Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2009. / Thesis supervisor: John D. Lee. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 74 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-71).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 81 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-65).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 47 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-46).

The dangers of using a cell phone while driving are well documented, but recently studies have aimed at determining the effect cell phones have on a pedestrians’ walking behaviors. This observational experiment captured video footage of distracted pedestrians, or pedestrians using cell phones, when using two different crosswalks (midblock and intersection) on the campus of Mississippi State University in order to study safety behaviors, such as speed, number of looks, and wait time. Two types of crosswalks were filmed until a sufficient number of pedestrians (N=982) were recorded. All variables (cell phone use, gender, type of crosswalk, presence of car, time of day, and density) significantly influenced speed and number of looks. Gender, type of crosswalk and presence of car all showed significant effects on wait time of pedestrians. Pedestrians observed using earphones were observed to look more and to walk slower than any other level of cell phone use.

Bus transit driving is an occupation that requires high concentration in driving and is demanding due to work overload, time pressure, and responsibility for lives. In 2006, there were 103 fatal crashes involving transit buses. As the number of distraction-related crashes increases, it is important to conduct a transit distraction study to reduce future crashes. This thesis focused on the analysis of the likelihood of the operator distraction behaviors and the analysis to find a predictive model to classify different distraction categories. An ordinal logistic regression was carried out to evaluate how age, gender, driving experience of the operators, and their driving frequencies accounts for the likelihood of 17 potential distracted driving behaviors. The results of this analysis showed that there were only 5 best models (p-value of model fit less than 0.005 and p-value of parallel line test more than 0.005) that could be constructed, including: listening to the radio/ CD/DVD/MP3 player (D1); picking Up and Holding 2-way Radio (D5); listening to the Dispatch Office broadcast (D6); adjusting switches/controls on dashboard (D15); and utilizing mentor ranger (D16). On the other hand, a discriminant analysis was performed to predict how different transit operator driving behaviors when exposed by 10 different distraction activities and 16 predictors were considered in this analysis. The final results showed that there are 4 predictors that seem to be able to classify distraction groups across all 4 models; those include segment length, average duration of idling time/stop delay at speed interval 0—4 km/hr, frequency of speed transitions that deviate by ± 0 to 4 km/hr from its speed, and frequency of speed transitions that deviate by ± 8 to 12 km/hr from its speed. / Master of Science

The ability to look outward from your vehicle and assess dangerous peer behavior is typically a trivial task for humans, but not always. Distracted driving is an issue that has been seen on our roadways ever since cars have been invented, but even more so after the wide spread use of cell phones. This thesis introduces a new system for monitoring the surrounding vehicles with outside facing cameras that detect in real time if the vehicle being followed is engaging in distracted behavior. This system uses techniques from image processing, signal processing, and machine learning. It’s ability to pick out drivers with dangerous behavior is shown to be accurate with a hit count of 87.5%, and with few false positives. It aims to help make either the human driver or the machine driver more aware and assist with better decision making.

No description available.

The goal of this experiment was to determine what if any effect two different types of warnings have the brake reaction time of distracted commercial motor vehicle operators. The warning conditions were: No Warning, Auditory Tire Skid Warning, and One Second Brake Pulse Warning. Each participant was distracted via a distracter task during the experiment. As the participants were distracted, an obstacle was launched out into their forward path. Each participant received his/her appropriate warning, according to what condition they were placed, when the obstacle entered their headway. It was determined that the Auditory Tire Skid Warning aided in decreasing the movement times, while the One Second Brake Pulse Warning aided in decreasing the number of collisions with the barrels and speed at contact with the barrels. / Master of Science

This research examined the relationship between experience and driving performance with secondary tasks. Data were collected from 42 teenage drivers and their parents using an instrumented vehicle for two one hour test track sessions spaced 12 months apart. For part of the sessions, participants followed a lead vehicle which allowed for range data to be collected. Teenage and experienced drivers' driving were compared for cell phone and odometer tasks. Variables such as Speed, Range to Forward Vehicle, and Driving-Related Eyeglance percentages were all analyzed utilizing ANOVA. Post-hoc analysis on continuous data was performed using a Tukey HSD test. Lane Deviations were examined using Chi-Square analyses. Experienced drivers drove faster overall than teenage drivers. Teenage drivers drove faster in the 12 month session than the first session. No significant effects were found for Speed Variance, Range Variance, or Lane Deviations. Experienced drivers had a higher percentage of driving-related glances than teenage drivers. For the odometer task, teenage drivers were found to follow further behind a lead vehicle than adults. Driving experience was believed to have an effect on driver eyeglance patterns due to increased development of attentional control resulting in better switching between the task and the driving environment. Experienced drivers likely drove faster due to increased confidence in their driving ability. This research supports current GDL cell phone restrictions. A drivers' education lesson plan framework was developed to address these differences. Future research should focus on further refining GDL legislation to address the cognitive differences between teenage and experienced drivers. / Master of Science