CIVL 340

Transportation Engineering I

Dr. Tarek Sayed, P.Eng.

tsayed@civil.ubc.ca
The Driver
T he T he T he
 Accident Statistics Road Driver Vehicle

 Forgiving Highways
• A highway that
2 62 2

forgives a driver for 26 6

making an error 1

 Caring Highways 1
• A highway that will
Total percentage for each factor (overlaps)
watch and guard for
the driver from being 30 93 10
involved in dangerous
BC Study
situations
The Driver
 A simple model to describe driver behavior is
Action (t  t )  Stimulus (t )  sensitivity (t )
t  Perception Reaction time
 Perception Reaction time is one of the most
important variables in highway engineering
 It has two components: 1) perception (extracting
information from the environment); 2) reaction
Characteristics of Reaction time
 Varies among individuals
• Factors such as age, stress,
fatigue, alcohol
• We use 95% value in design
 Varies with decision (task)
complexity
• e.g. braking vs overtaking
 Information Content and
Expectancy
Information Content and
Reaction Time
REACTION TIME AND NUMBER
OF DECISIONS
Expectancy
POSITIVE GUIDANCE AND
DRIVING TASK
 If you can not build what drivers’ expect
• Then you must
• TELL them what to EXPECT.
The Driving Task
 The driving task depends on receiving and
using information
 90% of the information input to a driver is
visual
 Driving encompasses a number of discrete and
inter-related activities. When grouped by
performance they fall in three levels: Control;
Guidance and Navigation
The Driving Task
The Driving Task
 Control: the immediate vehicle road interaction
(steering, accelerating, gear shift, etc.)
 Guidance: Staying safely on the road (road following,
car following, passing)
 Navigation: getting through the network to a
destination (Trip planning, route following)
 Primacy: the importance of each task as it relates to
safety
POSSIBLE DRIVING TASK
PROBLEMS
 Inadequate / Insufficient Input
 Too Much Input (overload)
 Driver’s Physical / Emotional Condition
 Limited Driver Abilities: Input & Output
Processing Rate
 Driver Distraction
FACTORS IN COLLISIONS
MAKING THE DRIVING TASK
EASIER
Visual Acuity
 90% of the information input to a driver is
visual
 Visual Acuity refers to the sharpness with
which a person can see an object
 Normal vision is taken to mean that in well-lit
environment a person can recognize a letter 3
inch in height at a distance of 20 ft
 What does it mean to have a 20/40 vision?
Factors Affecting Visual Acuity
 Contrast and brightness of the object; relative motion;
level of illumination and visual angle
 Visual Angle (visual acuity decreases with increasing
visual angles)
• Acute vision cone (very clear)
• Clear vision cone (shapes)
• Peripheral vision cone (speed)
Day vs. Nighttime Visibility
Field Testing of an Improved
Signal Head Design (1996)
Signal Visibility
Example
 If a driver with 20/20 vision can read a sign from a distance of
90 ft if the letter size is 2 inch. How close would a person with
20/50 vision have to be to read the same sign? For the given
definition of normal vision, calculate the height of the lettering
that a driver with 20/60 vision can read from a distance of a) 90
ft and b) 36 ft.

• The distance x from the location of the sign can be

calculated by simple proportions: x = 90 (20/50) = 36 ft
• Similarly, the required letter heights can be calculated as:
• a) h = 2 (60/20) = 6 inch
• b) h = 2 (36/90) 3 = 2.4 inch