Characterization of Driver Perception Reaction Time at the Onset of a Yellow Indication
The research presented in this paper characterizes driver perception-reaction times (PRTs) in a controlled field environment at the onset of a yellow-indication transition in high-speed signalized intersection approaches. The study characterized the impac
- PDF / 301,050 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 68 Downloads / 140 Views
Abstract The research presented in this paper characterizes driver perception-reaction times (PRTs) in a controlled field environment at the onset of a yellow-indication transition in high-speed signalized intersection approaches. The study characterized the impact of driver gender, driver age, roadway grade, mean approach speed, platooning scenarios (leading, following, or alone), and time-to-intersection (TTI) on the driver PRT. This characterization is critical for the efficient and safe design of traffic signal clearance timings. The study demonstrates that the driver PRT is higher for female and older drivers (60 + age group) as compared to male and younger drivers. The PRT is larger when vehicles travel along an upgrade section. Driver PRTs are typically higher if they are following a vehicle that runs a yellow light. Furthermore, driver PRTs decrease when they are followed by another vehicle. Finally, driver PRTs increase as the TTI at the onset of the yellow interval increases. Keywords Perception reaction time signals
Driver behavior Traffic safety Traffic
I. El-Shawarby H. Rakha (&) A. Amer Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Blacksburg, USA e-mail: [email protected] I. El-Shawarby Faculty of Engineering, Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt H. Rakha Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA C. McGhee Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research, Charlottesville, USA © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 N.A. Stanton et al. (eds.), Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 484, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41682-3_32
371
372
I. El-Shawarby et al.
1 Introduction The driver perception-reaction time (PRT) is of significant importance in highway design. For example, it is used to estimate the stopping sight distance in the computation of horizontal and vertical profiles in highway design [1] and also used in the calculation of the yellow interval duration in traffic signal design [2]. At the onset of a yellow-indication transition on high-speed signalized intersections, a driver decides to either stop safely or to proceed through the intersection before the end of the yellow interval. Accordingly, the proper design of traffic signals requires the computation of a yellow interval that entails an estimate of the driver’s PRT. The state-of-practice in different dilemma zone alleviation strategies typically recommends a 1.0 s PRT, which is assumed to equal or exceed the 85th percentile brake PRT [3]. However, a number of studies have demonstrated that brake PRTs are much longer than 1.0 s and that the 85th percentile PRT is more in the range of 1.5–1.9 s [4]. These studies have also demonstrated that the PRT on high-speed intersection approaches (greater than 64 km/h or 40 mile/h) are lower, with 85th percentile PRTs in the range of 1.1–1.3 s. A review of the fundamental concepts associated with reaction times will give a better understanding of the factors related to PRT. A comprehensive survey by
Data Loading...
