Mental models of driving and speed: biases,choices and reality

This paper provides a review of research performed by Svenson with colleagues and others work on mental models and their practical implications. Mental models describe how people perceive and think about the world including covariances and relationships between different variables, such as driving speed and time. Research on mental models has detected the time-saving bias [Svenson, O. (1970). A functional measurement approach to intuitive estimation as exemplified by estimated time savings. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 86, 204–210]. It means that drivers relatively overestimate the time that can be saved by increasing speed from an already high speed, for example, 90–130?km/h, and underestimate the time that can be saved by increasing speed from a low speed, for example, 30–45?km/h. In congruence with this finding, mean speed judgments and perceptions of mean speeds are also biased and higher speeds given too much weight and low speeds too little weight in comparison with objective reality. Replacing or adding a new speedometer in the car showing min per km eliminated or weakened the time-saving bias. Information about braking distances at different speeds did not improve overoptimistic judgments of braking capacity, but information about collision speed with an object suddenly appearing on the road did improve judgments of braking capacity. This is relevant to drivers, politicians and traffic regulators.     

Driver fatigue: a vision-based approach to automatic diagnosis

In this paper, we describe a system that locates and tracks the eyes of a driver. The purpose of such a system is to perform detection of driver fatigue. By mounting a small camera inside the car, we can monitor the face of the driver and look for eye movements which indicate that the driver is no longer in condition to drive. In such a case, a warning signal should be issued. This paper describes how to find and track the eyes. We also describe a method that can determine if the eyes are open or closed. The primary criterion for this system is that it must be highly non-intrusive. The system must also operate regardless of the texture and the color of the face. It must also be able to handle changing conditions such as changes in light, shadows, reflections, etc. Initial experimental results are very promising even when the driver moves his/her head in a way such that the camera does not have a frontal view of the driver’s face.     

Off-road vehicle fatalities: A comparison of all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile accidents in Sweden

This study investigates accident fatalities involving two types of off-road vehicles: snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). All snowmobile fatalities in Sweden from the 2006/2007 season through the 2011/2012 season, and all ATV fatalities from 2007 through 2012, were retrospectively examined. A total of 107 fatalities—57 snowmobile-related and 50 ATV-related—were found. Most deaths occurred on weekends (71% of the snowmobile-related and 72% of the ATV-related). A majority of the fatalities were males (91% and 94%), with the largest share in the age group 40–49 years (19% and 24%). The most common causes of death were blunt trauma (56% and 66%), drowning (30% vs 6%), and traumatic asphyxia (9% vs 14%). Among victims who were tested (95% vs 92%), a very high share was found to be inebriated (59% vs 61%), and mean blood alcohol concentration was also high (1.9 vs 1.7 g/l). Forty-seven percent of snowmobile-related fatalities and 48% of ATV-related fatalities had a blood alcohol concentration above 1.0 g/l. This means that there was a very strong association between off-road vehicle fatalities and drunken riding; steps to prevent riding while intoxicated seem to be the most important preventive measure. Automatic measures such as alcolocks are probably the most effective. The obvious at-risk group to target is middle-aged men with high alcohol consumption.     

Web-Based Interactive VR-CAD System for Conceptual Design and Analysis

Introduction Exploring a large number of design variants in aconceptual design phase assists in identifying the mostcost-effective design. However, how to capture userintents is challenging[1]. Although the necessity andadvantages of integrating customers into the innova-tion process are widely recognized[2], customers havea passive role in this design involvement process. Thefirst reason is the complexity of modeling tools. Most3D product mockups are created using commercialCAD packages or …