Objectives: The aim of the study was to verify whether simultaneous responses from the muscular and circulatory system occur in the driver's body under simulated conditions of a crash threat. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in a passenger car driving simulator. The crash was included in the driving test scenario developed in an urban setting. In the group of 22 young male subjects, two physiological signals -ECG and EMG were continuously recorded. The length of the RR interval in the ECG signal was assessed. A HRV analysis was performed in the time and frequency domains for 1-minute record segments at rest (seated position), during undisturbed driving as well as during and several minutes after the crash. For the left and right side muscles: m. trapezius (TR) and m. flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), the EMG signal amplitude was determined. The percentage of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was compared during driving and during the crash. Results: As for the ECG signal, it was found that in most of the drivers changes occurred in the parame tervaluesreflectingHRVinthetimedomain.SignificantchangeswerenotedinthemeanlengthofRRintervals (mRR). As for the EMG signal, the changes in the amplitude concerned the signal recorded from the FDS muscle. The changes in ECG and EMG were simultaneous in half of the cases. Conclusion: Such parameters as mRR (ECG signal) and FDS-L amplitude (EMG signal) were the responses to accident risk. Under simulated conditions, responses from the circulatory and musculoskeletal systems are not always simultaneous. The results indicate that a more complete driver's responsetoacrashinroadtrafficisobtainedbasedonparallelrecordingoftwophysiologicalsignals(ECGandEMG).
The study is dedicated to the problem of uncertainty in the analysis of accident situations in road traffic. The term “uncertainty” is generally known when used with reference to measurement techniques, but its application to the analyses of accident situations in road traffic, including accident reconstruction, is a relatively new field of knowledge. The objectives of this work include the presentation and examination of selected aspects related to the taking of uncertainty into account when analysing the course of an accident and making the necessary calculations. Apart from the scientific objectives, an important utilitarian goal may also be pointed out. The data and methods presented may be used by automotive technology experts in their accident reconstruction work. The paper shows seven methods that enable the taking into account of the uncertainty of the data used for calculations, i.e. extreme values method, total differential method, higher-order total differential method, finite-difference method, Gauss method, method based on the description of stochastic processes, and Monte-Carlo method. Apart from formal (mathematical) descriptions of the methods, an example of their use for the estimation of uncertainty of selected quantities that describe an accident situation has been demonstrated. The bad and good points of individual methods have been shown in the context of the application considered.
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