The Effects of Aging and Cognitive Stress Disposition on Driver Situation Awareness and Performance under Hazardous Conditions
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of driver age and roadway environment complexity and hazards on situation awareness (SA) and performance. In addition, the study sought to identify any relationship of driver stress disposition with SA and performance. Ten young (18-25 yrs) and ten old (>65 yrs) drivers operated a VR-based driving simulator under two levels of simulation complexity (low-rural, high-city) with two types of occurring hazards (static and dynamic). SA was measured using a real-time probe measure delivered by a confederate passenger and performance was assessed in terms of lane maintenance and speed control. Results revealed elderly drivers had lower SA compared to young drivers under normal driving conditions. However, after encountering a hazard, elderly drivers showed improved SA under low environment complexity compared to young drivers, but not in high environment complexity. Results also indicated that overall driving performance was poor for elderly than young drivers and became worse after hazard exposure, whereas, increase in driving environment complexity led to performance degradation for both age groups. Regardless of the level of environment complexity, dynamic hazards influence in elderly driver speed control, whereas static hazards influence young driver speed control in the low complexity environment. Pearson Product correlation analyses revealed that drivers tend to more attentive and conservative under hazard conditions by reducing driving speed and carefully negotiating objects. The study findings are applicable to the development of more complete models of driver cognition and performance under complex conditions and may serve as a basis for guiding design of new in-vehicle information technologies to promote safe driving behavior for young and elderly groups.
Yu Zhang Sangeun Jin Megan Garner Prithima Mosaly David Kaber
Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems EngineeringNorth Carolina State UniversityRalei Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering North Carolina State University Ral
国际会议
17th World Congress on Ergonomics(第十七届国际人类工效学大会)
北京
英文
1-9
2009-08-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）