Driving Assistance to Elderly Drivers in Rural Areas
The ultimate goal of this project to improve the mobility and safety of elderly drivers and their family passengers in rural areas, a group of people who require specialized visual driving assistance in their daily driving activities. In the United States, rural residents heavily rely on automobiles for transportation. 96% of rural households have one or more vehicles. 94% of women aged 65 to 74 in rural areas drive, and this percentage is 79% for women aged 75 to 84, and 54% for women aged 85 or older. The percentage of senior males in rural areas who drive is higher than that of females in the same age group. For example, 72% of males aged 85+ in rural areas drive. According to a study, seniors continue driving because of the lack of alternative means of transportation, and they start limiting their driving or stopping driving because of functional difficulties. On a short run, seniors in rural areas still heavily rely on driving their personal vehicles. Assisting this group of drivers in rural areas is imperative to ensure the quality of their lives. Vision provides about 85% of information we need to make safe decisions when driving. However, a 60-year-old person requires 10 times as much light to drive as a 19-year-old. A 55-year-old takes eight times longer to recover from glare than a 16-year-old. Senior drivers can take twice as long to distinguish the flash of brake lights as younger drivers. Besides the difficulty in seeing, stiff joints and weaken muscles, trouble hearing, slower reaction time and reflexes are other reasons that make it difficult for seniors to drive. Driving assistance technologies, especially from the aspect of visual perception and cognition, can help enhance the speed and accuracy of elderly drivers in response to risky traffic agents and dangerous scenarios.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Completed
- Funding: $Federal: $100,000 Matching: $58,027
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Contract Numbers:
69A3552348321
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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:
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
404 Foote/Hilyer
Tallahassee, FL United States 32307 -
Project Managers:
Moses, Ren
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Performing Organizations:
100 Nicolls Road
Stony Brook, NY United States 11794 -
Principal Investigators:
Qin, R
- Start Date: 20230601
- Expected Completion Date: 20241231
- Actual Completion Date: 20250131
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Data fusion; Driver support systems; Mobility; Rural areas; Safety
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01896753
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Rural Safe, Efficient, and Advanced Transportation Center
- Contract Numbers: 69A3552348321
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Oct 19 2023 5:30PM