%). Levels of non-compliance with both laws were slightly higher in the penalty phase of observation, and breaking one law was associated with increased likelihood of breaking the other. CONCLUSIONS: The level of non-compliance with the law on the use of hand held mobile phones by drivers in London is high, as is non-compliance with the law on seat belts. Drivers of four wheel drive vehicles were four times more likely than drivers of other cars to be seen using hand held mobile phones and slightly more likely not to comply with the law on seat belts.

Automobile Driving↗