Browsing by Subject "Tactile perception"

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    In-Vehicle Decision Support to Reduce Crashes at Rural Thru-Stop Intersections
    (Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2011-08) Hayes, Caroline C.; Drew, Daniel
    Purpose: Within the context of thru-stop intersections, investigate the feasibility and future promise of warning systems inside the vehicle, where interfaces are best placed, and what modalities are most effective (visual versus haptic). Methods: A driving simulator study was conducted to compare three decision support systems (DSSs): a dynamic traffic sign, a set of displays on the vehicle side mirrors, and a vibrating seat. Dependent variables included measurements of safe driving behavior, and a usability questionnaire. A follow-up focus group study was conducted to gain further feedback on the in-vehicle systems and on ideas for how to improve the systems. Results: The vibrating seat yielded significantly higher results than the dynamic traffic sign on two safety variables. No system clearly outperformed the others in terms of promoting safer driving behavior, nor did any improve driving performance compared to the control condition. The questionnaire and usability data showed that the dynamic traffic sign was most preferred, while the in-vehicle displays were most comprehended. Comments during the simulator studies suggested that participants wanted stronger advisory messages from the systems, and the Focus Group Study confirms this. Conclusions: In-vehicle DSSs appear to be feasible for the purposes of assisting drivers with navigating rural thru-stop intersections. No results of this study indicate that in-vehicle systems are an inherently poor means of presenting traffic gap information to the driver. Results indicate that a visual display would be easier to comprehend than a vibrotactile display when no training or explanation is provided.
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    A Pilot Study on Mitigating Run-Off-Road Crashes
    (Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute Center for Transportation Studies, 2013-07) Edwards, Christopher; Morris, Nichole L.; Manser, Michael
    Run off the road crashes account for approximately 50% of motor vehicle related fatalities on a national and on a state level. To address this unacceptably high rate of fatalities this pilot project first sought to identify the primary factors associated with run off the road crashes and identify limitations and shortcomings of existing countermeasures. This was accomplished through the development of a taxonomy that summarized existing engineering related and human factors related literature according to infrastructure, environment, and driver related factors that have been found to be most associated with run off the road crash-related fatalities. Based on the taxonomy results a new potentially useful countermeasure was identified that consisted of a haptic and auditory feedback. The pilot project then sought to develop and then evaluate a series of prototype countermeasure systems based on haptic and auditory feedback presented either individually or in parallel. The primary results of the driving environment simulator study in which participants drove through a series of realistic worlds experiencing the countermeasures in response to lane departure events found that the presentation of multiple countermeasure systems can provide increased user satisfaction but can also increase driver response times to critical situations. Secondary results of the study suggest that the haptic countermeasures can provide additional information to drivers but that it may not be interpreted by drivers as expected by designers.