Karel Brookhuis

Observations of overtaking manoeuvres on two-lane rural roads were carried out to enhance the understanding of driver behaviour prior to, during and after an overtaking manoeuvre. An instrumented vehicle was driven with different speeds while other vehicles' overtaking manoeuvres were recorded and analysed afterwards. The differences in duration of overtaking manoeuvres between different overtaking strategies and different speeds of the

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are available on the market whilst the development of existing systems and new systems continues. Improving safety is one of the key purposes of these systems. ADAS would therefore be welcome to support overtaking manoeuvres, since these cause many fatal accidents each year. Before an ADAS could be developed that can assist drivers with overtaking

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are generally considered as most promising for reducing road transport externalities (e.g. congestion, traffic accidents, and environmental stress). Until now, however, ADAS implementation progress is very slow. An important reason for this is missing knowledge about how different stakeholders will (re)act to ADAS implementation. Policymakers need to be informed about stakeholder preferences. This paper describes

... Twenty participants completed test rides in a normal and an Automated Highway System (AHS) vehicle ... failed to function properly and the driver actively had to take over speed control to avoid an uncomfortable short headway of 0.1 m. In all conditions driver behavior and heart ...

ABSTRACT Apart from the driving behavioural change that can be the direct consequence of operating a car phone, phone-use related behaviour may also be a threat to traffic safety. Making notes or looking up telephone numbers while driving are examples of such behaviour. In a driving simulator experiment, 20 drivers drove in two conditions under normal driving conditions and while being distracted because of telephone engagement. In the ''distracted'' condition they had to handle a mobile phone while their attention was drawn off the road for up to several seconds by a telephone number search task. Results showed both a deterioration in driver performance on different vehicle parameters including behavioural (speed) compensation as a result of the demanding telephone task. In an effort to develop an on-board detection system for this type of driver inattention, the data were used to serve as input for a real time diagnosis system based on Statistics, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Fuzzy Logic (FL). System performance in recognising normal and deteriorated driving behaviour was 89%. On-line detection of driver distraction is considered feasible in the near future.

Infrastructural changes were implemented on rural 80 km/h roads in The Netherlands in an effort to reduce speeding. The road infrastructure changes were designed to produce discomfort for the speeding driver by providing noxious auditory and haptic feedback. On experimental roads, smooth-surface road width was reduced by using blocks of gravel chippings placed along the centre line and at intervals on road edges. It was predicted that these changes would increase mental load while driving, and thereby decrease speeding. In a field experiment 28 subjects drove an instrumented vehicle over experimental and control roads. A decrease in driving speed and swerving behaviour was found on the experimental roads, and this was coupled with a decrease in heart rate variability, consistent with an increase in mental load. Roads in two different road-side environments (woodland vs. moorland) were also tested. There were differences in driver appraisal of the two environments, but no interactions were observed between these appraisals and driving performance on the experimental roads. It is concluded that the infrastructural measures have a useful role to play in road safety through a reduction in driver speeding.

Mood can influence our everyday behaviour and people often seek to reinforce, or to alter their mood, for example by turning on music. Music listening while driving is a popular activity. However, little is known about the impact of music listening while driving on physiological state and driving performance. In the present experiment, it was investigated whether individually selected music can induce mood and maintain moods during a simulated drive. In addition, effects of positive, negative, and no music on driving behaviour and physiological measures were assessed for normal and high cognitive demanding rides. Subjective mood ratings indicated that music successfully maintained mood while driving. Narrow lane width drives increased task demand as shown in effort ratings and increased swerving. Furthermore, respiration rate was lower during music listening compared to rides without music, while no effects of music were found on heart rate. Overall, the current study demonstrates that music listening in car influences the experienced mood while driving, which in turn can impact driving behaviour. PRACTITIONERS SUMMARY: Even though it is a popular activity, little is known about the impact of music while driving on physiological state and performance. We examined whether music can induce moods during high and low simulated drives. The current study demonstrates that in car music listening influences mood which in turn can impact driving behaviour. The current study shows that listening to music can positively impact mood while driving, which can be used to affect state and safe behaviour. Additionally, driving performance in high demand situations is not negatively affected by music.

... measure driving skills that are involved in only a very low percentage of accident causes, ie, accidents after motor-response or eye-hand co-ordination errors. Since in accident causation, attention and perception errors predominate over response errors, on-road studies should ...

Twenty subjects completed an on-the-road driving experiment, consisting of two different tests conducted on two separate days. A two-part test was administered while subjects were under the influence of alcohol (BAC < = 0.05%); a four-part test was administered without alcohol consisting of a 2.5 h driving test under vigilance conditions on a quiet highway. The order of the tests was balanced across subjects. Changes in relevant physiological parameters, such as ECG and EEG, reflected changes in driver status and predicted driving impairment. Impairment of driving performance was measured in a standard driving test (SD lateral position and SD steering wheel movements) and in a recently developed car-following test (reaction to speed changes of a leading car).