Effects of in-vehicle warning information on drivers' decelerating and accelerating behaviors near an arch-shaped intersection

This paper attempts to evaluate the effects of in-vehicle warning information on drivers' decelerating and accelerating behavior when approaching an intersection near an arch-shaped bridge, where traffic accidents have often occurred due to poor visibility. The warning information was provided with images and/or voice, triggered by the actual presence of a stopped vehicle at the downhill road section of the intersection. An on-site driving experiment was conducted on a national highway in Hiroshima City, Japan, by involving 14 university students, and it was demonstrated that dynamic information seems more effective for drivers to avoid dangerous driving situations than static information. It was also found that having only the voice-based warning information may be as effective as having both the voice and image warning information. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.