Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to analyze and evaluate drivers' various front-to-rear-end collision avoidance behavior using a driving simulation. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment I, where driving speeds and headways were systematically varied, drivers' response types and response characteristics were analyzed in terms of quality of collision avoidance behavior. In Experiment II, divided-attention task was imposed. The results of the two experiments are as followings. First, more frequent collisions were observed in faster driving speed condition. Second, better collision avoidance performance was found when the drivers' operated brake or both brake and steering wheel than when they operated steering wheel only. Third, one of the most important factors affecting collision avoidance behavior appeared to the degree of swiftness of response. Fourth, various criteria of drivers' collision avoidance performance were greatly impaired when driver's attention was visually divided. Finally, implications of the study was discussed.