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Citation |
Jacob A, Akkara J, K.j. J, Therattil JP. Transp. Res. Proc. 2022; 62: 358-365. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publications) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
Life is a complex phenomenon, so is the task of driving. Mostly human performance is controlled by sympathetic and parasympathetic systems functioning in human body. It is quite dynamic in response to numerous stimuli the driver acquires from the human-vehicle-environmental ensemble. Geometry is one of the fundamental stimulus for a driver, driving on a non-urban highway, especially when there is minimal interference from other vehicles. Consequently, it is quite natural that drivers adopt higher speeds. His/her mental workload will be based on the input he/she gets from the above system and the rate of reception of input will be more with speed. Any inability to cope with the workload may lead to occurrence of crashes. Hence, it is very important to take into account the influence of geometry on driver workload while designing highways. One way to assess the workload is to capture the physiological responses of a driver like heart rate, galvanic skin resistance and rate of eye blinking, during driving. The study included driving experiments done on 114 horizontal curves of gradient less than 2 percentage, each curve being driven over by 30 car and bus drivers. The effect of geometry on workload of car and bus drivers were further analysed. It was found that driver physical characteristics like, age, driving experience, depth perception, vision acuity and reaction time were not found to significantly influence the workload. But workloads of car and bus drivers are significantly different. Sight distance and width of shoulder affect the workload of car drivers. Sight distance was the significant variable affecting bus driver workload. Workload of a driver is found to increase with increase in visibility as increased visual sensations actuates more physiological responses on a human body. Language: en |
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Keywords |
Driver workload; galvanic skin resistance; heart rate; highway geometry; horizontal curves; rate of eye blink |