Three on-road studies were conducted to determine how headway maintenance and collision warning displays influence driver behavior. Visual perspective, visual perspective with a pointer, and visual perspective combined with an auditory warning, discrete visual warning, and discrete auditory warning were assessed during both coupled headway and deceleration events. Results indicate that when drivers are provided with salient visual information regarding safe headways, they utilize the information and increase their headway when appropriate. Auditory warnings were less effective than visual warnings for increasing headways but may be helpful for improving reaction time during events that require deceleration. Drivers were somewhat insensitive to false alarm rates, at least during the short-term use. Finally, and most important, driver headway maintenance increased by as much as 0.5 seconds when the appropriate visual display was used. However, a study to investigate the long-term effects of such displays on behavior is strongly recommended prior to mass marketing of headway maintenance/collision warning devices.
Abstract