Aging road user studies of intersection safety.

Details

• Creators:
  Boot, Walter ; Charness, Neil ; Mitchum, Ainsley ; Landbeck, Rebekah ; Stothart, Cary
• Corporate Creators:
  Florida State University. Dept. of Psychology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Signalized intersections
  • Crosswalks
  • Pedestrian safety
  • Aged drivers
  • Road markings
  • Reaction time
  • Driver performance
  • Highway safety
• Publication/ Report Number:
  BDV30 TWO 977-04
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Florida
• Corporate Publisher:
  Florida. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  Task 1.1 assessed younger (21-35 years), middle-aged (50-64 years), and older (65+) drivers’ ability to ; quickly perceive the presence of marked/unmarked crosswalks and pedestrians within them in computer-based ; laboratory tasks that recorded response times and eye movements. There was an advantage for special emphasis ; markings in that they were detected more quickly and accurately compared to standard markings. However, there ; was no evidence that markings improved or reduced pedestrian conspicuity. In Task 1.2, pedestrians were ; observed at two signalized intersections (Monroe and Georgia, Monroe and Carolina) in Tallahassee to observe ; the effect of different crosswalk markings on pedestrian behavior. Special emphasis markings did not induce more ; pedestrians to cross at signalized crosswalk locations compared to crossing midblock at an unmarked location. A ; simulator experiment (Task 1.3) found that different crosswalk markings had no impact on driver behavior. Task ; 2.1 and Task 2.2 examined younger and older adults’ perception-reaction times to yellow traffic signals in a driving ; situation. In Task 2.1, modeling was used to estimate this value for younger and older adults, while Task 2.2 ; provided this value through a driving simulator task. Both revealed that older adults needed substantially more ; time to react to a yellow signal compared to younger adults (Modeling: 767ms, Simulator Study: 803ms). Task 3.1 ; reviewed the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) literature and suggested a need for further study, especially with older ; adults, and with respect to the effectiveness of FYA educational materials. A lab study (Task 3.2) found that ; participants of all ages infrequently misunderstood the meaning of a FYA signal in a way that would result in a ; crash. However, a simulator study (Task 3.3) found that behavioral measure of comprehension were higher for ; participants exposed to FDOT’s FYA tip card. Recommendations for the implementation of each of these ; countermeasures are discussed.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28162/dot_28162_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.75 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b5959d00a6b61d52ab5a24d6b632afe6b2c6aa1efe9b9abc3c1f7caf846c3652