The effects of adverse condition warning system characteristics on driver performance: an investigation of alarm signal type and threshold level Authors Gupta, N., Bisantz, A. M., and Singh T. Source Behaviour and Information Technology, 21(4), 235-248, 2002. Abstract
This study addresses the issues concerning the design of adverse condition
warning systems (ACWS). ACWS are designed to sense adverse road and weather conditions
as well as system states that can negatively impact driving performance leading to
skids or accidents, and alert drivers to these conditions. In this case, an ACWS was
designed to sense when a car was likely to skid. A virtual-driving environment was used
to test two levels of alarm sensitivity (low and high) and two types of auditory alarm
signals (Binary ON/OFF and Graded) along with a no-alarm control group. Dependent measures
reflected driver performance, response to the alarm signal and trust in the alerting
system. Results indicated that participants had fewer skids in the low sensitivity and
graded alarm signal condition compared to some other alerting system configurations.
Participants in the graded alarm signal condition also has a greater degree of lateral
control over the vehicle. Additionally, trust was found to be lower for the high
vs. low sensitivity alarm condition, indicating a reduction in
trust when the alerting system activated more oftern, perhaps because participants
did not feel the system was accurately reflecting a dangerous condition. This simulation-based research emphasizes the fact that while ACWS may provide an advantage in terms of
vehicle control, characteristics of both the alerting signal and system configuration
should be considered.
@article{Singh02_BIT, Author = {N. Gupta, A. M. Bisantz, T. Singh}, Journal = {Behaviour and Information Technology}, Month = {July}, Pages = {235-248}, Title = {The effects of adverse condition warning system characteristics on driver performance: an investigation of alarm signal type and threshold level}, Volume = {21}, Number = {4}, Year = {2002} } |