Browsing by Author "Hancock, Peter A."
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Item Factors influencing older drivers' left turn decisions(1993-10) Hancock, Peter A.; Caird, J.K.Perhaps no frequent driving maneuver is more hazardous than the left turn. Existing statistical analyses indicate that the older drivers are over represented in the left turn configuration. It is not surprising that the left-turn proves such a hazardous configuration since the turning driver has minimal, obscured, and conflicting information upon which to base their turn decisions. In addition, understanding the problems of the left-turn presents a number of information and task decomposition challenges. For example, given a driver's expected vehicle response, prediction of other vehicles future positions relative to the driver's own position must be visually interpreted from available motion-in-depth information. Some have likened the task of the turning driver to one of coincident timing, where turn initiation and completion must be synchronized with acceptable gaps in on-coming traffic (2). Acceptability is predicated on each individual drivers perception of this traffic in terms of physical characteristics (3, 4). Objectively, vehicles can vary in terms of their relative approach velocities, the changing gap difference between themselves and the vehicle they follow, and their configuration in terms of size, shape, and color. If drivers use these physical variables singly, changes in turn strategies would logically be consistent with such physical parameters. If, however, drivers base their decisions on higher-order information sources like rate-of-expansion of the vehicle frontal surface (time-to-arrival), the pattern of results would not be consistent with manipulations of these physical properties. Previously, this proposition was tested for a college-age population in the University of Minnesota's fixed-based automobile simulator (5). This group of drivers, with a mean age of 24.2, initiated left-turns, not on the basis of any physical metric, but through inference on time-to-arrival information. The present experiment examines the same driving maneuver in older drivers. We hypothesized that the turn strategies employed by older drivers would be, in part, mediated by these same higher-order information sources, but that the scaling of that information relative to their own self-perceived limitations would render them more conservative in a manner consistent with traditional performance speed assessment metrics such as visual search time and reaction time.Item Human Factors Issues In Traffic Signing(1994-08) Hancock, Peter A.This work reports results of an experimental program on human factors issues in traffic signing. The first task examines the problems associated with the programming of signs for evaluation of driver response in simulation. It is concluded that growing technical tools permit traffic engineers to test proposed signage, and avenues of implementation are given. The second task examines driver response in simulation to multiple real-world signs. It is concluded that while much effort is given to distinguishing the utility of individual signs, multiple signs in combination produce more complex decrements. Recommendations are made as to maximum sign density. The final task provides an assessment of signage in future IVHS driving environments. It points to the role of signage as one component of communication. A list of issues for future signage implementation is given for consideration as the Department moves to provide safe and efficient transport for the people of Minnesota into the 21st century.Item Investigating Differences In Driver Accident Involvement: The Influence of Perceptual Motor Competence, Competitive Athletics, and Gender(1999-04-01) Kane, Mary Jo; Pearce, Kim D.; Hancock, Peter A.; Scallen, Stephen F.; Heniff, Courtney B.Item The Left Turn(1993-10) Hancock, Peter A.; Caird, J.K.Two experiments are reported which examined drivers' responses in turning left across a line of traffic as presented in a closed-loop, interactive, fixed-base driving simulator. Drivers were located near an intersection and instructed to turn left across a stream of on-coming traffic when they felt that it was safe for them to do so. The on-coming stream of traffic was varied in terms of the physical parameters of approach velocity, inter-vehicle time interval, and vehicle type. Specifically, seven velocities (10-70 mph) were crossed with seven gap sizes (3-9 sec) to yield forty-nine within-subject conditions for each of four, between-subject, vehicle types; motorcycle, compact car, large car, and delivery truck. There were ten subjects per vehicle type, giving a total of forty participants in the first experiment. Results indicated differential acceptance of gap and velocity combinations depending upon the type of approaching vehicle. Collisions tended to occur along the boundaries where driver's decisions to reject or accept turns were ambivalent. They also occurred with greater frequency at higher velocity approach rates. The second experiment replicated the procedure of the first experiment except that the subjects were older drivers, uniformly over the age of 55. Results indicated a greater degree of turn conservatism for this later group. Overall, turn decisions were not dependent upon a single physical parameter such as vehicle velocity or inter-vehicle distance, although gap-size generated an arguable influence. Rather, left turn decisions appeared to result from the complex interplay of rate-of-change perceptual variables such as "time-to-arrival" and the perceived characteristics of the vehicles themselves. Implications of the results are discussed with respect to the perception of vehicles and turn safety at roadway intersections.Item Minnesota Intelligent Driving Environment Research (MINDER) Program(1994-08) Hancock, Peter A.The purpose of the MINDER program is to create the common simulation resource for human factors and safety researchers in respect to Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) programs. To accomplish this, we have created a simulation capability to re-create part of the I-35W Metropolitan area corridor from the Cross-town commons to just south of downtown Minneapolis. Our purpose in creating this was to allow researchers on different programs to use a common simulation environment. This was the first element of MINDER which was proposed as a larger program to include other segments of the freeway systems of the Twin City Metropolitan region. This corridor is extensively instrumented for traffic flow simulation and control. Successful development and validation of such a simulation environment has allowed a number of particular advantages. It represents, to our knowledge, the first interactively simulated portion of specific urban freeway on any high fidelity simulator. It allows parallel testing of simulation versus actual driving conditions. It is capable of integration with a number of ongoing Mn/DOT, university, and commercial research projects. It provides a human factors testing facility that exceeds most capabilities that currently exist world-wide.Item Report on Programmatic Evaluation at the Human Factors Research Laboratory(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1995-03) Hancock, Peter A.; Shekhar, Shashi; Burrus, Max; Stephens, R.This report summarizes human factors research for IVHS/ITS projects and focuses on the following five tasks: The comparative evaluation of ITS in-vehicle information prototypes. This experiment compares drivers' reaction to the use of three forms of in-vehicle information systems in driving simulation: the Delco prototype, the Volvo Dynaguide prototype, and a procedure that presented a voice generation information system. It includes recommendations for in-vehicle device designs. , The evaluation of driver response to an in-vehicle ITS technology. This experiment evaluated drivers' responses to information presented on an in-vehicle ITS. Geographic databases for IVHS management. This work extends the concept of relational databases to model traffic information in an approach that uses abstract data types and triggers. • The improvement of simulation facilities. This task describes the acquisition and installation of equipment and software to improve simulation capabilities at the Human Factors Research Laboratory and its impact on research efforts. , In-vehicle collision avoidance warning systems for IVHS. This experiment examined the effects of presenting warnings of vehicle proximity on turn decisions.Item Trace Driven Driving Simulation: Towards Integration of External Lab with Simulator and the Integrated Study of Microscopic and Macroscopic Problems in IVHS: Emulation of the I-394 External Laboratory in a Driving Environment(1994-06) Shekhar, Shashi; Hancock, Peter A.The research in traffic flow and safety has proceeded on two different tracks. The traffic flow research has focused on macroscopic aspects and aggregate behavior, while safety research has focused on the traveller's microscopic view of the transportation system. This dichotomy of research methodology has made it difficult to study many issues in intelligent vehicle highway systems in an integrated manner. In this project, we explore ways of facilitating research on problems which require integration of the two views of the transportation systems. In particular, we explore headup displays for conveying aggregate traffic information and exceptions to the drivers. We evaluate text based and graphic map based displays with fixed orientation as well as egocentric orientation. Our studies indicate that graphic displays are more effective than text based displays for the assimilation of information by drivers. Furthermore, our studies suggest that an egocentric map display allows drivers to assimilate and process information faster than a fixed orientation display.Item A Traffic Data Management System for Navigation, Collision Detection, and Incident Detection(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1994-06) Shekhar, Shashi; Hancock, Peter A.A traffic data management system is an integral part of an IVHS (Intelligent Vehicle Highway System), which obtains information from road sensors, city maps and event schedules, and generates information to drivers, traffic controllers and researchers. We extend the relational database with abstract data types and triggers to model traffic information in a relational database. Abstract data types are needed to efficiently model spatial and temporal information, since they may create inefficiencies in traditional databases. We use monotonic continuous functions to map the object to disk addresses to save disk space and computation time. A model of spatial data is created to efficiently process moving objects. For IVHS databases, we provide schema that have the relevant abstract data types. We also have a large sample of the relations needed to model IVHS data. Several interesting queries are presented to show the power of the model. Triggers are defined, using rule-definition mechanisms to represent incident detection and warning systems. An efficient physical model with the MoBiLe access method is provided.Item The Use of Driving Simulation for the Assessment, Training and Testing of Older Drivers(1990-01) Hancock, Peter A.; Caird, J. K.; White, H. G.With the lowering of the birth rate over the last decade and a half, and the increased life expectancy associated with improving health care, the United States is undergoing a radical aging of its populace. This change in demographic structure is embedded in a society experiencing clear and rapid advances in its technological capability (Abend & Chen, 1985; U.S. Congress, 1985; Tobias, 1987). One ramification of these combined developments is that expectations of activity and lifestyle change rapidly across successive cohorts. Typically, each sequential cohort expects to retain access to progressively wider ranges of activity which have become characteristic of their respective lifestyles. Contemporary and future cohorts will expect continued access to the privilege of autonomous mobility, typically through the use of the automobile (Wachs, 1988; Waller, 1972). This aspiration generates a conflict between two powerful and somewhat antagonistic societal forces. On one side is the traditional and expected freedom that emanates from owning and operating a personal automobile. On the other is the potential and actual safety hazards associated with the actions of an aging central nervous system having to cope with progressively more complex and demanding driving environments (Federal Highway Administration, 1986). The potential resolution of this conflict lies in the use of a systems approach as a framework to apply Human Factors principles to improve the driving environment, the vehicle, and facilitate the capabilities of the driver. Unfortunately, there is little research available that is specifically directed at the Human Factors problems faced by aging drivers with regard to design of automobiles, roadways, and roadway communication symbols (Forbes, 1985; Staplin, Breton, Haimo, Farber, & Byrnes, 1986; Yanik, 1989). Consequently, there is a fundamental need for research efforts in this area. It is one facet of this systems-based strategy (Doebelin, 1980), namely the use of simulation in training, testing, and evaluating the older driver, that is the focus of the present report.