Predicting Driver Seeing Distance in Natural Rainfall

Four field studies were conducted in natural rainfall to develop a model for predicting distances at which drivers are able to see other vehicles in the roadway at various time periods following stoppage of a windshield-wiper stroke. The seeing distance prediction was developed as a function of rain...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human factors 1981-12, Vol.23 (6), p.667-682
Main Authors: Bhise, Vivek D., Meldrum, James F., Forbes, Lyman M., Rockwell, Thomas H., McDowell, Edward D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
automotive engineering
Drivers
ergonomics
human factors
Mathematical models
motor vehicles
Predictions
rain
Rainfall
safety engineering
statistical analysis
Vehicles
visibility
Windshields
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Four field studies were conducted in natural rainfall to develop a model for predicting distances at which drivers are able to see other vehicles in the roadway at various time periods following stoppage of a windshield-wiper stroke. The seeing distance prediction was developed as a function of rain intensity, rain accumulation time, and ambient daylight illumination. Two situations were studied; in the first, drivers seated in a stationary vehicle detected moving vehicles, and in the second, moving drivers detected a stationary vehicle. Useful seeing distance models were developed from the field studies. Seeing distances predicted from the models developed from these earlier studies were compared with seeing distances obtained in a subsequent validation field test. Results indicated that average error in the prediction of seeing distances ranges from 9% to 23%.
ISSN:0018-7208
1547-8181
DOI:10.1177/001872088102300604