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Browsing by Author "Tranchida, Donna"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    A Functional Evaluation of Driving Performance for Drivers with Cataracts: Licensing Implications
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1995-12) Wade, Michael; Stackhouse, Stirling P.; Melick, Ann; Tranchida, Donna; Arthur, Erik
    In the design for this study we intended to use three groups of ten subjects: Younger Drivers; Older Drivers who were free of clinically significant cataracts; and drivers with advanced stage Cataracts. Data collection was completed for the first two groups and we collected data on six of the ten cataracts patients. During a greatly protracted delay due to simulator problems, Dr Melick completed her training and moved from Minnesota. We were unable to secure more cataract patients as subjects nor could we obtain the visual function data on the six cataracts patients we had tested in the simulator. This loss of subjects and data greatly reduced the intended scope of this study. This report will be written according to the changed circumstances for this project rather the original intent of the project. The results reported here are based on statistical analyses of the same three groups of subjects but with only six subjects in the Cataract group. The data are restricted to target detection data and driving performance data. Based on this limited analysis we found, as expected, that younger subjects exhibited greater sensitivity in their ability to detect targets than older subjects who in tum were more sensitive than subjects with cataracts. We also found, again as expected, that younger subjects had a greater bias toward stating that a target was present than older subjects who needed slightly less data to state that a target was present than cataract subjects. Our initial hypothesis was that older subjects would need more time to confirm that a target was present than older drivers and that this need for more time would be further extended for subjects with cataracts. This was confirmed. However, we further expected that the increased time needed for target detection by older subjects and by subjects with cataracts would result in less attention being paid to the driving task and therefore, a degradation of driving performance. This prediction was partially confirmed by the data for response time to the onset of simulated brake lights. Older subjects were significantly slower than younger subjects but while cataract subjects were slower than younger subjects, the difference was not significant. Older subjects had slower response times than Cataract subjects but again, this difference was not significant. For both the steering data (keeping the car centered in the lane) as well as for the speed maintenance data there were not significant differences among groups.
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    Human Factors for Transitway Safety Improvement: Final Report for Phase 1
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1996-07) Stackhouse, Stirling; Tranchida, Donna
    A human factors study was performed to identify potential cause of accidents at eight Transitway intersections. Data were collected on bus operators' driving behavior, on motorists' behavior at Transitway intersections and on sight distances at the intersections. From some of this data and the accident history at each intersection we calculated accident frequencies based on the number of cars crossing each intersection per year, then related some of our findings to both accident frequency and the immediate causes of reported accidents. An analysis of the data suggested that the following were potentially contributory to intersection accidents: * Two percent of the drivers run the stop signs and about 50% of the drivers use a rolling rather than a full stop. * About 20% of drivers do not look both ways before crossing the Transitway. * Winter weather brings slippery roads and reduced visibility conditions. * The timing for bus actuated traffic lights may not be optimal. * Only five of the 32 sight distances met minimum guidelines. Our broad conclusion was that combinations of the above factors could well contribute to the accidents occurring at the Transitway intersections. Specific recommendations were made for addressing each of the above factors.
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    Retroreflective Sheeting Materials on Highway Signs
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1996-02) Tranchida, Donna; Arthur, Erik; Stackhouse, Stirling P.
    In a road research project, older drivers were asked to read street names as soon as they were able as they were approaching an intersection. The signs were always on the far sides of the intersection but could be either on the right or left side. Intersections of three levels of complexity were used. A repeated measures design was used. All main effects and all but one of the interactions were significant. The legibility distances obtained from 864 trials using 18 subjects showed that Diamond Grade and VIP Diamond Grade sheeting were equivalent but that both were significantly superior to High Intensity Grade sheeting which was in turn significantly superior to Engineering Grade. The differences among sheeting grades were more apparent at the more complex intersections. The viewing conditions on some of the streets resulted in reduced visibility and conspicuity causing markedly reduced legibility distances. There were no performance differences based on gender. The implications for driving safety were discussed in the context of visual information processing workload, divided attention and multitasking.