Transportation

 A chance to look at combining several ideas in a larger problem  What are the HF issues in driving?

 Tracking, continuous manual control  Supervision of automation  Workload, traffic conditions  Fatigue, circadian rhythms…

 14% of automobile accident deaths are teenagers (they are 7% of drivers)  53% of teen driving deaths occur on weekends

* Statistics Canada, Canadian Vehicle Survey, Catalogue No XIE.

Fatalities and Injuries by Age Group Age GroupFatalitiesInjuries , , , , , , , , ,664 Not stated288,054 Total2,936227,768

Number of Collisions by Location LocationFatalPersonal Injury Urban ,693 Rural 2 1,642 41,970 Not stated 17 2,239 Total2,596156,902

Percentage of Driver and Passenger Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Age Group Age Group FatalitiesSerious Injuries DriversPassenger s DriversPassenger s Not Stated Total100.0 Note: The percentage of drivers and passengers seriously injured by age group does not reflect data for British Columbia.

Tasks in Driving  Strategic, tactical and control tasks  Strategic tasks: Purpose of trip and overall goals “drive home”  Tactical tasks: Intermediate goals “pass that car”  Control tasks: Moment to moment operation “speed control”

Tracking Tasks Longitudinal Tracking Speed control Lateral Tracking Position in lane

Field of Safe Travel Time to contact Time to line crossing

Driver Distraction Primary Visual Attention Lobe: Area of visual attention critical to drive properly Road signs Roadside objects Passengers, cell phones eating On road distractions

Understanding Driver Distraction  Distractions take visual scanning away from critical area  Load visual and auditory resource pools  Take cognitive resources  Design: controls to be used without looking (e.g. blind person)  Design: labels large H/D>.007 “james bond rule”

Resource Issues  In cab visual distractions Radios, switches, maps  In cab audio distractions Cell phones, music, passengers

Issue: Cellphones  NEJM: 4.3 times more likely to have an accident if using a cell phone No differences with driver demographics No difference with handsfree

Other side: Cellphones  U North Carolina Study: Cell phone accidents only 1.5% of “distracted driver” accidents Radio, passengers, kids, CD players larger factors Why ban cell phones if we don’t ban radios, kids Benefits of cell phones outweigh the accident costs Focus on “distracted driving”

Driver and Cell Phone video

Distracted Driver Video

Anthropometric Aspects  Design so driver is seated to maximize the PVAL area  Design for adjustability for drivers of many sizes  Make adjustment controls compatible and easy to use

Lighting aspects  Driving at night about 10 times riskier than in the day  Highway lighting  Car headlights  Car to car visibility

Issue: Do Tungsten Halogen Headlamps improve visibility?

 University of Michigan study 2001 Target detection the same for most targets But improved for dark red targets Increased discomfort glare ratings from oncoming drivers

Daytime running lights?  Improve visibility and detectability of vehicles (many studies) Effect size about 15% fewer crashes, 70% less damage Effect consistent in 15 months of use, and then retested 33 months later Motorcycle crash rates unchanged Average cost of the lights = $3/year per car in fuel consumption

Daytime running lights?  Some issues in the studies Done in northern countries (Canada, Northern Europe) Light conditions may be different than close to the equator Tended to compare before they were made law to after, may have been improvements in road design, car design

Signage Issues  Minimize unnecessary signs  Provide consistent locations  Identify sign classes by colour, shape, text  Design for easy reading (font size, contrast, glare reduction  Consider older drivers, symbols

Inconsistent Signage

Sudbury, ON Parry Sound, ON

Clutter

Confusing Signs

Too complicated, too small

Unclear language

Causes of Collisions  Control loss Road conditions Fatigue Rapid over-correction to a minor lane departure Likelihood increases with speed (greater vehicle instability) Wider lanes, feedback on speed, rumble strips…

Causes of Collisions  Hazards Time to react, brake reaction time  Speeding Increases instability, decreases hazard detection, decreased time to avoid a hazard, increased damage

Factors that cause speeding  Quiet engines  Higher seating position  Time spent driving at a high speed  Risk expectation Most people think they are less likely to have an accident than the average driver Most people think they drive better than the average driver