RADAR DETECTION OF VEHICLES IN A STRING: GAINING SITUATION AWARENESS OF A PROPAGATING CONFLICT

A database of empirical driving measurements is employed to compute the situation awareness benefit of a driver-assistance function that uses the ability of radar to detect targets several deep in a string of vehicles ahead in the same lane. The database resulted from a new roadside video imaging method that has yielded the complete X-Y trajectories, state response variables, and intervehicular motion relationships of 30,500 vehicles on a segment of five-lane arterial street. These data were compiled as a relational database, and queries were run for detecting all cases in which a string of three vehicles is disturbed by a conflict that arises in the leading vehicle pair. Computations reveal, through distributions of the actual motion responses, the larger time cushion that would be available if any following driver in a string became aware of an impending headway conflict as soon as it develops ahead of the preceding vehicle. Results show the value to the following driver that might accrue from a crash-warning function that employs such anticipatory detection. The results indicate that the threat of rear-end crashes in vehicle strings could be mitigated by driver-assistance devices that sense range and range-rate relationships several deep in the string. Because most modern radar technologies have some degree of this capability but do not use it, the results encourage the development of crash-warning applications based on the look-ahead feature.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/1779-05
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=RADAR+DETECTION+OF+VEHICLES+IN+A+STRING%3a+GAINING+SITUATION+AWARENESS+OF+A+PROPAGATING+CONFLICT&author=R.+Ervin&author=S.+Bogard&author=P.+Fancher&publication_year=2001
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309072379
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1779, Traffic Safety 2001: Americans with Disabilities Act; Driver and Vehicle Modeling; Situation Awareness; Licensing; Driver Behavior; Enforcement; Trucks; and Motorcycles.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Ervin, R
  • Bogard, S
  • Fancher, P S
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 33-39
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1779
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Awareness; Crash avoidance systems; Detection and identification; Headways; Prevention; Radar; Rear end crashes; Traffic conflicts; Warning systems
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00824558
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309072379
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 12 2002 12:00AM