Influencing driver behaviour through road marking

This paper will describe how road marking can be used to influence driver behaviour in order to improve road safety and traffic flows. Extensive use will be made of examples from recent research undertaken by the authors on overtaking lane design, speed change management, managing speed around curves and improving the safety of high risk sections of roads. This research included both on-road and driving simulator-based measurements. The concept of self explaining roads and what is required to implement it will also be described

Driver behaviour with adaptive cruise control

This paper reports on the evaluation of adaptive cruise control (ACC) from a psychological perspective. It was anticipated that ACC would have an effect upon the psychology of driving, i.e. make the driver feel like they have less control, reduce the level of trust in the vehicle, make drivers less situationally aware, but workload might be reduced and driving might be less stressful. Drivers were asked to drive in a driving simulator under manual and ACC conditions. Analysis of variance techniques were used to determine the effects of workload (i.e. amount of traffic) and feedback (i.e. degree of information from the ACC system) on the psychological variables measured (i.e. locus of control, trust, workload, stress, mental models and situation awareness). The results showed that: locus of control and trust were unaffected by ACC, whereas situation awareness, workload and stress were reduced by ACC. Ways of improving situation awareness could include cues to help the driver predict vehicle trajectory and identify conflicts

Adaptive driver modelling in ADAS to improve user acceptance: A study using naturalistic data

Accurate understanding of driver behaviour is crucial for future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. For user acceptance it is important that ADAS respect individual driving styles and adapt accordingly. Using data collected during a naturalistic driving study carried out at the University of Southampton, we assess existing models of driver acceleration and speed choice during car following and when cornering. We observe that existing models of driver behaviour that specify a preferred inter-vehicle spacing in car-following situations appear to be too prescriptive, with a wide range of acceptable spacings visible in the naturalistic data. Bounds on lateral acceleration during cornering from the literature are visible in the data, but appear to be influenced by the minimum cornering radii specified in design codes for UK roadway geometry. This analysis of existing driver models is used to suggest a small set of parameters that are sufficient to characterise driver behaviour in car-following and curve driving, which may be estimated in real-time by an ADAS to adapt to changing driver behaviour. Finally, we discuss applications to adaptive ADAS with the objectives of improving road safety and promoting eco-driving, and suggest directions for future researc

Telemetric longitudinal measurement of young driver behaviour

New Zealand is one of the few countries that currently allows teenagers to become solo drivers at 15 ½ years of age. During their first six months of solo driving, these teenagers are 19 times more likely to crash compared to the period of supervised driving. The behaviour of these adolescent drivers represents the single largest cause of fatalities in that age group and is widely acknowledged as one of the most serious social issues facing New Zealand. This state of affairs, often referred to as ‘the young driver problem,’ with an over representation of young drivers in motor vehicle crashes, is not unique to New Zealand. In fact, a similar situation can be found inmost of the world’s developed nations

Social influences on drivers in China

China is one of Asia’s many rapidly-motorising nations and recent increases in private-vehicle ownership have been coupled with an escalation in novice drivers. Several pieces of road safety legislation have been introduced in recent decades in China. While managing the legal aspects of road use is important, social influences on driver behaviour may offer alternative avenues to alter behaviour, particularly in a culture where such factors carry high importance. This paper reports qualitative research with Beijing drivers to investigate social influence factors that have, to date, received little attention in the literature. Findings indicated that family members, friends, and driving instructors appear influential on driver behaviour and that some newly licensed drivers seek additional assistance to facilitate the transition from learning to drive in a controlled environment to driving on the road in complex conditions. Strategies to avoid detection and penalties for inappropriate road use were described, many of which involved the use of a third person. These findings indicate potential barriers to implementing effective traffic enforcement and highlight the importance of understanding culturally-specific social factors relating to driver behaviour

Improving driver behaviour by design: a cognitive work analysis methodology

Within the European Community both the environmental and safety costs of road transport are unacceptably high. ‘Foot-LITE’ is a UK project which aims to encourage drivers to adopt ‘greener’ and safer driving practices, with real-time and retrospective feedback being given both in-vehicle and off-line. This paper describes the early concept development of Foot-LITE, for which a Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) was conducted. In this paper, we present the results of the first phase of CWA – the Work Domain Analysis, as well as some concept interface designs based on the WDA to illustrate its application. In summary, the CWA establishes a common framework for the project, and will ultimately contribute to the design of the in-vehicle interfac