2013 Session: 435

• Road Safety from the Perspective of Driver Attention Allocation
  Abstract: Allocating attention to surroundings is essential for maintaining situational awareness of the driving environment. However, shifting attention away from the front side inhibits perceptions of changes in traffic and roadway ahead. Thus, the key to safe driving is the adequate distribution of driver¡¦s attention to forward and non-forward areas. Using the concept of renewal cycle and 100-car naturalistic glance data, this study investigates the duration of drivers allocating attention to focal points under varying conditions. The results showed that drivers who transit vision consecutively to 2 or more non-forward focal points were more likely to fixate away from forward area for more than 2.0 s, the safety threshold used in this research. Moreover, different driving tasks and environmental complexities substantially contributed to changes in fixation duration, particularly when drivers transit vision away to more than one non-forward focal point. The results suggest that analyzing the fixation duration can be effective in evaluating the impact of task complexity on safety. Finally, when considering the behavior of vision transition among focal points, current 2.5-s perception reaction time standard in some adverse driving conditions may not satisfy drivers¡¦ performance of situational awareness. From the human factor perspective, driver attention allocation should be considered when designing roadway geometry and driver information systems.
  Authors: Wong, Jinn-Tsai; Huang, Shih-Hsuan
  Authors: Wong, Jinn-Tsai; Huang, Shih-Hsuan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors; Research
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-1007
• Road Safety Differences Between Priority-Controlled Intersections and Right-Hand Priority Intersections: Behavioral Analysis of Vehicle-Vehicle Interactions
  Abstract: This study analyzes interactions between two vehicles at one right-hand priority intersection and one priority-controlled intersection. Data about yielding, looking behaviour, drivers’ age and gender, approaching behaviour, type of manoeuvre, order of arrival and communication between road users are collected by on-site observations and analyzed using logistic regression models. Models are built to identify variables that affect the probability that a violation against priority rules occurs, and the probability that a driver looks to the sides when entering the intersection.The number of right-of-way violations is higher at the right-hand priority intersection. Furthermore, at the right-hand priority intersection the behaviour of drivers on the secondary road is more cautious than the behaviour of drivers on the primary road, and violations are more likely when the driver from the secondary road has priority, indicating that the primary road is considered as an implicit main road. At both intersection types, there is a higher probability of a right-of-way violation when the no-priority vehicle arrives first, indicating that yielding is partly a matter of “first come, first serve”. The way a driver approaches the intersection (i.e., stopping, decelerating or holding the same speed) is highly determining for both the occurrence of a right-of-way violation and the probability that the driver looks to the sides.
  Authors: De Ceunynck, Tim; Polders, Evelien; Daniels, Stijn; Hermans, Elke; Brijs, Tom; Wets, Geert
  Authors: De Ceunynck, Tim; Polders, Evelien; Daniels, Stijn; Hermans, Elke; Brijs, Tom; Wets, Geert
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors; Research
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-4266
• Investigating Speeding Behavior Using Naturalistic Approaches: Methodological Lessons Learned
  Abstract: Although speeding is a significant contributor to traffic fatalities, attempts to address this problem have not led to a significant reduction in speed-related fatalities. There are a number of inherent shortcomings in using primarily self-report surveys and crash data to learn more about why drivers speed and in selecting countermeasures that will most effectively address speeding behaviors. An emerging empirical approach is to study the speeding choices that drivers make under everyday driving conditions using naturalistic driving methods. Such an approach has the potential to yield highly informative data about speeding. These data, however, are complicated and prone to analytical confusion and uncertain interpretation if some key conceptual and methodological issues are not addressed. In this paper, we provide an overview of a naturalistic driving study that was intended to: (1) identify the reasons why drivers speed, (2) model the relative roles of situational, demographic, and personality factors in predicting travel speeds, (3) classify speeders, and (4) identify interventions/countermeasures and strategies for reducing speeding behaviors. We focus on discussing lessons learned associated with three methodological issues in particular (defining speeding, identifying a way to measure exposure, and obtaining accurate posted speeds) that were crucial to successfully analyzing the data that this study provided, and to generating useful results and conclusions. We believe that careful consideration of these issues will greatly benefit the traffic safety community, especially as we think about future analyses of naturalistic driving data.
  Authors: Richard, Christian M.
  Authors: Richard, Christian M.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors; Research
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-4671
• Distraction, Experience, and Drivers’ Coping Strategy
  Abstract: The use of modern in-vehicle systems such as satellite navigation while driving can distract drivers and caused safety concerns. Although drivers can adopt strategies to cope with the additional task demand, these are not always apparent or effective, and it is not clear whether increased driving experience would improve this. This paper aims to provide an understanding of the effect of driving experience on the ability to perform in-vehicle tasks, including the impact on performance and visual behavior, and the coping strategies adopted. An on-road experiment was conducted using a set of in vehicle tasks to investigate the behavior and performance of three different driver groups, with experience ranging from less than 10 years to more than 21. The results show that the performance across all driver experience groups deteriorated as a consequence of the extra workload imposed by the in-vehicle tasks, and each group engaged in compensatory behaviors. However, the more experienced drivers performed better in both the driving and in-vehicle tasks, as they were more aware of the impact of these distractions. Furthermore, the most experienced drivers showed the deployment of advanced coping strategies / self-regulation to deal with the dual-tasking situation, which maximized safety with performance, and that prioritized driving over the in-vehicle tasks. These findings are consistent with control-maneuver-strategy behavior theory, i.e. as drivers become better at lower level behavior or vehicle control, they can improve their higher level behavior or awareness, but the highest level of strategic behavior can only be achieved through even greater experience.
  Authors: Yang, Yan; Reimer, Bryan; Mehler, Bruce; McDonald, Michael; Coughlin, Joseph F.
  Authors: Yang, Yan; Reimer, Bryan; Mehler, Bruce; McDonald, Michael; Coughlin, Joseph F.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors; Research
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-3852
• Naturalistic Driving Observations of Manual Interactions with Navigation Systems and Mobile Phones During Driving
  Abstract: ABSTRACT This paper discusses a naturalistic driving study on the usage of a mobile phone and navigation system while driving. Manual interactions with these devices while driving can cause distraction from the driving task and reduce traffic safety. In this study 21 subjects were observed for 5 weeks. Their behaviour was logged by 4 camera's, a GPS sensor and a number of additional sensors. Results are presented on the durations and frequencies of manual interactions with the mobile phone and navigation system. Different manual subtasks with different levels of visual interaction are discussed, as well as how these interactions relate to driving speed. It seems that drivers actively and equally engage in interactions with their devices while stopped and while driving. For both devices the majority of interactions took less than 10 seconds. Time spent interacting with the device seems independent of the driving speed at which drivers started the interaction with the device. However, the results indicate that drivers do reduce their speed while interacting.
  Authors: Christoph, Michiel
  Authors: Christoph, Michiel
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors; Research
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-3981
• Road Safety from the Perspective of Driver Attention Allocation
  Authors: Huang, Shih-Hsuan
  Authors: Huang, Shih-Hsuan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-1007
• Distraction, Experience, and Drivers' Coping Strategy
  Authors: Yang, Yan
  Authors: Yang, Yan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-3852
• Naturalistic Driving Observations of Manual Interactions with Navigation Systems and Mobile Phones During Driving
  Authors: Christoph, Michiel
  Authors: Christoph, Michiel
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-3981
• Investigating Speeding Behavior Using Naturalistic Approaches: Methodological Lessons Learned
  Authors: Richard, Christian
  Authors: Richard, Christian
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-4671
• Road Safety Differences Between Priority-Controlled Intersections and Right-Hand Priority Intersections: Behavioral Analysis of Vehicle-Vehicle Interactions
  Authors: De Ceunynck, Tim
  Authors: De Ceunynck, Tim
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Research (about research); Safety and Human Factors
  Session: 435
  Paper Number: 13-4266