DRIVERS' JUDGEMENTS OF SAFE DISTANCES IN VEHICLE FOLLOWING

Driver behavior in the vehicle-following situation, a major source of road accidents, was investigated using a controlled-track experiment. Drivers were found to adopt headways of approximately 2 s irrespective of speed of travel, driving experience, or instructed probability of the leading vehicle's stopping. Under the optimal conditions used, drivers demonstrated that such headways were more than adequate to avoid tail-end collisions in an emergency situation. The implications of these results for the development of perceptual-motor support devices and the attribution of causes in road accidents are discussed.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1329271
• Corporate Authors:

  Human Factors Society

  Johns Hopkins University Press
  Baltimore, MD  United States  21218
• Authors:
  • Colbourn, C J
  • BROWN, I D
  • Copeman, A K
• Publication Date: 1978-2

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 1-11
• Serial:
  • Human Factors
  • Volume: 20
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Sage Publications, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0018-7208
  • EISSN: 1547-8181
  • Serial URL: http://hfs.sagepub.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Ability tests; Automobile drivers; Behavior; Car following; Crash causes; Crash injury research; Crash investigation; Crashes; Distance; Drivers; Headways; Human factors engineering; Human factors engineering; Motor vehicles; Psychology; Rear end crashes; Research; Speed; Traffic crashes; Traffic speed
• Uncontrolled Terms: Motor vehicle accidents
• Old TRIS Terms: Behavioral research; Car-following tasks
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00180114
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 12 1978 12:00AM