Smartphone Based Novice Teenage Driver Support System
Principal Investigator:
Max Donath, Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Co-Investigators:
- Janet Creaser, Research Fellow, Mechanical Engineering
- Michael Manser, Director, HumanFIRST, Mechanical Engineering
- Craig Shankwitz, Director, Intelligent Vehicles Lab, Mechanical Engineering
Project Summary:
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities. To substantially reduce teen driver fatalities, new approaches must be considered. One approach is to require teens to complete a Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program in order to become fully licensed. Existing GDL laws are designed to limit the "exposure" of teens to certain risk factors during their learning period. However, all these programs suffer from weak compliance monitoring because they are based on an honor system and depend on parental management. Determination of compliance with driving laws and current GDL limitations is based on either citations and or crashes. The absence of either is assumed to mean no violation. This is a poor method of assessing and determining compliance, especially in rural areas where there is very limited law enforcement presence and where teens have a high death and injury producing crash rate. In order to improve upon the success of exposure-based GDL programs, it is necessary to develop reliable, objective, and automatic monitoring and reporting of inappropriate driving behavior. To address these needs, ITS Institute researchers have developed a prototype Teen Driver Support System (TDSS) concept. This system is implemented using a combination of forcing, feedback, and reporting functions. The focus is on novice teen driving during the provisional licensing period. The proposed TDSS is envisaged for driver education by informing teen drivers in real time about unsafe driving behaviors and seat belt compliance. The goals of this project are to expand the utility of the TDSS by (a) developing a more robust system, (b) incorporating forcing functions to promote compliance of regulations known to be a problem for teen drivers (e.g., seat-belt and alcohol regulations) and (c) developing and evaluating a teen driver interface for the TDSS which will facilitate usability and acceptance. This project represents the first attempt to develop and demonstrate a GPS-based monitoring system that is consistent with GDL programs and that supports safe teen driving based on reference to the actual context in which the teen is driving (e.g., true speed limit, known road geometry, weather).
Sponsors:
- Minnesota Department of Transportation
Project Details:
- Start date: 12/2008
- Project Status: Active
- Research Area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow