ROAD ENVIRONMENT AS A FACTOR OF OF ROAD ROAD SAFETY SAFETY do we understand the concept? & Uroš Brumec, BSc in Transport Technol., Egon Herman, BSc in Transport Technol., Nina Verzolak Hrabar, BSc in Transport Technol. DDC Consulting & Engineering Ltd., Kotnikova 40, P.O.B. 258, SI 1000 Ljubljana Marko Polič, PhD. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts Department of Psychology Aškerčeva 2, SI 1000 Ljubljana
More than 90% of given traffic situations are perceived by the human eyes.
Basic understanding of human-factor
Basic of visability - perception
Basic of visability - perception
Basic of visability - perception Every second our eyes stop on four to five pictures/framec and sends message to our brains. So in one hour of driving we see around 18.000 pictures, within those some of them demands instant action.
Perception / Decision / Action
Reaction time and braking distance Braking distance
Different preparation + reaction distances for different speeds Speed 100 km/h 80 km/h 60 km/h 2-3 seconds Orientation 2-3 seconds Approaching Breaking until stop 56 84 m 44 66 m 34 51 m 56 84 m 44 66 m 34 51 m 115 m 65 m 35 m Total distance for orientation 227-283 m ~ 300 m 153 197 m~ 200 m 103 137 m ~ 140 m
Deleyed reaction time because of distraction / diversion of drivers attention Difference between life and death
Protected area alongside the roads to protect drivers and their well-being Following German regulations there is no advertising at all along interurban roads, motorways, express roads etc. outside cities and villages. In Austria billboards have to have distance of 100 m from motorways and 50 from their national roads, in both countries for safety reasons. In Slovenia Public Road Act, specifies that advertising outside cities is prohibited in protected area alongside the road. This area is depending on road classification, between 15 and 40 meters (secondary roads 15m, main roads 25m, fast roads 35m and motorways 40m). In Regulations of the Road Design is defined that there must not be any advertising in the area intended for traffic signs and not (min. 100 m) before and (50 m) after canalized junction. Traffic Safety Act is written among other: on or beside the road it is forbidden to set up anything that could obstruct the traffic flow, jeopardize its safety, harm humans or pollute the environment or in any way divert attention of participants in traffic - unfortunately thi act is more or less only on paper.
Drivers distraction / diversion & delayed reaction time as well degredation of environment and light pollution
Main couses for drivers distraction / diversion and delayed reaction time No comment needed (for mail drivers)
Main couses for drivers distraction / diversion and delayed reaction time Pedestrian crossings and basic information for drivers (is it?), or should drivers be focused on pedestrians
Main couses for drivers distraction / diversion and delayed reaction time Very dificult to be focused on traffic and rear lights.
Main couses for drivers distraction / diversion and delayed reaction time Travelling billbords. Imagine seeing this when driving e.g. right after a curve (car-school) would t wont my children to be instructed by those instructors!
Main couses for drivers distraction / diversion and delayed reaction time Different commercial (message), can in so many ways have different impact on drivers (so it is very important to take in notice real time invironment when inspecting the incident or accident).
LED distractors and this is in day time
Negotiating left curves when distraction is on the right side result this is very important information for a driver
You have to pay to drive on hi-standard roads with lot of distractors beside the road
Safe drive-in in tunnels on motorways
Work to be done e.g. Real time drive thrue and simulations how billboards influence drivers perception and distract their attention away from the road http://www.viewpointsystem.com/start.aspx
Possible solutions
Fact If road engineers would know half what advertisers know about human factor and perception, than roads would be much safer place and we could talk about self explenatory road design with axiom: never suprise the driver in mind.
Thank you for your attention