Study of road mist signaling perception and speed reduction by drivers in a driving simulator environment

• Grant number: 18/14843-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Transportation Engineering
• Principal researcher: Ana Paula Camargo Larocca
• Grantee: Gustavo Paixão Menezes
• Home Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

MENEZES, G. P. Study of road mist signaling perception and speed reduction by drivers using driving simulator environment. 2018. 19 pg. Proposta (Iniciação Científica) - Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018. The present research proposal consists in the study of driver's road mist signaling perception according to their speed reduction by using driving simulator environment. These simulators are currently used to support researches on behavior changes when driving under conditions of interest, and have been showing better practicality, thrifty and safety for carrying out tests in comparison to quotidian conditions or real situations that might put at risk both driver and passengers' lives. Recreating virtual scenarios of critical situations, as unexpected weather changes, provides thereby a greater understanding of behavior adjustments adopted by drivers when facing specific conditions, which would be difficult to assay in field tests. For this project the path utilized consists of a 5 kilometer stretch from a Brazilian roadway called Regis Bittencourt. Volunteer drivers will travel through this path under similar conditions, within a clear weather simulation and another one within a misty road. Analyses of variations will show 1.) which vertical signs are noticed, 2.) for how long a message takes driver's attention, 3.) how far the signs are seen and 4.) what is the response time for receiving and processing information. Then it will be possible to relate the speed developed by drivers according to their vertical sign perception, establishing therefore an efficiency correspondence between three different signaling scenarios proposed for the same roadway path in study.