Nebojsa Tomasevic

Driver behaviour at rail level crossings: Responses to flashing lights, traffic signals and stop signs in simulated rural driving

Australian road and railway authorities have made a concerted effort to reduce the number of rail level crossings, particularly the higher risk passive crossings that are protected by devices such as give way or stop signs. To improve this situation, passive level crossings are often upgraded with active controls such as flashing red lights. Traffic signals may provide good safety outcomes at level crossings but remain untested. The primary purpose of this research was to compare driver behaviour at two railway level crossings with active controls, flashing red lights and traffic signals, to behaviour at the current standard passive level crossing control, a stop sign. Participants drove the MUARC advanced driving simulator for 30xa0min. During the simulated drive, participants were exposed to three level crossing scenarios. Each scenario consisted of one of three level crossing control types, and was associated with an oncoming train. Mean vehicle speed on approach to the level crossings decreased more rapidly in response to flashing lights than to traffic signals. While speed on approach was lowest for the stop-sign condition, the number of non-compliant drivers (i.e., those who did not stop) at the crossing was highest for this condition. While results indicate that traffic signals at rail level crossings do not appear to offer any safety benefits over and above flashing red lights, further avenues of research are proposed to reach more definitive conclusions. Compliance was lowest for the passive crossing control which provides further support for the ongoing passive crossing upgrades in Australia.

The role of visual and nonvisual feedback in a vehicle steering task

This article investigates vehicle steering control, focusing on the task of lane changing and the role of different sources of sensory feedback. Participants carried out 2 experiments in a fully instrumented, motion-based simulator. Despite the high level of realism afforded by the simulator, participants were unable to complete a lane change in the absence of visual feedback. When asked to produce the steering movements required to change lanes and turn a corner, participants produced remarkably similar behavior in each case, revealing a misconception of how a lane-change maneuver is normally executed. Finally, participants were asked to change lanes in a fixed-based simulator, in the presence of intermittent visual information. Normal steering behavior could be restored using brief but suitably timed exposure to visual information. The data suggest that vehicle steering control can be characterized as a series of unidirectional, open-loop steering movements, each punctuated by a brief visual update.

Impact on Car Driving Performance of a Following Distance Warning System: Findings from the Australian Transport Accident Commission SafeCar Project

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) SafeCar study evaluated the impact of three Intelligent Transport System technologies, alone and in combination, on driver performance: Following Distance Warning; Intelligent Speed Adaptation; and a Seatbelt Reminder. Each test vehicle or “SafeCar” was also equipped with Daytime Running Lights and a Reverse Collision Warning system. Twenty-three fleet car drivers each drove a SafeCar for 16,500 kilometers. This article focuses on the impact on driving performance, mental workload and driver acceptability of the Following Distance Warning system. The results revealed that the Following Distance Warning system had a positive effect on drivers following behavior, with use of the system significantly increasing mean time gap between the SafeCars and lead vehicles in several speed zones and reducing time gap variability in one speed zone. The system was rated as acceptable by the drivers and did not increase subjective mental workload. However, most drivers did report an increase in frustration when using the system, brought about by the occasional issuing of nuisance warnings.

How Does Motion Influence the Use of Touch Screen In-Vehicle Information Systems?

While the use of in-vehicle touch screen devices is currently common in both military and civilian settings, the effects of motion on the use of such systems has not been researched extensively. This paper presents the findings from a driving simulator study that aimed to explore the influence of motion on task performance when using a touch screen device. The touch screen task was a mock battle management system intended for use in military surface transport vehicles. Twenty participants engaged in a series of battle management system tasks that required both the pull and push of information, for example, reading symbols and entering text. This was done while participants were seated in the front passenger seat in the simulator with an experimenter driving at a constant speed. High motion was simulated by driving along the road edge way, while low motion was simulated by driving along a sealed rural road. Motion profiles confirmed the greater amplitudes in acceleration across multiple axes of movement. The findings illustrate that almost all aspects of battle management system performance were degraded in the high motion condition, although the level of degradation was not as severe as participants gained more experience with the system.