AUTOMOBILE BRAKING RESPONSE SPEED: AGE DIFFERENCES AND EFFECTS OF COLLISION WARNINGS

To examine age differences in emergency braking response times and the benefit of collision warnings, 18 older (age=74 yrs) and 29 young (age=26 yrs) licensed drivers completed four tasks in an automobile driving simulator. Participants attempted to brake as quickly as possible in response to braking of a car in front of them and to auditory and visual collision warning signals. Braking responses were made when the participant's car was stationary, traveling on an empty road, following at a comfortable distance, and following very closely the car in front of them. Participants also completed three laboratory reaction (RT) and movement (MT) time tasks to investigate age- and sex-related differences in the relationships of laboratory task performance and emergency braking responses. Results showed that the presence of collision warnings improved response times dramatically, especially for older drivers when following closer than comfortable.

• Corporate Authors:

  ITS America

  1100 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor
  Washington, DC  United States  20036
• Authors:
  • Vercruyssen, M
  • Foderberg, D
  • Williams, G
  • Hancock, P A
• Conference:
  • Intelligent Transportation: Realizing the Benefits. Proceedings of the 1996 Annual Meeting of ITS America.
  • Location: Houston, TX
  • Date: 1996-4-15 to 1996-4-18
• Publication Date: 1996

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 858-965

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Audible warning devices; Benefits; Braking performance; Crash avoidance systems; Drivers; Driving; Driving simulators; Emergency response time; Gender; Intelligent transportation systems; Performance; Reaction time; Speed; Volunteers; Warning systems
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver age; Visual
• Old TRIS Terms: Driving tasks
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00724824
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 27 1996 12:00AM