Investigating visually distracted driver reactions in rear-end crashes and near crashes based on 100-car study data

Paper in proceeding, 2012

Rear-end crashes are common accident scenarios and account for approximately 30% of all police-reported accidents in the United States. Previous studies have shown that driver inattention just before the rear-end crashes or near crashes is a major contributing factor. To improve the development of active safety systems, which take into account driver inattention, it is important to understand when and how the driver reacts; from the moment the driver shifts state from being distracted to attentive and becomes aware of the potential threat. This paper investigates the reaction (braking, steering) selection that visually distracted drivers make in a critical rear-end crash situation using the 100-car naturalistic driving study data. A simple model describing the driver’s perception reaction time (PRT) based on headway distance to the forward vehicle is presented. The results presented in this paper can assist further studies where more data will be available and help elucidate how people react to critical near crashes and crashes on road.