Browsing by Author "Easterlund, Peter"

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    Examining the Impact of ASE (Automated Speed Enforcement) in Work Zones on Driver Attention
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2016-01) Morris, Nichole L.; Cooper, Jennifer L.; Ton, Alice; Plummer, John Paul; Easterlund, Peter
    Each year, there are over 500 fatal crashes in work zones in the U.S., with over 100 road construction workers killed on work sites (NSC, 2011; FARS, 2011). Speed and distraction are among the top contributing factors to work zone crashes (Garber & Zhao, 2002; Mountain, Hirst, & Maher, 2005; Wilson, Willis, Hendrikz, Le Brocque, & Bellamy, 2006). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of different types of speed enforcement methods on driver attention in work zones. The investigation not only examined enforcement methods currently used in Minnesota, but also examined how implementing automated speed enforcement (ASE), which is not currently used in Minnesota, may influence driver attention and behavior in simulated work zones. Overall, the results do not appear to support the hypothesis that ASE without dynamic speed display sign (DSDS) improves driver attention in work zones. There is some evidence, however, that drivers did heighten their visual attention in work zones with ASE+DSDS enforcement. Drivers fixated on the secondary task display less frequently in the ASE+DSDS condition compared to other enforcement types while they traveled in the downstream portion of the work zone. The largest effects of the study were found among the age groups, with younger and older drivers exceeding the speed limit most often and varying their speed slightly depending on the type of enforcement present. Middle-aged drivers exhibited the greatest speed control and tended to abide by the speed limit to the same extent regardless of the type of enforcement present.
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    HumanFIRST Driving Simulation Educational Development
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2019-05) Morris, Nichole L.; Craig, Curtis M.; Achtemeier, Jacob D.; Easterlund, Peter
    The HumanFIRST Laboratory was recently awarded a grant through the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research tomatch funds to completely overhaul the laboratory’s driving simulators. This upgrade, which includes large touchscreen displays in theimmersive simulators’ cockpit, will allow the laboratory to conduct innovative research in the fields of connected vehicles, in-vehicle technologies, and automated vehicles. In addition, the visibility of the laboratory’s increased capabilities is expected to boost an alreadyfrequent demand for educational and training partnerships (particularly around high-risk behaviors, such as distraction and speeding) fromboth government and private groups. In addition to the value in education and dissemination of knowledge regarding roadway safety tothe greater community through demonstrations using the simulator, these partnerships often foster future opportunities for research partnerships and funding. Legacy driving scenarios will be updated to new simulator specifications. The creation of this new content is expected to allow new funding opportunities and will facilitate the research team to share its knowledge through educational and training opportunities within the regional community. This research leveraged the investment in the new simulator and propel the laboratory’s capabilities through the creation of three distinct simulated demonstrations focused on controlled hand-offs with automated vehicles,distracted driving via non-driving-related in-vehicle technologies, and speeding in pedestrian populated areas. These topics are keyresearch focus areas for the Roadway Safety Institute and are core focus areas for the HumanFIRST Laboratory and its funding stakeholders.
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    Improvement of Driving Simulator Eye Tracking Software
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2019-06) Davis, Brian; Morris, Nichole L.; Achtemeier, Jacob D.; Easterlund, Peter
    This work focuses on improving the eye tracking analysis tools used with the HumanFIRST driving simulator. Eye tracking is an important tool for simulation-based studies. It allows researchers to understand where participants are focusing their visual attention while driving. The eye tracking system provides a nearly continuous record of the direction in which the driver is looking with respect to real-world coordinates. However, this by itself does not give any information about the objects at which the driver is looking. To determine when a driver is fixated on a given element in the simulated world (e.g., a vehicle or sign), additional processing is necessary. Current methods to process this data are time and resource intensive, requiring a researcher to manually review the eye tracking data. This motivates an automated solution that can automatically and programmatically combine eye tracking and simulator data to determine at which object(s) (either in the real world or the simulated world) the driver is looking. This was accomplished by developing and implementing software capable of providing useful eye tracking data to researchers without requiring time and resource intensive human intervention and hand coding of data. The data generated by the analysis software was designed to provide a set of summary statistics and metrics that will be useful across different simulation studies. Additionally, visualization software was created to allow researchers to view key simulator and eye tracking data for context or insight or to identify and characterize anomalies in the analysis software. Overall, the software implemented will increase the efficiency with which eye tracking data can be used alongside simulator data.