The Use of Video Feedback in Urban Teen Driving
Principal Investigator:
Nic Ward, Former U of M Researcher, Mechanical Engineering
Co-Investigator:
- Michael Manser, Director, HumanFIRST, Mechanical Engineering
Project Summary:
Newly licensed teens have an extremely high risk for crashes. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2003 5,691 teenagers died in motor vehicle crashes. This amounts to more than one-third of deaths from all causes for teenagers. In response, the Universities of Iowa and Minnesota are leading a pilot project to examine the use of new methods to motivate safe teen driving. This method will examine teen driving during the first 6 to 12 months after teens obtain a driver's license and is based on using an event-triggered video system to record and give feedback about unsafe driving behavior. The proposed system has the ability to provide feedback in two distinctly different ways. First, the system has an LED that blinks to tell the teen driver that an event trigger has been detected and recorded, giving the driver immediate feedback. Data from the on-board diagnostics port such as speed, throttle position, and brake activity may also be recorded and synced with the video clips. The video data makes it possible to understand the context of the unsafe event and the task occupying the driver at that time, such as distraction or risky behaviors with passengers. Second, the video recorded during the unsafe driving episode is sent to the parent to allow for a second form of feedback: a parent-teen coaching session. This project will examine the use of event-triggered video feedback to reduce unsafe driving behaviors of newly licensed urban teens. This research differs from other interventional studies because it gives clear, contextual feedback in the form of video and audio of each unsafe driving episode captured. It is hoped that this type of feedback will help teen drivers become aware of the driving behaviors they engage in that may be unsafe, to recognize any patterns of unsafe behavior, and to improve their driving for the long-term.
Sponsors:
- State Pooled Funds
Project Details:
- Start date: 07/2006
- Project Status: Completed
- Research Area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow