Enhancing Safety by Augmenting Information Acquisition in the Driving Environment

According to the National Center for Statistics (NCSA), over 6 million motor vehicle crashes occurred in the United States in 2006. These crashes resulted in 42,642 deaths and approximately 2.6 million injuries. Many of these crashes result from a mismatch between the attentional and perceptual capabilities of drivers and the demands of the driving environment. A recent naturalistic study monitored 100 drivers in their own vehicles for 1 year and found that approximately 85% of the crashes and near crashes resulted from some attentional failure, including fatigue and distraction. These data demonstrate a fundamental problem that plagues driving safety: People have evolved to 2-10 mph locomotion, but not the demands of 20-100 mph locomotion. This mismatch leads to circumstance in which the demands of driving exceed the capacity of the driver to respond. Recent advances in sensor and computing technology may reduce these mismatches by augmenting the driver’s ability to acquire relevant information. For example, radar-based sensors can scan the road ahead and detect cars that might pose a hazard to the driver, and algorithms can process these data to deliver a warning to help the driver avoid an impending collision. However, achieving the promise of such systems is far from certain.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9781420055306
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Taylor and Francis.
• Corporate Authors:

  CRC Press

  6000 Broken Sound Parkway, NW, Suite 300
  Boca Raton, FL  United States  33487
• Authors:
  • Lees, Monica N
  • Lee, John D
• Publication Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 167-185
• Monograph Title: Human Factors of Visual and Cognitive Performance in Driving

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Driver errors; Drivers; Fatalities; Human factors in crashes; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety; Visual perception
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driving tasks
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01325038
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9781420055306
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 14 2011 10:20AM