Comparative Perception of Objects by Drivers from Stationary and Moving Vehicles in Regular Road Traffic
KLEDUS, R. SEMELA, M. BRADÁČ, A.
This article deals with the issues of determining the distance at which drivers can, in reduced visibility, first notice a pedestrian in the road. This is important for clarifying and assessing serious traffic accidents such as collisions between vehicles and pedestrians. Since experts can only measure the distance at which one can see a pedestrian from a stationary or slowly moving vehicle, it is important to study the difference in perception of objects by drivers from stationary and moving vehicles. However, this necessary research has, so far, not been conducted, the reason being that no suitable measurement method has been available which would enable one to measure the distance between an object on the road and the vehicle at the moment when the driver notices the object. This limitation has now been overcome by using, for determining the moment the object is seen, a measurement of the change in the drivers direction of vision. Used for this purpose is a special device developed by viewpointsystem (R), GmbH. The distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian is subsequently determined from the vehicles speed and the time taken to cover that distance. The study compares for different traffic situations the results of measurements of the distance of visibility of pedestrians from a stationary and a moving vehicle in reduced visibility. The results were obtained from extensive traffic tests conducted in close collaboration with the Institute of Forensic Engineering of the Brno University of Technology and the Austrian research institute EPIGUS - Institut für ganzheitliche Unfall- und Sicherheitforschung.
human factor, accident, determination
Tribun EU s.r.o.
19th EVU Congress Prague 2010 - Proceedings
author="Robert {Kledus} and Marek {Semela} and Albert {Bradáč}",
title="Comparative Perception of Objects by Drivers from Stationary and Moving Vehicles in Regular Road Traffic",
annote="This article deals with the issues of determining the distance at which drivers can, in reduced visibility, first notice a pedestrian in the road. This is important for clarifying and assessing serious traffic accidents such as collisions between vehicles and pedestrians. Since experts can only measure the distance at which one can see a pedestrian from a stationary or slowly moving vehicle, it is important to study the difference in perception of objects by drivers from stationary and moving vehicles. However, this necessary research has, so far, not been conducted, the reason being that no suitable measurement method has been available which would enable one to measure the distance between an object on the road and the vehicle at the moment when the driver notices the object. This limitation has now been overcome by using, for determining the moment the object is seen, a  measurement of the change in the drivers direction of vision. Used for this purpose is a special device developed by viewpointsystem (R), GmbH. The distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian is subsequently determined from the vehicles speed and the time taken to cover that distance.
The study compares for different traffic situations the results of measurements of the distance of visibility of pedestrians from a stationary and a moving vehicle in reduced visibility. The results were obtained from extensive traffic tests conducted in close collaboration with the Institute of Forensic Engineering of the Brno University of Technology and the Austrian research institute EPIGUS - Institut für ganzheitliche Unfall- und Sicherheitforschung.",
address="Tribun EU s.r.o.",
booktitle="19th EVU Congress Prague 2010 - Proceedings",
institution="Tribun EU s.r.o.",
publisher="Tribun EU s.r.o.",