Abteilung Fahrzeugtechnik
There is considerable evidence for the negative effects of driver distraction on road safety. In many experimental studies, drivers have been primarily viewed as passive receivers of distraction. Thus, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of their self-regulatory behavior. The aim of the current study was to compare drivers' performance when engaged in a system-paced secondary task with a self-paced version of this task and how both differed from baseline driving performance without distraction. Thirty-nine participants drove in a simulator while performing a secondary visual"manual task. One group of drivers had to work on this task in predefined situations under time pressure, whereas the other group was free to decide when to work on the secondary task (self-regulation group). Drivers' performance (e.g., lateral and longitudinal control, brake reaction times) was also compared with a baseline condition without any secondary task. For the system-paced secondary task, distraction was associated with high decrements in driving performance (especially in keeping the lateral position). No effects were found for the number of collisions, probably because of the lower driving speeds while distracted (compensatory behavior). For the self-regulation group, only small impairments in driving performance were found. Drivers engaged less in the secondary task during foreseeable demanding or critical driving situations. Overall, drivers in the self-regulation group were able to anticipate the demands of different traffic situations and to adapt their engagement in the secondary task, so that only small impairments in driving performance occurred. Because in real traffic drivers are mostly free to decide when to engage in secondary tasks, it can be concluded that self-regulation should be considered in driver distraction research to ensure ecological validity.
Müdigkeit am Steuer ist eine bedeutsame Ursache von Straßenverkehrsunfällen. Es steht eine Fülle unterschiedlicher Methoden zur Verfügung, um Müdigkeit beim Fahrer zu erkennen. Ziel des vorliegenden Projekts war es, auf Basis einer mehrstufigen Befragung von zwölf Experten aus Industrie- und Hochschulforschung die Stärken und Schwächen der derzeit validesten objektiven Müdigkeitsmessverfahren vergleichend zu beschreiben. Als Basis der Bewertung diente ein eigens erarbeiteter Gütekriterienkatalog. Zu den validesten Müdigkeitsmessverfahren gehören aus Expertensicht Lenkverhalten und Spurhaltung, Indikatoren des Lidschlussverhaltens und des EEG, das videobasierte Expertenrating sowie der kontrovers diskutierte Pupillografische Schläfrigkeitstest. Die Güteprofile der sechs ausgewählten Messverfahren werden aufgeführt. Je nach Einsatzgebiet sind alle ausgewählten Messverfahren (Forschung und Entwicklung), nur einige (Müdigkeitswarnsystem im Fahrzeug), oder kein einziges (Verkehrskontrolle) geeignet. Dem Urteil der Experten nach bedarf eine valide Müdigkeitserfassung der Kombination von mindestens zwei Messverfahren unter Berücksichtigung der spezifischen Stärke-Schwächenprofile.
The strong prevalence of human error as a crash causation factor in motorcycle accidents calls for countermeasures that help tackling this issue. Advanced rider assistance systems pursue this goal, providing the riders with support and thus contributing to the prevention of crashes. However, the systems can only enhance riding safety if the riders use them. For this reason, acceptance is a decisive aspect to be considered in the development process of such systems. In order to be able to improve behavioural acceptance, the factors that influence the intention to use the system need to be identified. This paper examines the particularities of motorcycle riding and the characteristics of this user group that should be considered when predicting the acceptance of advanced rider assistance systems. Founded on theories predicting behavioural intention, the acceptance of technologies and the acceptance of driver support systems, a model on the acceptance of advanced rider assistance systems is proposed, including the perceived safety when riding without support, the interface design and the social norm as determinants of the usage intention. Since actual usage cannot be measured in the development stage of the systems, the willingness to have the system installed on the own motorcycle and the willingness to pay for the system are analyzed, constituting relevant conditions that allow for actual usage at a later stage. Its validation with the results from user tests on four advanced rider assistance systems allows confirming the social norm and the interface design as powerful predictors of the acceptance of ARAS, while the extent of perceived safety when riding without support did not have any predictive value in the present study.
Am 01.03.2004 wurde auf europäischer Ebene das Expertennetzwerk HUMANIST (HUMAN centred design for Information Society Technologies) eingerichtet, das sich mit Fragen der Implementierung, Gestaltung und Evaluation von Fahrerassistenz- und -informationssystemen aus einer sicherheits- und nutzerorientierten Perspektive befasst. Insgesamt sind 26 Partnerorganisationen aus 15 europäischen Ländern beteiligt. Nach bisher zwei Jahren Laufzeit kann das Netzwerk eine Vielzahl von erfolgreich durchgeführten Veranstaltungen vorweisen (verschiedene werden im Einzelnen aufgeführt). Darüber hinaus wurde ein Post-Graduierten- beziehungsweise ein Post-Doc-Programm ins Leben gerufen. Eine weitere wichtige Initiative bestand in der Beschaffung von Grundlagen für eine gemeinsame Nutzung der bei den beteiligten Partnern vorhandenen Forschungs-Infrastruktur und einer gemeinsam genutzten Datenbasis und virtuellen Arbeitsumgebung. Weiterhin konnten auch wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse erarbeitet werden, die in einigen wesentlichen Ausschnitten dargestellt werden. Dabei handelt es sich um folgende Themen: Nutzerbedürfnisse und Potenziale von Fahrerassistenz- und -informationssystemen; Auswirkung der Nutzung von Fahrerassistenz- und -informationssystemen auf das Fahrverhalten und ihre methodische Erfassung; Fahrerausbildung für die Nutzung von Fahrerassistenz- und -informationssystemen. Abschließend wird auf die im Jahr 2006 geplanten Aktivitäten hingewiesen.
This article describes the development of techniques to minimize automobile driver distraction when an in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) that requires visual attention is in use. The authors explain the visual occlusion technique that has been developed as a tool for the assessment of the in-vehicle human-machine interface (HMI) of IVIS in terms of visual demands. The authors addressed an unresolved issue in previous standardized experimental protocols - how subjects make use of the occluded intervals and how this might affect the assessments of visual demands. This study protocol assumed that subjects would continue task performance during occluded periods, leading to an underestimation of visual demands by the occlusion parameters "total shutter open time" (TSOT) and the "occlusion index". The authors predicted that a simple additional loading task to be performed in parallel could disrupt IVIS task performance during the occluded period leading to higher estimations of visual demands by TSOT and R. Their prediction was confirmed by the study findings. The results also showed that under the condition of additional auditory tracking, TSOT and R discriminated more clearly between an "easy" and a "difficult" IVIS task than under the standard condition. They conclude with a discussion of the implications of this research for designers of assessment tools for driver visual distractions.