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Abstract
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As roadways become more congested, there is
greater potential for automobile accidents and incidents. To improve roadway
safety, automobile manufacturers are now designing and incorporating collision
avoidance warning systems; yet, there has been little investigation of how the
reliability of alarm signals might impact driver performance. We measured
driving and alarm reaction performances following alarms of various reliability
levels. In Experiment One, 70 participants operated a driving simulator while
being presented console emitted collision alarms that were 50%, 75%, or 100%
reliable. In Experiment Two, the same participants were presented spatially
generated collision alarms of the same reliability levels. The results were
similar in both experiments: alarm and automobile swerving reactions were
significantly better when alarms were more reliable; however, drivers still
failed to avoid collisions following reliable alarms. These results emphasize
that alarm designers should maximize alarm reliability while minimizing alarm
invasiveness. |