Countermeasures to prevent detection failure of a vehicle approaching on collision course

Objective: This study investigated causal factor of perceptual failure and possible countermeasure of crossing path crashes at clear-sighted unsignalised intersections. Background: Crossing path crashes involving two vehicles at intersections are a common and serious problem, and perceptual failure has been identified as a predominant causal factor. Previous studies have showed that late detection of a crossing vehicle frequently occurs even when there are no visual obstructions, at such as rural intersections. Method: With using a fixed-based driving simulator, three experiments were performed to investigate a driver's ability to detect a periphery presented cross traffic while approaching an intersection. In Experiment 1, drivers' ability to detect crossing vehicles in their peripheral field of view was studied, both in conditions of vehicles following a collision and a non-collision trajectory. In Experiment 2, we examined whether abrupt appearance of a vehicle on collision course would improve detection performance. In Experiment 3, we tested potential of collision warning, if it affects voluntary visual scanning, improving the detection performance regarding hazards cross traffic. Results: The results of Experiment 1 showed that vehicles on collision course vehicles were detected late. This suggested that the late detection could be related to the lack of motion visible in the peripheral view. In Experiment 2, it was found that abrupt appearance effect (pop-up from road side occluding furniture) improves detection performance of a crossing vehicle. The results of Experiment 3 demonstrated that cross traffic collision warnings were beneficial for preventing late detection responses by means of encouraging voluntary visual scanning. Conclusion: Less attention attractive visual properties of hazardous cross traffic attributed to mutual approaching course can cause recognition failure. Drivers' gaze shift to potential conflicting direction, either reflective or voluntary manner, is crucially important for preventing crossing path crashes at such as rural intersections. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.