Transportation Safety Training in Rural Areas: An Exploration of Virtual Reality and Driving Simulation in Driver Response and Awareness

This project determines the effectiveness of utilizing simulated environments in form of virtual reality applications and console driving simulators as technologies that can be used to improve transportation safety in rural areas. The fatality rate associated with transportation accidents are significantly higher in rural areas (55%) given a national collective population of only 19%. This discrepancy means that little work has been done to address these safety issues with significant challenges arising from the investment cost spurred by low population densities. This project aims at addressing a part of this challenge which costs hundreds of millions of dollars in impact. The key element of the project is to address safety training around events that are high frequency while being irregular making them difficult to predict and thus challenging to provide training.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $171820
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla

  325 Butler-Carlton Hall
  1401 N. Pine Street
  Rolla, MO  United States  65401
• Principal Investigators:

  Kwasa, Benjamin

  Hu, Xianbiao

  Long, Suzanna

• Start Date: 20210101
• Expected Completion Date: 20220630
• Actual Completion Date: 20230630
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
• Source Data: RiP Project 91994-82

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Awareness; Drivers; Driving simulators; Rural areas; Traffic safety; Training; Virtual reality
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01762023
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747107
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 7 2021 2:15PM