OLDER AND YOUNGER DRIVER PERFORMANCE AT COMPLEX

INTERSECTIONS:IMPLICATIONS FOR USING PERCEPTION-

RESPONSE TIME AND DRIVING SIMULATION

Professor: Liu

Student: Ruby

Motive & Purpose

• Motive– Older drivers have the high accident percentage

at interactions.

• Purpose– Using driving simulation to test older driver

performance at complex intersections.

Reference • When older drivers do the action which in left t

urn and gap-acceptance crashes are over-represented. (Caird & Hancock, 2002)

• The people who are 75 years or more, they were collision fatalities at the intersections. (Preusser et al., 1998)

Reference

• Decreasing the useful field of view can be predictors of intersection crashes. (Owsley et al., 1998)

• Older drivers are often miss the stop signs and stop lights at intersections. (Preusser

et al., 1998)

Reference

• Perception response time (PRT)– The duration between the appearance of a

situation and the initiation of braking.– (Olson, 1996) found the PRT was related to the

age.– (Lerner et al., 1995) found the PRT was not

related to the age.

Method - Participants

Older drivers Younger drivers

People 12 12

Driving experience 52 years 4 years

Average annual mile 20916 km per year 15719 km per year

Mean number of total accidents

Mean was 2.8 Mean was 0.83

The number of accidents in the past five years

Mean was 0.42 Mean was 0.75

Driving violations Mean was 0.75 Mean was 0.25

Method – Equipment

• Driving Simulator Hardware and Software

– The University of Calgary Driving Simulator (UCDS).

– 3-channel, 150-degree forward field of view vection simulator.

Method - Procedures• Four experimental routes and each with 4 events.• 4 events included:

– The sudden appearance of a pedestrian during a right turn (Pedestrian)

– A last-second yellow light (Yellow Light)– The unexpected appearance of a pedestrian using a gr

ey mask to induce change blindness (Dynamic Flicker)

– A vehicle violating a red light while the participant had a green light (Vehicle Incursion).

Results - Perception Response Time

• PRT was calculated based on any response made by the participants, whether the participants braked or accelerated.

Results - Perception Response Time

• Response to the pedestrian event was significant between the age groups, t(16) = - 2.118, p = 0.050.

• PRT to the Yellow Light event was significantly different between the age groups, t(17) = -4.508, p = 0.0001.

• The response to the Dynamic Flicker presentation and the sudden appearance of a pedestrian was significant, t(17) = -3.468, p = 0.003.

• The vehicle incursion was also significantly different between the two age groups, t(18) = -2.715, p = 0.014.

Results - Perception Response Time

Discussion - Perception Response Time and Response Patterns

• Overall, the younger drivers showed faster PRTs than older derivers.

• The decision by older drivers to continue through the intersection appears indicative of their inability to respond to the light quickly.

Discussion - Perception Response Time and Response Patterns

• This study examined complex intersections, with signs, pedestrians and other vehicles present. – Therefore, the PRT may be more reflective of the at

tention demands on older drivers than previous PRT studies.

Discussion - Simulator Sickness

• 40% of older participants and 14% of younger participants had the simulator sickness.

• The people who drop out due to simulator sickness may be more at risk for intersection collisions.

• (Stern & Koch, 1996) suggest that women are more effective to simulator sickness than men.