Driver Ability to Cope with Unintended Acceleration by Shifting Gears in a Simulator Experiment

The objective of this study was to understand why some drivers who experienced unintended acceleration (UA) reported an inability to slow their cars by shifting to low or neutral. 161 participants were tested in a driving simulator to see how quickly they terminated the UA in both naive and trained conditions. The naïve participants were not told that shifting to low or neutral would slow their car. Nor were they familiar with the particular gear selector (GS) to which they were assigned. During training, participants were told how to slow their vehicle during a UA event. In a between-subjects design, six different types of GSs were used. In the first (naïve) trial, more than 80% of participants crashed or took more than 90 s to bring speed under control. 40% never tried to use the GS. After very brief training, more than 75% were able to regain control in about 25 s. Only one type of GS was significantly more difficult to use. Immediately after the naive trial, most participants could remember that they should have downshifted. Acute stress may have inhibited their ability to do so. The results suggest changes to standard driver education programs.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND00 Section - Users Performance.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Pollard, John
  • Fisher, Don
  • Guglielmi, John
  • Mattson, Amanda
  • Young, Jared
  • Lucibello, Geena
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceleration (Mechanics); Behavior; Driver education; Drivers; Gear shifting
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01623701
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-00647
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 25 2017 3:08PM