Pedal Misapplications: Their Frequency and Variety Revealed through Police Accident Reports

Schmidt, Richard A.; Young, Douglas E.; Ayres, Thomas J.; Wong, Joseph R.

doi:10.1177/107118139704100266

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…More than 90% of these traffic accidents are caused by human factors [2], and drivers' braking or brakingrelated behaviors are thought to be one of the primary causes [3]. For example, drivers with little experience can mistake the accelerator pedal for the brake pedal under certain circumstances, potentially resulting in vehicular accidents [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the Effects of Driving Experience on Prebraking Behaviors Based on Data Collected by Motion Capture Devices

Zhu

Nishimura

et al. 2020

IEEE Access

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The prebraking-related actions typically studied are the main maneuvers carried out to avoid collision. Especially for those braking actions taken when turning or parking, accidents often occur because of human errors such as the incorrect choice of pedal. However, regarding these daily braking-related driving behaviors, the effects of the driver characteristics, such as driving experience and gender, on the prebraking behaviors remain unknown. Therefore, defining prebraking behaviors as the movements of a driver's body before his or her foot touches the brake pedal, this paper identifies the details of drivers' driving behaviors while prebraking by analyzing the data collected from a wearable high-precision 23-joint motion capture device and further confirms the effects of driver experience, gender and stature on these behaviors. According to two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) that were performed on 100 sets of motion data collected from a set of driving experiments involving two different tasks, drivers perform similar prebraking body actions even under different braking scenarios. Moreover, the results of an interaction effects analysis confirmed the impact of drivers' experiences, gender and stature on their prebraking actions. The results of this study can serve as guidelines for future self-driving and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) development and provide useful insights for the identification and training of new drivers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the Effects of Driving Experience on Prebraking Behaviors Based on Data Collected by Motion Capture Devices

Zhu

Nishimura

et al. 2020

IEEE Access

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“…Pedal misapplications – where the right foot contacts the accelerator instead of the brake that was intended – have been linked to these accidents (Schmidt, 1989, 1993) which, in the 1980s, were thought to occur only at the start of a driving cycle (and/or with the car in Park). But, in 1997, we identified over 200 pedal errors as the cause of accidents reported in the North Carolina database; these crashes occurred during the driving cycle (Schmidt et al, 1997), and/or with the vehicle in a gear other than Park. Our present work provides a more thorough analysis of these North Carolina Police Accident Reports from 1979 to 1995.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cars Gone Wild: The Major Contributor to Unintended Acceleration in Automobiles is Pedal Error

Schmidt

Young

2010

Front. Psychology

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“Unintended-acceleration” automobile accidents typically begin when the driver first enters the car, starts the engine, and intends to press his/her right foot on the brake while shifting from Park to a drive gear (Drive or Reverse). The driver reports an unintended (uncommanded) full-throttle acceleration, coupled with a loss of braking, until the episode ends in a crash. Pedal misapplications – where the right foot contacts the accelerator instead of the brake that was intended – have been linked to these accidents (Schmidt, 1989, 1993) which, in the 1980s, were thought to occur only at the start of a driving cycle (and/or with the car in Park). But, in 1997, we identified over 200 pedal errors as the cause of accidents reported in the North Carolina database; these crashes occurred during the driving cycle (Schmidt et al., 1997), and/or with the vehicle in a gear other than Park. Our present work provides a more thorough analysis of these North Carolina Police Accident Reports from 1979 to 1995. The vast majority of pedal misapplications (over 92%) (a) occurred during the driving cycle, (b) were generally in “unhurried” conditions, and (c) were categorically separate from those events referred to as unintended-acceleration episodes at start-up. These ideas are explanatory for the recent (2009–2010) surge of unintended-acceleration reports, perhaps even suggesting that all of these crashes are caused by pedal errors, and that none of them are based on some vehicle defect(s).

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“…But, later, we also identified over 200 pedal errors as the cause of crashes reported in the North Carolina database; these incidents occurred during the driving cycle (Schmidt et al, 1997;Schmidt & Young, 2010), and/or with the vehicle in a gear other than Park. Our present work provides a more thorough analysis of these North Carolina Police Accident Reports, and includes an analysis of over 3,750 reports from 1979 to 1995.…”

Section: Human-factors Aspects Of Unintended Acceleration In Automobilesmentioning

confidence: 96%

"Unintended Acceleration": Human Factors Engineering Issues and Solutions

Mortimer

Casey²,

Dingus³

et al. 2011

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

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In the first few months of 2010 the news media reported numerous instances of “unintended acceleration”. Vehicles were recalled because a floor mat was thought to be snagging the accelerator pedal. However, some vehicles that had gone through the recall still experienced unintended accelerations, indicating that the problem also lay elsewhere. In the 1980s there were recalls of over 100,000 Audi vehicles with automatic transmissions in which drivers had reported unintended accelerations. Earlier cases had also been reported (Mortimer, 2011), so the issue is an old one. As a result of such runaway events, primarily in vehicles with automatic transmissions, automakers equipped them with shift-interlocks, so that the vehicle could not be moved into either a forward or reverse gear after starting the engine unless the driver’s foot was depressing the brake pedal. About 83% of unintended acceleration events were reduced by this device (Schmidt, 1993), confirming the role of driver pedal misapplication when starting out. Other studies found that drivers show pedal confusions also when the vehicle is under way. Those events are not reduced by the shift-interlock. Rogers & Wierwille (1988) found about 0.2% of foot movements resulted in a “serious” pedal misapplication error in a simulator. Tomerlin & Vernoy (1990) found that 1 of 169 of their drivers stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake and continued to do so in a driving test. Such results show that drivers “frequently” make pedal errors, especially when considering that there is about one brake application per mile (Mortimer et al, 1970) in the U.S. The panel members will discuss the human factors issues that cause pedal misapplication in various types of vehicles and their frequency, including crashes that result. The thrust of the discussions will be on how our present knowledge can be used to reduce these hazardous events and to discern what additional information is needed to solve the “unintended acceleration” problem.

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Pedal Misapplications: Their Frequency and Variety Revealed through Police Accident Reports

Cited by 13 publications

References 3 publications

Analyzing the Effects of Driving Experience on Prebraking Behaviors Based on Data Collected by Motion Capture Devices

Analyzing the Effects of Driving Experience on Prebraking Behaviors Based on Data Collected by Motion Capture Devices

Cars Gone Wild: The Major Contributor to Unintended Acceleration in Automobiles is Pedal Error

"Unintended Acceleration": Human Factors Engineering Issues and Solutions

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