Effects of Driver’s Braking Response by the Real-Time Pedestrian Scale Warning System

Abstract

Various attempts have been made to ensure the safety of pedestrians at signal intersections where RTOR (Right Turn on Red) is permitted. The most representative is to provide the driver with information about the surrounding traffic environment in a V2X manner. It has been reported that information on pedestrian-dense areas induces a driver’s early deceleration. Still, there is a drawback in that information on the pedestrian scale cannot be provided in real-time. Therefore, this study proposes a real-time pedestrian scale warning system to improve pedestrian traffic safety. VR driving simulator and eye tracker were used to investigate driver behavior and cognitive response according to the warning system. As a result of the experiment, the proxy safety index (TTZ) of vehicles equipped with warning systems increased by up to 40%, and the braking reaction time decreased by up to 46%. Also, it was confirmed that the larger the scale of the pedestrian, the safer the braking. This study suggests that real-time pedestrian scale information can be applied to system design for urban traffic safety improvement.