ESTIMATION OF VEHICULAR VELOCITY UNDER TIME LIMITATION AND RESTRICTED CONDITIONS OF OBSERVATION

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ABILITY OF SUBJECTS TO ESTIMATE THE VELOCITY OF THEIR VEHICLES WAS CONDUCTED. PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS OF ABSOLUTE VELOCITY HAVE LEFT UNCONTROLLED, I.E., UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE SUBJECT, THE SENSORY STIMULATION, THE TIME AVAILABLE FOR OBSERVATION AND THE ACCELERATION OF THE VEHICLE. THE SITUATION OF INTEREST FROM THE SAFETY POINT OF VIEW IS THE ONE WHERE THE SITUATION HAS TO BE REAPPRAISED QUICKLY. TOWARD THIS END EQUIPMENT WAS DEVELOPED TO CONTROL THE LOCUS OF VISUAL STIMULATION AND THE TIME THAT THE STIMULATION WAS AVAILABLE FOR OBSERVATION. THE ACCELERATION OF THE VEHICLE WAS A PARAMETER OF THE EXPERIMENT. STIMULATION TIME WAS HELD CONSTANT AT ONE SECOND. RESULTS SHOW THAT, WITH TIME LIMITATION, THE LOCUS OF VISUAL STIMULATION IS SIGNIFICANT IN DETERMINING THE ACCURACY OF THE ESTIMATES. PERIPHERAL VISUAL STIMULATION RESULTS IN MORE ACCURATE ESTIMATES OF THE ABSOLUTE VELOCITY OF THE VEHICLE THAN STIMULATION OF THE FRONTAL VISUAL FIELD. THE HIGHER ACCELERATION RATE USED TO ATTAIN VELOCITIES ALTERS THE FUNCTION SO THAT ALL VELOCITIES ARE UNDERESTIMATED. THE HIGHER RATE ALSO PARTIALLY DESTROYS THE GAIN IN ACCURACY ATTRIBUTED TO THE LOCUS OF VISUAL STIMULATION. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT FIXATION OF THE FRONTAL FIELD IN NORMAL DRIVING MAY BE A FACTOR IN HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS, I.E., GROSS UNDERESTIMATION OF ABSOLUTE VELOCITY. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ABSOLUTE VELOCITY APPRECIATION FOR STEERING BEHAVIOR AND MULTIPLE CAR MANEUVERS IS POINTED OUT. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1967/195/195-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Highway Safety and presented at the 46th Annual Meeting. 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:
  • Salvatore, Santo
• Publication Date: 1967

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 66-74
• Monograph Title: Road user characteristics
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 195
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drivers; Driving simulators; Estimating; Vehicles; Velocity; Vision
• Old TRIS Terms: Vision characteristics
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219875
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-000 639
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 20 2003 12:00AM