Christine Yager

Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) Associate Transportation Researcher Christine Yager gave a presentation, “The Effects of Reading and Writing Text-Based Messages While Driving,” at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The meeting was held in Boston, MA, October 22–26 and was attended by more than 1,450 participants from the United States and around the world.

According to Yager, the meeting provided an opportunity for colleagues to share information and research on various human factors topics such as distracted driving, which is a major issue among drivers of all ages. TTI Senior Research Scientist Melissa Walden also attended the meeting.

Yager presented the results of a project that assessed the distraction potential of reading and writing text-based messages while driving under varying roadway and texting response demands.

“I presented the results from our study that looked at the effect of text-based driving,” says Yager. “As part of the presentation I showed three videos that were shot in different experimental conditions: a control, a text-writing, and a text-reading condition.”

Yager says the biggest surprise of the research results was that the response times were even slower than expected compared to previous driving simulator research.

“With the driving simulator, response times were 1–2 seconds, whereas our test track test bed showed an increased response time of 3–4 seconds,” says Yager.

Other notable sessions, according to Yager, were a session about agent-based modeling and how safe-driving information is disseminated among social networks, and a driving simulator research session, which explored the possibility of linking two simulators together to create a virtual driving environment with multiple drivers.

“The area of the conference where Christine presented was specifically related to surface transportation and distracted driving provided a central theme in regards to traffic safety,” says Walden. “It was part of a bigger concern about how advancements in technology can help the driver, but must not adversely affect the driver’s vigilance related to primary driving tasks.”

Additional Resources

Christine Yager Presentation (PDF)

2012 Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society website

Texas Transportation Researcher article “It’s Confirmed: Driving’s a Full-Time Job — How Texting Impairs Driving Performance“

The study — the first published work in the U.S. to examine texting while driving in an actual driving environment — consisted of three major steps. First, participants typed a story of their choice (usually a simple fairy tale) and also read and answered questions related to another story, both on their smart phone in a laboratory setting. Each participant then navigated a test-track course involving both an open section and a section lined by construction barrels. Drivers first drove the course without texting, then repeated both lab tasks separately while driving through the course again. Throughout the test-track exercise, each participant’s reaction time to a periodic flashing light was recorded.

Reaction times with no texting activity were typically between one and two seconds. Reaction times while texting, however, were at least three to four seconds. Worse yet, drivers were more than 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light altogether when they were texting. The researchers say that the study findings extend to other driving distractions that involve reading or writing, such as checking e-mail or Facebook.

The study, sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center, was managed by Christine Yager, an associate transportation researcher in TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety. Forty-two drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 participated in the research.

In addition to the reaction-time element, researchers also measured each driver’s ability to maintain proper lane position and a constant speed. Major findings further documented the impairment of texting when compared to the controlled driving conditions. Drivers were less able to:

• safely maintain their position in the driving lane when they were texting and their swerving was worse in the open sections of the course than in barreled sections.
• maintain a constant speed while texting, tending to slow down in an effort to reduce the demand of the multiple tasks. By slowing down, a driver gains more time to correct for driving errors (such as the tendency to swerve while texting). Speed variance was also greater for texting drivers than for non-texting drivers.

The fact that the study was conducted in an actual driving environment is important, the researchers say. While simulators are useful, the dynamics of an actual vehicle are different, and some driver cues can’t be replicated in a simulator. By using a closed course, researchers can create an environment similar to real-world driving conditions while providing a high degree of safety for the participants.

“Most research on texting and driving has been limited to driving simulators. This study involved participants driving an actual vehicle, “Yager says. “So one of the more important things we know now that we didn’t know before is that response times are even slower than we previously thought.”

The total distance covered by each driver in the study was slightly less than 11 miles. In the interest of safety for both participants and the research staff, researchers minimized the complexity of the driving task, using a straight-line course that contained no hills, traffic or potential conflicts other than the construction zone barrels. Consequently, the driving demands that participants encountered were considerably lower than those they would encounter under real-world conditions.

“It is frightening,” the researchers wrote, “to think of how much more poorly our participants may have performed if the driving conditions were more consistent with routine driving.”

Federal statistics suggest that distracted driving contributes to as much as 20 percent of all fatal crashes, and that cell phones constitute the primary source of driver distraction. Researchers point to two numbers to illustrate the magnitude of the texting while driving problem: an estimated 5 billion text messages are sent each day in the United States, and at least 20 percent of all drivers have admitted to texting while driving.

Read Full Report, View Video

TTI is home to special facilities designed for improving driver safety. Facilities include a fully interactive driving simulator and instrumented vehicle with an eye-tracking system to measure driver behavior based on various driving speeds and conditions.

During the 1930s, several states proposed laws to prohibit the use of radios while driving. According to automobile historian Michael Lam, “Opponents of car radios argued that they distracted drivers and caused accidents, that tuning them took a driver’s attention away from the road, and that music could lull a driver to sleep.”

While technologies have evolved — substitute cell phone for radios in the above scenario — the central issue of how humans react to and behave in their driving environment remains the same. Human-factors research involves both cognitive and ergonomic factors, according to Senior Research Scientist Sue Chrysler, the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI‘s) current human-factors research program manager.

“‘Human factors’ is an umbrella term for several areas of research: human performance, technology design and human-computer interaction,” explains Chrysler. “It’s important for all driver communication — from the simplest traffic sign to the latest high-tech gadget.”

Chrysler’s group is involved in research projects across the entire breadth of human-factors topics, including “distracted driving.” This hot topic today represents the same concerns raised by opponents of car radios some 80 years ago — how drivers balance interacting with technology while keeping their eyes on the road and their minds on driving.

The idea that culture itself drives human behavior has recently made its way into human-factors research as well. “People are driving more and faster these days,” explains TTI Senior Research Engineer Shawn Turner. “The culture is one of being time conscious. That’s where you have people reading the paper or checking their e-mails while sitting in traffic or at a red light.” Turner’s research has focused on bicycle and pedestrian issues: improving pedestrian safety at unsignalized roadway crossings, updating the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA‘s) university course on bicycle and pedestrian transportation, and conducting the international scan of pedestrian and bicyclists safety and mobility in Europe.

Though numerous roadside safety innovations over the past half-century have made a huge difference in savings lives, John Mounce, director of TTI‘s Center for Transportation Safety (CTS), thinks those were the “easiest” improvements to make.

“Too many drivers think it’s their right to drink alcohol, text or be aggressive behind the wheel. It seems to be part of our culture,” acknowledges Mounce. “In human-factors research, we’re talking about creating a safety culture — a recognition of personal responsibility related to behavior and promoting traffic safety in each and every one of us.”

To encourage this behavioral change, CTS has teamed with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Texas Department of Public Safety to develop a new statewide motorcycle safety awareness campaign. “Someone dies nearly every day riding a motorcycle in Texas,” says Carlos Lopez, former director of TxDOT‘s Traffic Operations Division and currently the engineer for the Austin District. “Educating both motorcycle riders and drivers is essential to improving motorcycle safety and saving lives.”

Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) is arguably TTI‘s most successful program dedicated to behavioral change — in this case in teen drivers. An in-school, peer-to-peer program that focuses on the principal causes of teenage fatalities, TDS has been implemented in 300 Texas schools and is spreading to other states. Research has found that awareness of the common crash risks for teens (nighttime driving, speeding and distractions) improved 40 to 200 percent at schools with TDS programs. Seat-belt use increased an average of 11 percent, and cell-phone use/texting dropped 30 percent. In 2009, TDS was given the Roadside Safety Award by FHWA and the Roadway Safety Foundation for its work with teens.

In the future, human-factors research will evolve along with the driving public. “By 2020, 20 percent of the population will be over 65, so issues with the elderly will drive our future research,” says Chrysler. “But that’s only one area we know of — there are others we haven’t yet begun to imagine. This is an all-encompassing and evolving field of research.”

Drink. Ride. Lose. is an anti-impaired-riding campaign to raise awareness about the consequences of riding after drinking alcohol. The campaign aims to make riders aware that drinking after riding can lead to DWI arrest and conviction, serious injury or death.

Commentary on Human Factors

Paul Green
Past President
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most things were built by hand. If a farmer needed a plow, he or she made it himself. The finished handle fit his hand because he designed it to fit, and over time, as the farmer’s needs changed, he could change the design of the plow. However, that personal touch was lost when the assembly line automated production, shifting the focus from user needs to the most cost-effective, timely way to make the product.

This was true across all industrial sectors, including transportation. Ralph Nader’s 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed revolutionized automobile safety by highlighting an industry’s seeming disregard for vehicle safety. That book and related activities spurred the funding of automotive safety research, the development of university research programs, and the passage of government regulations promoting safety. An important theme of that work was assessment of the human element.

Founded well before the Nader era, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) represents forward thinking by the Texas Highway Department and Texas A&M University. Quite frankly, for any question about driving and road design, TTI has always been the go-to place. TTI‘s leadership in national organizations, such as the Transportation Research Board, demonstrates the Institute’s unwavering commitment to research excellence and application in a world that, all too often, focuses only on the promise of the next quarter.

In the future, TTI will continue solving the transportation problems we face — dealing with even more road congestion, finding ways to reduce transportation-related energy needs, and introducing new systems to automate driving and enhance safety. Even the most automated systems have a human being as a vital component. Thus, human-factors research will continue to be essential. A particularly important challenge for the future is to develop the next generation of human-factors engineers and scientists to address these issues — something TTI and Texas A&M are well positioned to do through their partnership.

This Issue

Solving the Transportation Puzzle

Volume 46, Number 3
September 2010
Issue Overview

On this page:

• Commentary on Human Factors
• For More Information

“People are driving more and faster these days. The culture is one of being time conscious. That’s where you have people reading the paper or checking their e-mails while sitting in traffic or at a red light.”Shawn Turner, TTI senior research engineer

“Someone dies nearly every day riding a motorcycle in Texas. Educating both motorcycle riders and drivers is essential to improving motorcycle safety and saving lives.”Carlos Lopez, former director of TxDOT’s Traffic Operations Division and currently the engineer for the Austin District

For more information:

John Mounce
(979) 458-3346
j-mounce@tamu.edu

]]> http://tti.tamu.edu/2010/09/01/factoring-in-the-human-equation/feed/ 0 http://tti.tamu.edu/2010/09/01/celebrating-60-years-of-innovation-a-history-of-saving-lives-time-and-resources/ http://tti.tamu.edu/2010/09/01/celebrating-60-years-of-innovation-a-history-of-saving-lives-time-and-resources/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:32:19 +0000 Chris Sasser http://tti.tamu.edu/?p=1249 Celebrating 60 Years of Innovation: A history of saving lives, time and resources

The original 1950 charter of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), given by the Texas A&M Board of Directors, charged the Institute with enlisting the broad resources of the college in all forms of transportation research, while giving students the opportunity to study and work in the transportation profession. This agreement solidified the Cooperative Research Program between the then-Texas Highway Department and TTI. Over the last six decades, TTI has provided accurate and timely research to address the state and nation’s most pressing transportation concerns. TTI research recommendations have consistently delivered results to its research sponsors — now numbering more than 200 annually around the globe. The world has been transformed since 1950. Today’s transportation challenges are magnified many times over in size, scope and importance to our economy and quality of life. The need for results-oriented transportation research has never been greater.

Human Factors and Roadside Safety

 

Left: Texas A&M University Associate Professor Emeritus Rodger Koppa, one of the pioneers of human factors research at TTI, specialized in the design of adaptive equipment for disabled drivers. Hundreds of disabled citizens have benefited from his research over the years.

Right: Dr. Teddy J. Hirsh’s research team invented the “Texas Crash Cushion” in the 1960s. Fatalities due to collisions with concrete abutments were completely eliminated in Houston, going from 27 in seven years to none in the two years following its installation on Houston freeways. Here, Hirsh and his team examine a successful crash test with then-Secretary of Transportation Alan S. Boyd and his wife.

Economics and Freight Movement

 

Top Left: (left to right) In this photo from 1968, Texas A&M President Earl Rudder, Under Secretary of Transportation Everitt Hutchinson, Dean Fred J. Benson and State Highway Engineer Dewitt C. Greer look at a model used to study various types of grade crossing situations.

Top Right and Bottom: Early economic and freight studies at TTI focused on estimating future needs of the trucking, rail, water and airline industries; improving safety at rail grade crossings; and developing the Interstate Highway System.

Mobility

 

Top Left: Charles Blumentritt (seated) discusses traffic programming using a then-state-of-the-art IBM 7094 computer. Standing left to right are Charles J. Keese, Charles Pinnell and Joe Wright.

Right: TTI researchers began their quest for better freeway operations in 1961 through work on Houston’s Gulf Freeway. This project was one of the first in the country to use time-lapse and aerial photography to develop mathematical models for use with new technologies and techniques such as ramp meters and computer-driven traffic surveillance and control centers.

TTI’s Former Directors

 

Left to Right: Fred Benson, Director, 1955-1962; Jack Keese, Director, 1962-1976; Charley Wootan, Director, 1976-1993; and Herb Richardson, Director, 1993-2006.

This Issue

Solving the Transportation Puzzle

Volume 46, Number 3
September 2010
Issue Overview