Search Results

We examined relative effectiveness of heads-up visual displays for lane departure warning (LDW) 39 younger to middle aged drivers (25-50, mean = 35 years) and 37 older drivers (66-87, mean = 77 years). The LDW included yellow “advisory” visuals in the center screen when the driver started drifting toward the adjacent lane. The visuals turned into red “imminent” when the tires overlapped with the lane markers. The LDW was turned off if the driver activated the turn signal. The visuals could be easily segregated from the background scene, making them salient but not disruptive to the driver’s forward field of view. The visuals were placed adjacent to the left and right lane markers in the lower half of the center screen.

We examined the effectiveness of a heads-up Forward Collision Warning (FCW) system in 39 younger to middle aged drivers (25-50, mean = 35 years) and 37 older drivers (66-87, mean = 77 years). The warnings were implemented in a fixed based, immersive, 180 degree forward field of view simulator. The FCW included a visual advisory component consisting of a red horizontal bar which flashed in the center screen of the simulator that was triggered at time-to-collision (TTC) 4 seconds. The bar roughly overlapped the rear bumper of the lead vehicle, just below the driver’s line-of-sight. A sustained auditory tone (∼80 dB) was activated at TTC=2 to alert the driver to an imminent collision. Hence, the warning system differed from the industry standard in significant ways. 95% Confidence intervals for the safety gains ranged from -.03 to .19 seconds in terms of average correction time across several activations. Older and younger adults did not differ in terms of safety gains.