Comparison of Older and Younger Driver Responses to Emergency Driving Events

Abstract

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.

Designing Communities to Enhance the Safety and Mobility of Older Adults

“…Despite their more cautious behavior, older drivers are nevertheless more likely to be killed in a traffic crash than younger drivers and are particularly at risk when attempting to turn across multiple lanes of traffic on higher speed roads. More than half of all crashes involving older motorists are angle crashes, a crash type associated with a driver being struck by an oncoming vehicle when attempting a left turn or a U-turn at a driveway or intersection (Abdel-Aty, Chen, and Radwan 1999;Federal Highway Administration 1995;Hauer 1988;Kloeppel et al 1995;Lyles and Staplin 1991;Maleck and Hummer 1986;Partyka 1983;Preusser et al 1998;Ulfarsson, Kim, and Lentz 2006). The relative risk of involvement in an intersection-related crash increases substantially with age.…”

Effect of Distraction Complexity on Driving Performance and Emergency Event Response

“…Due to the small and sometimes non-existent margin of safety offered in these situations, it seem tenable that dnver distraction agents can have a significant effect on successfully Cumulatively, the results of previous research Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting --2002 PROCEEDINGS of the HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS SOCIETY 46th ANNUAL MEETING --2002 avoiding a potentially catastrophic crash. Little research has examined how drivers respond to emergency events (Adams, Flannagan, & Sivak, 1995; Hancock & de Ridder, 2002;Kloeppel, Peters, James, Fox, & Alicandri, 1995) and how drivers respond to emergency event when distracted. It was hypothesized that as the difficulty level of the visual distraction increased driving performance would decrease.…”

The Relationship between Community Design and Crashes Involving Older Drivers and Pedestrians

“…Intersections create locations where opposing streams of traffic cross, and thus locations where conflicts between roadway users may emerge. Previous research has found that a substantial portion of crashes involving older adults tend to occur at intersections, particularly when older adults attempt to turn left across multiple lanes of traffic (Hauer 1988; Kloeppel et al 1995; Partyka 1983; Preusser et al 1998). This variable is the count of intersections in a block group.…”