Identifying drivers' perception response time (PRT) is of utmost importance for the development of rear-end collision alarm systems. However, the effects of cognitive distraction on PRT under different levels of situational urgency are unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify and compare the effects of cognitive distraction for both high and low situational urgency. Participants (N = 45) were presented with a simulated car-follow scenario. The effects on both perception time and movement time were analyzed separately under headways of 1.5s and 2.5s using the Bayes factor approach, and a mixed-effects model was constructed to calculate the magnitude and significance of effects of cognitive distraction and situational urgency on PRT. The results revealed (1) the effect on perception time was smaller in the high situational urgency condition, and a high probability of distraction-related delay on perception time was found in both high (BF 10 = 15.588) and low (BF 10 = 23.203) situational urgency conditions; (2) the effect on movement time was larger in the high situational urgency condition, and the delay of movement time was more likely to occur in the high (BF 10 = 19.642) situational urgency condition than in the low (BF 10 = 0.493) situational urgency condition; (3) cognitive distraction increased driver's PRT by 1.556s, the average of drivers' PRT decreased by 0.241s for every 1s reduction in initial time headway. The results are beneficial for designing the lead time and the frequency of warning or intervention in rear-end collision alarm systems.
Distracted driving is a leading cause of traffic accidents. Certain executive functions significantly affect the willingness of distracted driving; however, little research has compared the effects of executive functions on distracted driving behaviors in different aged populations. This study explores and compares the behavioral and cognitive processes underlying distracted driving behaviors in young and mature drivers. A total of 138 participants aged 18-65 years old completed a self-report questionnaire for measuring executive function index and distracted driving behaviors. Independent sample t-tests were conducted for executive functions (motivational drive, organization, strategic planning, impulse control, and empathy) and driving variables to examine any differences between young and mature groups. Partial correlation coefficients and z-score of these comparisons were calculated to compare the differences between age groups. Furthermore, multiple hierarchical regression models were constructed to determine the relative contributions of age, gender, and executive functions on distracted driving behaviors. Results demonstrated the following: (1) Mature drivers performed better for impulse control, the executive function index as well as the measure of distracted driving behavior than young drivers; (2) the relationships between executive functions and distracted driving behaviors did not significantly differ between young and mature drivers; (3) for both young and mature drivers, motivational drive and impulse control were found to significantly improve the prediction of distracted driving behavior in regression models. The findings emphasize that similar behavioral and cognitive processes are involved in distracted driving behavior of young and mature drivers, and can promote a single strategy for driver education and accident prevention interventions for both age groups.
In the development of effective rear-end collision alarm systems, understanding the factors that influence the perception response times (PRT) of drivers is important for the design of a reasonable lead time for the warning (or intervention) of likely collisions. Previous studies have proposed different approaches for examining the impact of situational or individual factors on the PRT of drivers. However, unobserved heterogeneity has not been considered and neither has a duration-modeling approach been used, resulting in a lack of accurate estimation. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of the driving situation and individual differences on the PRT of drivers while also considering unobserved heterogeneity. A total of 101 participants were exposed to different levels of secondarily cognitive load and situational urgency in simulated d scenarios. Several accelerated failure time (AFT) duration models, both with and without heterogeneity, were developed to model the PRT of drivers, while factors related to driving situation and individual differences were incorporated. The results indicate that influential factors include age, working memory capacity (WMC), cognitive load, and initial time headway exerted significant effects on the PRT of drivers. The hazard rate changed by 14.4%, 22.6%, and 7.5% when age, cognitive load, and initial time headway changed by one unit, respectively. Furthermore, the hazard rate decreases by more than 20% for individuals with higher WMC compared with baseline individuals. These results suggest that the AFT model that considers unobserved heterogeneity can provide a more accurate estimation of the PRT compared to other duration models. These findings can be expected to provide a further understanding of drivers’ braking behaviors, which will contribute to the development of advanced driving assistant systems as well as safety assessments of in-vehicle information and communication technologies.
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