scholarly journals Experimental Research on the Effectiveness of Speed Reduction Markings based on Drivers’ Operating Performance: A Driving Simulation Study

Abstract. Speed reduction markings (SRMs), which are widely used on highways and urban roads in China, are designed to inform drivers of the upcoming road conditions and thus encourage them to reduce travel speed. The objective of this paper is to test the effectiveness of SRMs on drivers’ operating performance and decision to decelerate in downhill segments on urban roads. Data of gas and brake pedal use was collected in a driving simulator experiment, and a subjective questionnaire survey was conducted. Two indicators—the operating frequency and operating power—were proposed to evaluate drivers’ operating performance due to SRMs. Results of the subjective questionnaire study showed that the majority of subjects were affected by SRMs while driving through downhill segments with distinct roadway grades (3%, 2%, 1.5% and 1% in experimental scenarios). In terms of the operating frequency, the results of the analysis of variance with repeated measures (rANOVA) and the contrast analysis (S-N-K method) showed that transverse speed reduction markings (TSRMs) were significantly effective in influencing drivers’ frequency of letting off the gas pedal when roadway grades of downhill segments were 3%, 2%, and 1.5% (p<0.05), while longitudinal speed reduction markings (LSRMs) had little effects; both types of SRMs are effective in increasing the frequency of pressing the brake pedal in all four downhill segments. For the operating power, the gas pedal power was significantly affected by TSRMs in all four roadway scenarios; TSRMs also tended to increase the brake pedal power when the roadway grades were 2% and 1.5%, while both types of SRMs had similar effects in road sections with roadway grades of 3%.

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Masria Mustafa ◽  
Norazni Rustam ◽  
Rosfaiizah Siran

Previous studies have indicated that certain types of fragrance in the vehicle are useful in keeping the driver alert. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of lavender or vanilla flavor fragrances toward driving performance. Ten human subjects were tested using the driving simulator in three different conditions; driving with vanilla, lavender flavor fragrance and driving without fragrance. A questionnaire was distributed to examine the emotion states of the driver after driving the simulator. Our results indicate that fragrance did not affect the speed reduction. The emotions of the drivers were calm due to the presence of the fragrance.2398-4279 © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: driving performance, vehicle fragrance, speed reduction


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Hooi-Siang ◽  
Mohamad Kasim Abdul Jalil ◽  
Lee Kee-Quen

Interactive simulation in automotive driving has enhanced the studies of driver behaviors, traffic control, and vehicle dynamics. The development of virtual reality (VR) technology leads to low cost, yet high fidelity, driving simulator become technically feasible. However, a good implementation of high realism and real-time interactive three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment (VE) in an automotive driving simulation are facing many technical challenges such as accessibility, dissimilarity, scalability, and sufficiency. The objective of this paper is to construct a virtual reality system for an automotive driving simulator. The technology with variations of terrain, roadway, buildings, and greenery was studied and developed in the VE of the simulator. Several important technical solutions in the construction of VE for driving simulation had been identified. Finally, the virtual reality system was interactively used in a driver-in-loop simulation for providing direct road elevation inputs to the analysis of vehicle dynamics model (VDM). The results indicated identical matching between the VDM inputs and the VE outputs. The outcomes of this paper lead to a human-in-the-loop foundation of a low-cost automotive driving simulator in the vehicle engineering research. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 6-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Zhao ◽  
Han Ding ◽  
Yiping Wu ◽  
Jianming Ma ◽  
Liande Zhong

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nordiana Mashros ◽  
Johnnie Ben-Edigbe ◽  
Hashim Mohammed Alhassan ◽  
Sitti Asmah Hassan

The road network is particularly susceptible to adverse weather with a range of impacts when different weather conditions are experienced. Adverse weather often leads to decreases in traffic speed and subsequently affects the service levels. The paper is aimed at investigating the impact of rainfall on travel speed and quantifying the extent to which travel speed reduction occurs. Empirical studies were conducted on principle road in Terengganu and Johor, respectively for three months. Traffic data were collected by way of automatic traffic counter and rainfall data from the nearest raingauge station were supplied by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage supplemented by local survey data. These data were filtered to obtain traffic flow information for both dry and wet operating conditions and then were analyzed to see the effect of rainfall on percentile speeds. The results indicated that travel speed at 15th, 50th and 85th percentiles decrease with increasing rainfall intensities. It was observed that allpercentile speeds decreased from a minimum of 1% during light rain to a maximum of 14% during heavy rain. Based on the hypothesis that travel speed differ significantly between dry and rainfall condition; the study found substantial changes in percentile speeds and concluded that rainfalls irrespective of their intensities have significant impact on the travel speed.


Safety ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Shi Cao ◽  
Pinyan Tang ◽  
Xu Sun

A new concept in the interior design of autonomous vehicles is rotatable or swivelling seats that allow people sitting in the front row to rotate their seats and face backwards. In the current study, we used a take-over request task conducted in a fixed-based driving simulator to compare two conditions, driver front-facing and rear-facing. Thirty-six adult drivers participated in the experiment using a within-subject design with take-over time budget varied. Take-over reaction time, remaining action time, crash, situation awareness and trust in automation were measured. Repeated measures ANOVA and Generalized Linear Mixed Model were conducted to analyze the results. The results showed that the rear-facing configuration led to longer take-over reaction time (on average 1.56 s longer than front-facing, p < 0.001), but it caused drivers to intervene faster after they turned back their seat in comparison to the traditional front-facing configuration. Situation awareness in both front-facing and rear-facing autonomous driving conditions were significantly lower (p < 0.001) than the manual driving condition, but there was no significant difference between the two autonomous driving conditions (p = 1.000). There was no significant difference of automation trust between front-facing and rear-facing conditions (p = 0.166). The current study showed that in a fixed-based simulator representing a conditionally autonomous car, when using the rear-facing driver seat configuration (where participants rotated the seat by themselves), participants had longer take-over reaction time overall due to physical turning, but they intervened faster after they turned back their seat for take-over response in comparison to the traditional front-facing seat configuration. This behavioral change might be at the cost of reduced take-over response quality. Crash rate was not significantly different in the current laboratory study (overall the average rate of crash was 11%). A limitation of the current study is that the driving simulator does not support other measures of take-over request (TOR) quality such as minimal time to collision and maximum magnitude of acceleration. Based on the current study, future studies are needed to further examine the effect of rotatable seat configurations with more detailed analysis of both TOR speed and quality measures as well as in real world driving conditions for better understanding of their safety implications.


Hand Therapy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Susan B Stinton ◽  
Evangelos Pappas ◽  
Dale W Edgar ◽  
Niamh A Moloney

Introduction Driving performance, as assessed using a driving simulator, after distal radius fracture has not been previously studied. Our aims were to undertake a pilot study to assess feasibility via: (i) acceptability of driving simulation for this assessment purpose, (ii) recruitment and retention, (iii) sample size calculation. Preliminary evaluations of differences in driving performance between individuals recovering from distal radius fracture and controls were conducted to confirm if the methodology provided meaningful results to aid in justification for future studies. Methods Driving performance of 22 current drivers (aged 21–81 years), recruited by convenience sampling, was assessed using a driving simulator. The fracture group included those recovering from distal radius fracture managed with open reduction and internal fixation using a volar plate. The control group were uninjured individuals. Assessment was performed approximately five weeks post-surgery and follow-up assessment two weeks later. Acceptability outcome measures included pain and simulator sickness scores, feasibility measures included retention rates and measures of driving performance included time spent speeding, time spent out of the lane, standard deviation of lateral position and hazard reactions. Results The assessment was completed by 91% of participants; two participants dropped out secondary to simulator sickness. Retention rates were 83%. Preliminary results suggest those with distal radius fracture spent more time out of the lane and less time speeding. Conclusion This method was sensitive, acceptable and feasible according to the parameters of this pilot study. The results from this small sample suggest that between-group differences in driving performance are measurable using driving simulation five weeks following distal radius fracture.


SIMULATION ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 595-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florent Colombet ◽  
Zhou Fang ◽  
Andras Kemeny

The tilt coordination technique is used in driving simulation for reproducing a sustained linear horizontal acceleration by tilting the simulator cabin. If combined with the translation motion of the simulator, this technique increases the acceleration rendering capabilities of the whole system. To perform this technique correctly, the rotational motion must be slow to remain under the perception threshold and thus be unnoticed by the driver. However, the acceleration to render changes quickly. Between the slow rotational motion limited by the tilt threshold and the fast change of acceleration to render, the design of the coupling between motions of rotation and translation plays a critical role in the realism of a driving simulator. This study focuses on the acceptance by drivers of different configurations for tilt restitution in terms of maximum tilt angle, tilt rate, and tilt acceleration. Two experiments were conducted, focusing respectively on roll tilt for a 0.2 Hz slaloming task and on pitch tilt for an acceleration/deceleration task. The results show what thresholds have to be followed in terms of amplitude, rate, and acceleration. These results are far superior to the standard human perception thresholds found in the literature.


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