EFFECT OF VEHICLE AND DRIVER CHARACTERISTICS ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF ROAD ROUGHNESS (ABRIDGMENT)

The objective of this paper is to summarize the results of an experiment that evaluated the effects of vehicle size, vehicle speed, residence of rating panel, and training of rating panel on the subjective evaluation of road roughness. The results of the panel ratings indicated that there was no significant effect of the different vehicle sizes or vehicle speeds used on the subjective evaluation of road roughness, and that trained raters (i.e., experts) evaluated roads the same as untrained raters (i.e., laymen). A small but significant effect of panel residence was found.