THE EFFECT OF FALSE FORWARD COLLISION WARNINGS ON DRIVER RESPONSES

Forward Collision Warning Systems (FCWS) are being developed as a countermeasure for the large number of rear-end crashes that occur on public roads each year (about 1.5 million per year). Although indications are that FCWS will benefit drivers in imminent collision scenarios, very little is known about how drivers respond to false collision warnings. A field experiment was designed to investigate the effects of false FCWs on driver responses. Sixteen drivers (9 Younger and 7 Older) were presented with correct warnings (CW) and false warnings (FW) while driving along a pre-defined route on public roads. On all correct warning trials and half of the false warning trials drivers were distracted by a speed monitoring task when the warnings were presented. The results were analyzed with speed adjustments brake response time (BRT) and in-vehicle task RT as dependent measures and Age, Block, and Trial Type as independent variables. Results show that drivers brake in response to false warnings. The likelihood of braking decreased as drivers experienced more false warning. Undistracted drivers stopped responding to false warnings after only a few exposures. However, when the same drivers received false warnings while distracted, drivers continued to respond to FWs regardless of prior FW exposures

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication Date: 2002. Transportation Research Board, Washington DC. Remarks: Paper 02-2274 prepared for presentation at the 81st annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. January 2002. Format: CD ROM
• Corporate Authors:

  Jamiat al-Imarat al-Arabiyah al-Muttahidah

  ,    

  University of California, Berkeley

  California PATH Program, Institute of Transportation Studies
  Richmond Field Station, 1357 South 46th Street
  Richmond, CA  United States  94804-4648

  University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  Department of Civil Engineering, 500 Pillsbury Drive, SE
  Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455

  University of California, Irvine

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  4000 Anteater Instruction and Research Building
  Irvine, CA  United States  92697

  Purdue University

  Joint Transportation Research Program
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907-2051

  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

  1005 North Glebe Road
  Arlington, VA  United States  22201

  Texas Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System, 3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY

  CHICAGO, IL  United States 

  University of Utah, Salt Lake City

  Utah Traffic Laboratory, 122 S Central Campus Drive
  Salt Lake City, UT  United States  84112

  University of Toronto

  Intelligent Transportation Systems Center
  Toronto, Ontario  Canada 

  University of Hawaii, Manoa

  Department of Civil Engineering, 2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 383
  Honolulu, HI  United States  96822
• Authors:
  • Gish, Kenneth W
  • Mercadante, Michael
  • Perel, Michael
  • Barickman, Frank
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 81st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington D.C.
  • Date: 2002-1-13 to 2002-1-17
• Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 23 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash avoidance systems; Driving; Emergency communication systems; Human factors
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00922111
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Files: PATH
• Created Date: Apr 2 2002 12:00AM