Traffic accidents occur when the stopping distance of a car is greater than the headway distance between itself and obstacles, such as other cars. The stopping distance is sometimes lengthened unexpectedly by a driver's sudden delay of cognition and/or a sudden drop in braking power. Headway distance tends to be shortened by a driver's impulse to shorten the time of arrival. Therefore, it is very important to maintain a longer headway distance rather than a longer stopping distance to avoid collisions. The authors studied drivers' usual headway distances by using a driving simulator. It was found that many drivers did not maintain longer headway distances rather than stopping distances. Thus, a new educational system was developed with a driving simulator to educate drivers that maintaining a short headway distance is quite dangerous when the stopping distance lengthens unexpectedly, and to know and to keep sufficient headway. By using this educational system, many drivers' headway distances became longer than before. It is concluded that this educational system with the driving simulator is effective to encourage drivers to maintain longer headway distances rather than longer stopping distances. For the covering abstract see ITRD E113725 (C 22328 CD-ROM).
Abstract