INVESTIGATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING DRIVER ALERTNESS. FINAL REPORT

A LITERATURE REVIEW CONCERNING DRIVER ALERTNESS AND AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECTS OF THREE VARIABLES: DRIVING TIME, ACOUSTIC NOISE, AND TASK COMPLEXITY ON DRIVER PERFORMANCE ARE GIVEN. THE FINDINGS WERE THAT DURING LONG-DURATION, LOW-EVENT DRIVING, DRIVERS SHOWED A LINEAR INCREASE IN ROAD POSITION ERROR; DURING EMERGENCIES SUCH AS A BLOWOUT, THE DRIVER'S POSITION ERROR INCREASED AFTER FOUR HOURS OF DRIVING, AND THIS INCREASE IS MOST MARKED UNDER HIGH NOISE CONDITIONS. THERE IS NO DEGRADATION IN PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE USE OF A "SPEED CONTROLLER" (A DEVICE WHICH AUTOMATICALLY MAINTAINS A PRESET SPEED). SUGGESTIONS ARE INCLUDED FOR FURTHER RESEARCH AND POSSIBLE METHODS OF ALLEVIATING REDUCED ALERTNESS EFFECTS ARE GIVEN. /HSL/