Elizabeth Alicandri -Federal Highway AdministrationThis study investigated the responses of older and younger drivers during performance of emergency maneuvers in an interactive driving simulator. Thirty-six drivers, equally distributed among three age groups (20-29; 35-44; 65-74) participated in the 20 miIe simulated drive, during which they encountered four emergency events. Two baseline segments were also collected. The emergency events were situations where other vehicles performed unexpected maneuvers : pulling out in front of the subject's car from a side street, and turning left in front of the subject's car at an intersection. Information on driver performance variables, overall avoidance, and emergency avoidance response time was collected. Older drivers were not different from younger or middleaged drivers in avoidance response time, speed, deviation from the speed limit, brake pedal force, and overall avoidance. Age differences were found in lateral placement at intersections. Older drivers drove further to the right of the lane center than younger and middle-aged drivers. It is believed that this is a result of a general conservatism of older drivers. This research narrows the scope of investigations into intersection accidents. Older drivers did not exhibit increased avoidance reaction times. In this experiment, subjects were not performing turning maneuvers. Future research should be directed, when possible, toward investigating driver behavior when making turning maneuvers across traffic.

This experiment compared the performance of rotated to conventional Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) displays. Rotated and conventional ATIS displays were presented in two locations: Heads-up display @UD) and instrument panel mounted (IPM). Using a part-task driving simulator, subjects evaluated whether an intersection presented on an ATIS display matched the intersection they were approaching. The results indicated that benefits of rotated displays may be location dependent. Although the results do not clearly indicate an optimal display rotation, the HUD location resulted in improved older driver performance.

This experiment examined whether visual, perceptual, or cognitive measures predicted the ability to detect vehicle collisions in intersections. Sixty subjects, comprised of three age groups balanced by gender, were presented dynamic intersection approaches in a part-task driving simulator. The subjects were asked to project the forward progress of crossing traffic and to indicate whether any of the crossing vehicles would conflict with their vehicle. Independent variables included visual, perceptual, and cognitive test batteries. Dependent variables included accuracy in collision detection and error type. Results showed that all three batteries predicted accuracy, but that the perceptual battery was the most predictive for each age group.