PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIONS OF DRIVERS AS INDICATORS OF ROAD TRAFFIC DEMAND

Sixty drivers, all accustomed to a certain make of car, performed test drives along a certain test road. A digital tape recorder was used for real-time recording of the driver's physiological characteristics (electrodermal response, heart rate, and muscle activity), steering, and braking; the vehicle response (accelerations in three directions, velocity, and distance traveled); and traffic events as coded by the experimenter. The characteristics of the test road were measured in the field. Average responses were calculated for the test road, and significant covariations were demonstrated by using the physiological measures as the dependent variable and vehicle behavior on the road as the independent variable. It was also found that the difficulty of a traffic event affects both the driver's brake use and physiological responses. Stress- inducing road characteristics are downhill grades and short sight distances. It is suggested that the driver's capacity to process information varies flexibly as task demand changes. Sudden increases in task demand can be leveled out by modeling the road environment, and this makes the driver more competent at dealing with hazardous situations.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1975/530/530-001.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=PHYSIOLOGICAL+REACTIONS+OF+DRIVERS+AS+INDICATORS+OF+ROAD+TRAFFIC+DEMAND&author=M.+Helander&publication_year=1975
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Road User Characteristics. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Helander, Martin G
• Conference:
  • 54th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia
  • Date: 1975-1-13 to 1975-1-17
• Publication Date: 1975

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-17
• Monograph Title: Driver performance studies
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 530
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Braking; Driver performance; Drivers; Hazards; Personnel performance; Physiological aspects; Reaction time; Steering; Stresses; Testing; Traffic
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Old TRIS Terms: Stress conditions
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00097203
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309023777
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 30 1975 12:00AM