This paper presents the findings of a simulator study that examined the effects of distraction upon driving performance for drivers in three age groups. There were two in-vehicle distracter tasks: operating the vehicle entertainment system and conducting a simulated hands-free mobile phone conversation. The effect of visual clutter was examined by requiring participants to drive in simple and c...

This paper aims at investigating the heterogeneous characteristics among truck drivers in route choice preferences. A latent class model incorporating membership functions is employed to examine differences between segments of drivers. A stated choice experiment designed for identifying route choice behavior of truck drivers provides the data for model estimation. The effects of road pricing an...

In some previous simulator studies, we showed that drivers, engaged in a secondary in-vehicle task at different display separations, were able to buffer some aspects of the driving task (e.g., vehicle control), but not others (e.g., hazard response; Horrey & Wickens, 2002, Horrey, Alexander, & Wickens, 2003). We speculate that this pattern of results may be a result of effective time-sharing be...

The over representation of novice drivers in crashes is alarming. Research indicates that one in five drivers’ crashes within their first year of driving. Driver training is one of the interventions aimed at decreasing the number of crashes that involve young drivers. Currently, there is a need to develop comprehensive driver evaluation system that benefits from the advances in Driver Assistanc...

In this paper we attempt to understand how policy interventions could improve the fuel economy of drivers without changing the vehicles they drive or the trips they take. To do this, we use high-resolution driving data to document the large variation in actual on-road fuel economy achieved by drivers of identical vehicles. We analyze this variation using a model that links driver behavior to ve...

Studies have documented operator drowsiness, sleepiness, or fatigue as causal or contributing factors in aviation, maritime, and trucking accidents. However, estimates of the prevalence of drowsy drivers on the road and of the proportion of motor vehicle crashes that involve drowsy drivers vary widely. This study presents new estimates of the prevalence of drowsy drivers on U.S. roads and of th...

Drivers’ operating a car today are increasingly challenged and/or distracted by the multiplicity of information in and around the vehicle. As a possible solution, we introduce the approach of intuitive driver-vehicle operation based on natural (hand) gestures. The goal of this promising type of interface is, to allow drivers to interact with the vehicle in “pleasure”, hence in the background an...