Using connected vehicle technology to deliver timely warnings to pedestrians.

Details

• Creators:
  Kearney, Joseph K. ; Plumert, Jodie M.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Iowa. Computer Science Department ; University of Iowa. Department of Psychology
• Corporate Contributors:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Pedestrian safety
  • Pedestrian movement
  • Text messaging
  • Mobile applications
  • Intelligent vehicles
  • Distraction
  • Traffic crashes
  • Warning devices
  • Virtual reality
  • Assistive technology
  More +
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  Pedestrian injuries and deaths caused by collisions with motor vehicles are on the ; rise in the U.S. One factor that may increase the risk of such collisions is pedestrian ; mobile device use. Both field observations and controlled experiments indicate that ; pedestrian road-crossing behavior is impaired by texting or talking on a mobile device. ; Despite the importance of the problem, relatively little is known about effective ; interventions to reduce the harmful effects of mobile device use on pedestrian roadcrossing ; behavior. The goal of this project was to use connected vehicles technology to ; deliver warnings to pedestrians via their mobile devices. To safely and systematically ; study this problem, we conducted an experiment in a large-screen immersive virtual ; environment to evaluate how texting pedestrians respond to permissive traffic alerts ; delivered via their cell phone. We developed a cell phone app that delivered information ; to texting pedestrians about when traffic conditions permit safe crossing. We compared ; gap selection and movement timing in three groups of pedestrians: texting, texting with ; alerts, and no texting (control). Participants in the control and alert groups chose larger ; gaps and were more discriminating in their gap choices than participants in the texting ; group. Both the control and alert groups had more time to spare than the texting group ; when they exited the roadway even though the alert group timed their entry relative to ; the lead car less tightly than the control and texting groups. By choosing larger gaps, ; participants in the alert group were able to compensate for their poorer timing of entry, ; resulting in a margin of safety that did not differ from those who were not texting. ; However, they also relied heavily on the alert system and paid less attention to the ; roadway. The project demonstrates both the potential and the potential pitfalls of ; assistive technologies based on Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) communications ; technology for mitigating pedestrian–motor vehicle crashes.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31514/dot_31514_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.53 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fb124f5e6b9ebcf6cc97ddfe28b421e88eb8c74ab7e1f84bfa9183ef6b520b9d383e7120dd405acd6be69cee8315ab9821b1c6bd83f31a6df8aa5eec4ddc9d9b