Visibility of children behind 2010-2013 model year passenger vehicles using glances, mirrors, and backup cameras and parking sensors.
This study identified the areas behind vehicles where younger and older children are not visible and measured the extent to which vehicle technologies improve visibility. Rear visibility of targets simulating the heights of a 12-15-month-old, a 30-36-month-old, and a 60-72-month-old child was assessed in 21 2010-2013 model year passenger vehicles with a backup camera or a backup camera plus parking sensor system. The average blind zone for a 12-15-month-old was twice as large as it was for a 60-72-month-old. Large SUVs had the worst rear visibility and small cars had the best. Increases in rear visibility provided by backup cameras were larger than the non-visible areas detected by parking sensors, but parking sensors detected objects in areas near the rear of the vehicle that were not visible in the camera or other fields of view. Overall, backup cameras and backup cameras plus parking sensors reduced the blind zone by around 90 percent on average and have the potential to prevent backover crashes if drivers use the technology appropriately.
Design and Evaluation of a Prototype Rear Obstacle Detection and Driver Warning System
This study, concerned with the development of driver interface criteria for a rear obstacle detection system, assessed the appropriateness of alternative warning timing algorithms and evaluated various interface approaches for presenting warning information to drivers. Interface testing used a minivan and a passenger sedan equipped with a prototype rear obstacle detection system. Two different warning timing algorithms and four different interface conditions were examined. The appropriateness of the warning timing algorithms was tested using an alerted backing procedure wherein drivers backed to known obstacles and braked in response to the warning. A surprise event scenario was also included in order to examine driver reaction to the warning under unexpected conditions. Alerted backing results suggest that although both timing algorithms led to few target strikes, one algorithm led to more acceptable ratings, fewer target strikes and close calls, and less urgent braking. None of the interface warning conditions reliably induced avoidance braking under the surprise event condition. Actual or potential applications of this work include the appropriate design of effective backing warning systems.
Impacts of the 2011 tsunami on the subtidal polychaete assemblage and the following recolonization in Onagawa Bay, northeastern Japan.
The ecological impacts of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the following recolonization of the subtidal benthic polychaete community were examined by monthly pre- and post-quake field surveys that were conducted in Onagawa Bay from 2007 to 2013. Before the tsunami, the species composition in this benthic community was constant and was dominated by cirratulid and magelonid polychaetes. The density and biomass of benthic polychaetes drastically decreased after the tsunami, and the polychaete community fluctuated during the 2 years after the natural disaster. Spionid and capitellid polychaetes were dominant at this period. In June 2013, the community entered a new constant stage dominated by maldanids, which is different from the pre-quake community. Ecological impacts due to chemical pollution were suggested in addition to the tsunami disturbance. These overlapping effects and physical, chemical and biological factors affected the recovery and recolonization of the polychaete community after the natural disaster.