Lighting

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board held its annual convention in Washington DC few days ago. www.DrivingVisionNews.com brings you coverage of the Visibility Committee meeting.

Major American research teams presented their present research.
The Texas Transportation Institute showcased their ongoing project “Increased Understanding of Driver Visibility Requirements”. This research, being carried out in conjunction with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, aims to develop a framework to determine the characteristics of visibility information needed by drivers to navigate curves at night, by advancing our understanding of how drivers acquire and react to visibility information they process while driving. The project is also examining visibility requirements for robotic driving. So far, the project has completed a substantial eye tracker experiment, with a course including curves with two radii and three deflection angles, three levels of illumination, two levels of road marking, and post-mounted reflective delineators on selected curves.
Other ongoing research projects include “Development and Calibration of an Active Driver Vision Model”. This project undertakes to establish a framework of visual processes used by drivers under various road, traffic, and weather conditions, with aspects of the visual scene not normally considered, such as lighting on buildings and billboards adjacent to the roadway.

Doctor D. Alfred Owens, of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is studying the differences between eye scan behaviour of novice and experienced drivers. New drivers of every age are known to be involved in crashes at a much higher rate than experienced drivers, and Owens’ initial results suggest this is largely because novice drivers have not yet learned how to scan their field of view efficiently to detect, perceive, evaluate, and process developing threats. Eventually, a method will be devised to distinguish perceptual skill differences between novice and advanced drivers.