Nurkkala

The Differences of Driving Skills of Experienced and Inexperienced Drivers in Unexpected Driving Situations

V.-M. Nurkkala, K. Koskela, J. Kalermo, and T. Järvilehto

Sixth International Conference on Driver Behaviour and Training

Helsinki 19.-20.8.2013

CSE Driving Simulation Center

• CEMIS Driving Simulation Center works in co-operation with Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, University of Oulu and CEMIS – Center for Measurement and Information Systems in Finland.

• Research has focused on exploring how driving skills develop, particularly from the point of view of learning and anticipation.

CSE Driving Simulation Center

CSE Center has multi-disciplinary expertise in driving simulation, virtual environments, usability, behavioral research as well as information systems and engineering. The staff has expertise in experimental

psychology, physiological measurements and eye tracking.

Driver behaviour and driving simulators

• CreaVehicle project at the University of Oulu and Kajaani University of Applied Sciences in 2010-2011

• Project goal was to develop a driving simulation environment for research and training purposes

• A goal was also to develop research methodology and start driver’s behaviour research

• Project was funded by European Union Regional Fund, Joint Authority of Kainuu and Sunit Oy

CSE II Driving Simulator

2012-2013

The modified Volkswagen Polo driving simulator

- Simulator software: SCANeR Studio, Oktal

- Motion platform: 6DOF, MeVEA

CSE I Driving Simulator 2010-2011

A low-cost driving simulator for research, education, testing and

development. Also a learning environment for students and

teachers.

Virtual Kajaani Virtual model of our hometown

– Objects created in 3DS Max and Google SketchUp

– Terrain created based on Kajaani shapefiles

– Both imported to SCANeR Studio

– Road surface, road logic etc. created in SCANeR

In collaboration with Ataverti

Studies in CSE Driving Simulation Center

Studies in CSE Driving Simulation Center

• Simulator sickness research – A new method to study the temporal appearance of simulator sickness

(Temporal Measurement of Simulator Sickness, TMMS).

– TMSS helps to develop the simulator environment further and decrease simulator sickness rate.

• We were keen to know could anticipation and very short response times be seen e.g. in unexpected driving situations. – Encountering an unexpected situation often leaves very little time for the driver to

act in order to avoid an accident

– Anticipatory driving is considered essential in successful and quick acting in sudden occurrences

– In background are our previous studies of fast skilled actions related to reading and ball games

Research on driving behaviour

• The research goal was to explore – What is the relation between learning and driving behaviour in terms

of development of anticipation?

– How do experienced driver’s perform in unexpected driving situations in comparison to novice drivers?

• The experiment consisted of two parts – In the first one, the subjects (Ss; N=22) had to learn the shortest route

through a virtual city.

– In the second one, four unexpected situations were added in the learned route, and the Ss drove twice the same route.

Related work

• Brake reaction times has been a topic for numerous studies (e.g., Olson & Sivak, 1986; Green, 2000; Summala, 2000)

• Alertness affects reaction time – Green (2000) divides driver alertness into three classes:

expected, unexpected and surprise

• Green (2000) provides several estimates for reaction times: – Expected: 0.7 s. – Unexpected: about 1.25 s. – Surprise: 1.5 s.

Related work

• Also criticality/urgency of situation affects reaction time

• Summala (2000) proposes some faster brake reaction times, referring to criticality of the situation – Unexpected that are critical: below 1.0 s. – Surprise that are critical: 1.0-1.3 s.

Polar S810i

NeurOne EEG/ERP device

EyeLink II eye tracking system

• Motion platform (3DOF) and cushion shaker • Frex steering wheel, pedals and gear shifter • Volvo seat, middle console and hand break • Blinkers • Gauge screen • High quality 5.1 speakers • Powerful computer with three nVidia graphic cards • Curved screen (view angle 220°) • Telemetry recording system

Research methods

Research methods

• Subjects Ss; N=22 – 16 Finnish policemen, age 23-56

• “Experienced” 23-39 years

• “Very experienced” 40-56 years

– 6 “novice” drivers, age 21-34 • Driver’s licence < 4 years & driving < 4000 km/year

• Driving behaviour was examined by measuring EMG (tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, trapezius and deltoideus), heart rate variability, eye movements, the amount of driving errors and changes of driving controls

• The present analysis includes data from 8 policemen and 4 novice drivers, from four unexpected situations

Unexpected situations

Situation1

Surprise, critical

Situation 2

Unexpected, critical

Situation 3

Unexpected, less critical

Situation 4


Results – outline

• In the analysis we’ll concentrate on the following issues:

– What kind of action strategies did the subjects have in unexpected driving situations?

– Was there a difference between response times of experienced drivers and novice drivers in different situations?

– Where in the measured parameters were the biggest differences between the experienced and novice drivers?

Situation1 (surprise)

Results – action strategies to avoid the crash

Situation1

Surprise, critical

Braking only Loosening the throttle

and steering

Loosening the throttle

and braking

Loosening the throttle,

braking and steering

Novice

Experienced

Very experienced

Situation1

Surprise, critical

Situation

Res

po

nse

tim

e (

ms

)

Novice

Experienced

Very experienced

Response times Time interval between object can be seen to first response

(loosening the throttle or steering)

Situation 2

Unexpected, critical

Situation 3


Situation 4


Throttle-brake interval Time interval between to start loosening the throttle to start braking

Thro

ttle

-bra

ke in

terv

al (

ms)

Novice

Experienced

Very experienced

Situation

Conclusions

• The results show that the response times of the experienced drivers are very shorter in unexpected driving situations than those of novice drivers.

• In the first situation (bridge), very short throttle-brake interval was measured from very experienced drivers.

• Even if there were no remarkable differences in response times, very experienced drivers started braking earlier (throttle-brake interval).

Contact:

[email protected]

+358 443830247

www.cse.fi

Thank you!

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Nurkkala