Lane change behavior with a side blind zone alert system.

This in-traffic study explored the effect of a side blind zone alert (SBZA) system on driver lane change behavior. Such a system may help drivers avoid lane change crashes by warning them with a side mirror display when a vehicle is detected in their blind zone. Participants drove with and without the SBZA system enabled, and were instructed to evaluate vehicle ride characteristics and only given an "incidental" system explanation.

Time-to-collision judgments under realistic driving conditions.

Objective: This study examined perceived time to collision (TTC) with automobile drivers under realistic approach, rear-end crash scenario conditions.

Background: TTC refers to the time before impact if prevailing conditions continue.

Method: In this test track study involving 51 drivers ranging from 20 to 70 years old, the driver's vision was occluded at either 3.

Developing an inverse time-to-collision crash alert timing approach based on drivers' last-second braking and steering judgments.

Drivers were asked to execute last-second braking and steering maneuvers while approaching a surrogate target lead vehicle. This surrogate target was designed to allow safely placing naive drivers in controlled, realistic rear-end crash scenarios under test track conditions. Maneuver intensity instructions were varied so that drivers' perceptions of normal and non-normal braking envelopes could be properly identified and modeled for forward collision warning timing purposes.