Browsing by Subject "Drivers"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Detecting Driver Fatigue Through the Use of Advanced Face Monitoring Techniques
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2001-09-01) Veeraraghavan, Harini; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos P.
    Driver fatigue is an important factor in many vehicular accidents. Reducing the number of fatigue-related accidents would save society a significant amount financially, in addition to reducing personal suffering. The researchers developed a driver fatigue monitoring system that uses a camera (or cameras) to detect indications of driver fatigue. The mechanism detects and tracks the eyes of the driver based on human skin color properties, along with templates that monitor how long the eyes are open or closed. Tests of the approach were run on 20 human subjects in a simulated environment (the driving simulator at the Human Factors Research Laboratory) in order to find its potential and its limitations. This report describes the findings from these experiments.
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    Effects of edge rate on perceived egomotion in a driving environment.
    (2009-12) Rakauskas, Michael E.
    Automobile drivers have a tendency to make judgments of their perceived rate of travel, or egospeed, that are slower than the speed they are actually traveling. This often leads them to drive at faster speeds, which results in increased crash risk for themselves and other vehicles. A driver's egospeed can be affected by visual cues in the environment including Edge Rate (ER) optical effects. The purpose of this research was to examine how speed production would be affected by (1) the presence and distance of roadside (geographic) ER cues; (2) proximal ER cues such as traffic moving at faster, similar, or slower speeds than the driver; and (3) the combined presence of geographic and traffic ER cues. A novel methodology had participants drive at comfortable and ratio speeds while experiencing 10 continuous minutes of each ER condition. Performance was examined in terms of: mean speed choice; ratio speed-production performance (target ratio); speed consistency (speed drift ratio, reliability ratio); and judgments of task difficulty (ease rating). Data suggested that certain cues reduced a driver's comfortable speed of travel: the presence of geographic ER cues; closer-distance geographic ER cues; slower-speed-traffic ER cues; and the pairing of geographic ER with slower-speed-traffic ER cues. Data showed that a reduction in traffic speeds may be produced by increasing the saliency of ER cues in the environment regardless of traffic conditions.
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    Five-County Minnesota Case Study: Rural Roadway Fatal Crash Characteristics and Select Safety Improvement Programs
    (Center for Excellence in Rural Safety, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 2008-12) Patterson, Tyler M.; Munnich, Lee
    This second in a series of CERS research reports summarizes the characteristics of the fatal rural roadway crashes within five Minnesota counties and describes some of the safety improvement programs or campaigns being used in this five-county area. Past research has shown that some of the many characteristics of fatal rural roadway crashes include younger drivers, alcohol involvement, lack of seat belt use, and speeding. The crash data summarized in this report were generally obtained from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Several recommendations have been proposed as a result of this case study project that focus on improving rural roadway safety data and analyses. Evaluations of safety improvement programs/campaigns are also proposed. Recommendations include: • Examine more rural roadway crash factors and combinations of factors for additional clarification. • Improve the metrics used to describe or define rural roadways in the United States. • Use the primary characteristics of rural roadway crashes as the basis for safety improvement measures and programs implemented in rural areas. • Include measures and strategies that improve driver decision-making as one of the focus or emphasis areas of a comprehensive safety program. • Fund projects that continue to help upgrade and apply GIS tools to plot and evaluate safety data with respect to driver behavior and roadway conditions. • Scientifically evaluate the impacts of the safety improvement programs described in this report.
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    Rural Transportation Safety and the Strategic Highway Safety Plan: An Examination of Select State Programs and Practices
    (University of Minnesota Center for Excellence in Rural Safety, 2008-02) Munnich, Lee Jr; More, Alec
    This first in a series of Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) research summaries examines the current state of safety planning through interviews and a comprehensive review of the newly mandated strategic highway safety plans (SHSPs) and supporting documents from six states representing different U.S. regions: Alabama, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington. The researchers took several steps to develop a knowledge base of existing conditions pertaining to safety planning in the six states. During the analysis, five key themes emerged: 1. A focus on changing driver behavior; 2. The importance of state-level public policy and political leadership; 3. The use of emerging technologies; 4. The importance of sustained, collaborative approaches; and 5. The use of measurement-driven approaches, which rely on enhanced data collection and new interpretive methodologies. In addition to these findings, case studies of each state provide a synopsis of certain aspects of their SHSPs. Recommendations concerning the SHSP development process and emphasis areas include: strengthening public engagement activities and initiatives to communicate the importance of roadway safety, reviewing the development structure and safety stakeholders involved, and continuing integration across agencies contributing to safety.
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    Traffic Impacts of Bicycle Facilities
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2017-06) Hourdos, John; Lehrke, Derek; Duhn, Melissa; Ermagun, Alireza; Singer-Berk, Lila; Lindsey, Greg
    Engineers need information about interactions between vehicles and bicyclists to design efficient, safe transportation systems. This study involved a review of design guidelines for bicycle facilities, observation of bicycle-vehicle interactions at nine roadways with different types of bicycle facilities, analysis of results, and description of design implications. Facilities observed included buffered and striped bicycle lanes, sharrows, signed shared lanes, and shoulders of various widths. Driver behaviors were categorized as no change in trajectory, deviation within lane, encroachment into adjacent lane, completion of a passing maneuver, and queuing behind cyclists. Drivers on roadways with bicycle lanes were less likely to encroach into adjacent lanes, pass, or queue when interacting with cyclists than drivers on roadways with sharrows, signs designating shared lanes, or no bicycle facilities. Queueing behind cyclists, the most significant impact on vehicular traffic flows, generally was highest on roads with no facilities or shared facilities without marked lanes. Statistical modeling confirmed the descriptive results. Given an objective of increasing predictability of driver behavior, buffered or striped bicycle lanes offer advantages over other facilities. Sharrows may alert drivers to the presence of cyclists, but traffic impacts on roadways with sharrows may not differ significantly from roadways with no facilities. Signs indicating bicyclists may occupy lanes also may alert drivers to the presence of cyclists, but this study provided no evidence that interactions on roadways marked only with signs differ from roadways with no facilities. From the perspective of reducing potential traffic impacts, bicycle lanes are to be preferred over sharrows or signage.