The riskiest factors faced by drivers as informed
through the first large-scale, crash-only analysis
of naturalistic driving data: results indicate that
many secondary tasks or activities, particularly
resulting from the use of handheld electronic
devices, are of detriment to driver safety. The
analysis uses a large naturalistic database
comprising continuous in situ observations made via
multiple onboard video cameras and sensors that
gathered information from more than 3,500 drivers
across a 3-y period.
The
accurate evaluation of crash causal factors can
provide fundamental information for effective
transportation policy, vehicle design, and driver
education. Naturalistic driving (ND) data collected
with multiple onboard video cameras and sensors
provide a unique opportunity to evaluate risk
factors during the seconds leading up to a crash.
This paper uses a National Academy of
Sciences-sponsored ND dataset comprising 905
injurious and property damage crash events, the
magnitude of which allows the first direct analysis
(to our knowledge) of causal factors using crashes
only. The results show that crash causation has
shifted dramatically in recent years, with
driver-related factors (i.e., error, impairment,
fatigue, and distraction) present in almost 90% of
crashes. The results also definitively show that
distraction is detrimental to driver safety, with
handheld electronic devices having high use rates
and risk.
Drivers increase their crash risk nearly tenfold
when they get behind the wheel while observably
angry, sad, crying, or emotionally agitated,
according to Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
researchers writing in this week's Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
Drivers more than double their crash risk when they
choose to engage in distracting activities that
require them to take their eyes off the road, such
as using a handheld cell phone, reading or writing,
or using touchscreen menus on a vehicle instrument
panel. And, according to the institute’s research,
drivers engage in some type of distracting activity
more than 50 percent of the time they are driving.
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute researchers
used results from the Second Strategic Highway
Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study, the
largest light-vehicle naturalistic driving study
ever conducted with more than 3,500 participants
across six data collection sites in the United
States.
The
study represents the largest naturalistic crash
database available to date, with more than 1,600
verified crash events ranging in severity from low,
such as tire and curb strikes, to severe, including
police-reportable crashes.
Traveling well above the speed limit creates about
13 times the risk, and driver performance errors
such as sudden or improper braking or being
unfamiliar with a vehicle or roadway have an impact
on individual risk.
Researchers found several factors previously thought
to increase driver risk, including applying makeup
or following a vehicle too closely, actually had a
lower prevalence in the naturalistic driving study,
meaning they were minimally present or were not
present at all in the crashes analyzed.
Factors such as interacting with a child in the rear
seat of a vehicle were found to have a protective
effect, or had a risk lower than the base risk
value.
See
also
Survey reveals driver behaviours, fears and
fantasies (2013-10-03)
Link...
Talking and texting while driving in the United
States and Europe (11/06/2012)
Link...
In an
average year 30 million Americans drive drunk - 10
million drive impaired by illicit drugs (30/12/2010)
Link...
For
more information
PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America
Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation
using naturalistic driving data
Link...
Vitginia Tech
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Link...
MDN |