Evaluation of the Expressway Work Zone Guidance Systems Using a Virtual Driving Simulator

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Je Jin Park ◽  
Im Ki Seo ◽  
Gi Yeol Lee
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Guidance Systems

scholarly journals Improved Road Safety at Work Zones using Advanced Traveler Information Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Suhail Almallah ◽  
Qinaat Hussain ◽  
Wael K. M Alhajyaseen ◽  
Tom Brijs
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Speed Limit ◽  
Work Zones ◽  
Treatment Scenario ◽  
Lane Changing ◽  
Variable Message Signs ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Message Signs

Work zones are road sections where road construction or maintenance activities take place. These work zones usually have different alignment and furniture than the original road and thus temporary lower speeds are adopted at these locations. However, drivers usually face difficulty in adopting the new speed limit and maneuvering safely due to the change in alignment. Therefore, work zones are commonly considered as hazardous locations with higher crash rates and severities as reported in the literature. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a variable message signs (VMSs) based system for work zone advance warning area. The proposed system aims at enhancing driver adaptation of the reduced speed limit, encourage early lane changing maneuvers and improve the cooperative driving behavior in the pre-work zone road section. The study was conducted using a driving simulator at the College of Engineering of Qatar University. Seventy volunteers holding a valid Qatari passenger car driving license participated in this study. In the simulator experiment, we have two scenarios (control and treatment). The control scenario was designed based on the Qatar Work Zone Traffic Management Guide (QWZTMG), where the length of the advance warning area is 1000 m. Meanwhile, the treatment scenario contains six newly designed variable message signs where two of them were animation-based. The VMSs were placed at the same locations of the static signs in the control scenario. Both scenarios were tested for two situations. In the first situation, the participants were asked to drive on the left lane while in the second situation, they were instructed to drive on the second lane. The study results showed that the proposed system was effective in motivating drivers to reduce their traveling speed in advance. Compared to the control scenario, drivers’ mean speed was significantly 6.3 and 11.1 kph lower in the VMS scenario in the first and second situations, respectively. Furthermore, the VMS scenario encouraged early lane changing maneuvers. In the VMS scenario, drivers changed their lanes in advance by 150 m compared to the control scenario. In addition, the proposed system was effective in motivating drivers to keep larger headways with the frontal merging vehicle. Taking into account the results from this study, we recommend the proposed VMS based system as a potentially effective treatment to improve traffic safety at work zones.

Driver-Car Communication Would Introduce a Drastic Change in Vehicle Design

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuichi Fukuda
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Machine Design ◽  
Image Processing Technique ◽  
Dynamic Image ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Guidance Systems ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Technology Research Group

This paper discusses the potential role of emotion in changing our machine design, based upon the experiments conducted for about 20 years by TMIT (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology) research group headed by the author. An automobile design shares the same issues as those in our future machine design. In order to clarify these points, experiment to detect driver’s emotion were carried out. Our research to detect driver’s emotion started from the observations of a driver in driving, and based on them, experiments to detect driver’s emotion from face, sound and body were carried out. The following points were made clear. (1) a driving simulator is not good because a subject is in a different state of mind and physical conditions from actual driving. (2) Dynamic image processing is valid, but to make it effective, a simple image processing technique must be developed and a technique to remove lighting change effects must be developed. (3) When detecting from face, feature points must be carefully chosen. (4) Although sound is very promising, drivers do not utter voices often and if they do, their durations are very short. But if we introduce voice guidance systems, which would be much easier in EVs, detection from sound would work far more effectively than that from dynamic image, because images are very difficult to process due to the frequently changing lighting. (5) Physical movements can be used very effectively to detect fatigue. (6) Physical movement may be utilized for safer driving. If a new communication system between a driver and a car can be developed, the design of a car would change drastically. We do not have to, for example, use a wheel to steer. We could use bars. Equipments can be placed far away from the driver, if voice guidance systems can be introduced. Thus, a far greater degree of design flexibility could be introduced and a driver and a car could work better together as a team.

Speed behaviour in work zone crossovers. A driving simulator study

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 10-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Domenichini ◽  
Francesca La Torre ◽  
Valentina Branzi ◽  
Alessandro Nocentini
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Simulator Study

scholarly journals Investigation of smart work zone technologies using mixed simulator and field studies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Siyang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Model Building ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Green Light ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Work Zones

Safety is the top concern in transportation, especially in work zones, as work zones deviate from regular driving environment and driver behavior is very different. In order to protect workers and create a safer work zone environment, new technologies are proposed by agencies and deployed to work zones, however, some are without scientific study before deployment. Therefore, quantitative studies need to be conducted to show the effectiveness of technologies. Driving simulator is a safe and cost-effective way to test effectiveness of new designs and compare different configurations. Field study is another scientific way of testing, as it provides absolute validity, while simulator study provides relative validity. The synergy of field and simulator studies construct a precise experiment as field study calibrates simulator design and validates simulator results. Two main projects, Evaluation of Automated Flagger Assistance Devices (AFADs), and Evaluation of Green Lights on Truck-Mounted Attenuator (TMA), are discussed in this dissertation to illustrate the investigation of smart work zone technologies using mixed simulator and field studies, along with one simulator project investigating interaction between human driven car and autonomous truck platoon in work zones. Both field and simulator studies indicated that AFADs improved stationary work zone safety by enhancing visibility, isolating workers from immediate traffic, and conveying clear guidance message to traffic. The results of green light on TMAs implied an inverse relationship between visibility/awareness of work zone and arrow board recognition/easy on eyes, but did not show if any of the light configurations is superior. Results anticipated for autonomous truck platoon in work zones are drivers behave more uniformly after being educated about the meaning of signage displayed on the back of truck, and performance measured with signage would be more preferable than those without signage. Applications of statistics are extension of studies, including experimental design, survey design, and data analysis. Data obtained from AFAD and Green Light projects were utilized to illustrate the methodologies of data analysis and model building, which incorporated simulator data, biofeedback and survey response to interpret the relationship among driver perspective and mental status, and driving behavior. From the studies conducted, it could be concluded that mixed simulator and field study is a good fit for smart work zone technologies investigation. Simulators provide a safe environment, flexibility and cost-effectiveness, while field studies calibrate and validate simulator setup and its results. The collaboration of two forms of study generates legitimate and convincing results for investigations. Applying statistical methodologies into transportation simulator and field studies is a good way to make experiment and survey design more rational, and the statistical methods are applicable for further data analysis.

Evaluating the Effects of Connected Vehicle Weather and Work Zone Warnings on Truck Drivers’ Workload and Distraction using Eye Glance Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-304
Author(s):  
Omar Raddaoui ◽  
Mohamed M. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Truck Drivers ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Connected Vehicle ◽  
Driver Assistance Systems ◽  
Weather Impact ◽  
Short Time Window ◽  
Scanning Behavior

This study acts in support of the Wyoming Department of Transport (WYDOT) connected vehicle pilot efforts in the deployment of effective, safe, and user-centered connected vehicle (CV) applications and human machine interface (HMI) displays. This study sought to quantify the workload demands and distraction introduced by the pilot’s spot weather impact warning (SWIW) and work zone warning (WZW) applications on professional truck drivers. Using driving simulator experimentation and eye-tracking technology, the effects of exposure to the CV warnings on the participants’ glance behavior were quantified. The study revealed that the weather notifications did not invoke any notable workload or distraction to the participants. Conversely, the WZWs deteriorated the participants’ roadway scanning behavior and brought about prolonged off-road glances, and therefore could carry adverse safety impacts to drivers in real-life conditions. This was largely attributed to the fact that, unlike the weather notifications, the WZW application appeared to have over-communicated information to the participants during a short time window and under difficult driving conditions and resulted in a relatively cluttered HMI. In light of these findings, WYDOT, the leading pilot stakeholder, is amending the design of the WZW application in such a way that message flow rate is reduced and only necessary information is displayed. All in all, the methodology applied in this study was effective in uncovering the overall effects of exposure to CV warnings and therefore could be useful for evaluating workload and distraction in the context of emergent advanced driver assistance systems.

Visual Displays of Route Properties in Route Guidance Systems: Effects on Driving Performance and Route Selection

2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (17) ◽  
pp. 1535-1539
Author(s):  
Talia Lavie ◽  
Joachim Meyer ◽  
Klaus-Josef Bengler ◽  
Joseph F. Coughlin
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Driving Performance ◽  
Route Selection ◽  
Route Guidance ◽  
Information Display ◽  
Subjective Evaluations ◽  
Accurate Performance ◽  
Guidance Systems ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Performance Times

Route guidance systems are predominant examples for in-vehicle telematic systems. The format in which the information is presented in these systems determines the ease of interacting with the system and may influence driving performance. An experiment compared the effects of a table, a separable bar graph and an integrated object display on the time required for route selection, driving performance and subjective evaluations of route guidance information. The integrated display was superior in performance times and participants' preferences and led to the least lane deviations in a driving simulator study. The tabular display led to the most accurate performance. The study provides information on issues related to information display in telematic systems and on the effects the display and system use may have on driving performance. These issues need to be taken into account when designing next generation telematic systems.

scholarly journals Safety effects of work zone advisory systems under the intelligent connected vehicle environment: a microsimulation approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suyi Mao ◽  
Guiming Xiao ◽  
Jaeyoung Lee ◽  
Ling Wang ◽  
Zijin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Work Zone ◽  
Connected Vehicle ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
Traffic Conditions ◽  
Advisory Systems

Purpose This study aims to investigate the safety effects of work zone advisory systems. The traditional system includes a dynamic message sign (DMS), whereas the advanced system includes an in-vehicle work zone warning application under the connected vehicle (CV) environment. Design/methodology/approach A comparative analysis was conducted based on the microsimulation experiments. Findings The results indicate that the CV-based warning system outperforms the DMS. From this study, the optimal distances of placing a DMS varies according to different traffic conditions. Nevertheless, negative influence of excessive distance DMS placed from the work zone would be more obvious when there is heavier traffic volume. Thus, it is recommended that the optimal distance DMS placed from the work zone should be shortened if there is a traffic congestion. It was also revealed that higher market penetration rate of CVs will lead to safer network under good traffic conditions. Research limitations/implications Because this study used only microsimulation, the results do not reflect the real-world drivers’ reactions to DMS and CV warning messages. A series of driving simulator experiments need to be conducted to capture the real driving behaviors so as to investigate the unresolved-related issues. Human machine interface needs be used to simulate the process of in-vehicle warning information delivery. The validation of the simulation model was not conducted because of the data limitation. Practical implications It suggests for the optimal DMS placement for improving the overall efficiency and safety under the CV environment. Originality/value A traffic network evaluation method considering both efficiency and safety is proposed by applying traffic simulation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document