00603692

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1990/1281/1281-002.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...rski&publication_year=1990

The effect of restricted head and neck movement on driving performance was measured by decision time at simulated T-intersections. Little traffic safety and human factors literature concerning the performance of drivers with physical limitations was found. Most accidents involving drivers with diminished capacities occur at intersections; therefore, simulated T-intersections were selected for study. A laboratory study using a driving simulator was selected to provide better experimental control, safety, and repeatability. A fixed-base driving simulator that incorporated videorecordings of intersections to provide a 180-degree field of view was used. Eighteen intersections with various levels of traffic volume and sight distance were studied. The 72 test subjects were either between the ages of 30 and 50 or between 60 and 80, and half in each group had a restricted range of neck movement. The subjects' task was to depress the brake pedal, watch the video presentations of the T-intersections on three screens, and release the brake pedal when it was safe to make a left turn. The decision time was a measure of driving performance. The following hypotheses were confirmed: (a) decision time increases with age, and age effects dominated the other factors studied; (b) decision time increases with age and level of impairment, indicating that younger drivers are able to compensate for their impairments, but older drivers both with and without impairments are unable to make compensations in their driving performance; and (c) skewed intersections are hazardous for drivers with neck impairments. Further laboratory and field studies are recommended to validate the study results and to examine the problem of skewed intersections.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1281, Human Factors and Safety Research Related to Highway Design and Operation. 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

00620496

p. 11-15

1990

Transportation Research Record

0-309-05060-X

Figures (1) ; References (19) ; Tables (2)

Age; Driver performance; Drivers; Driving simulators; Neck; Personnel performance; Persons with disabilities; Reaction time; T intersections

Driver age; Driver reaction

Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 28 1991 12:00AM

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