Effectiveness of Pedestrian Crash Avoidance Technologies: Comparing Day vs. Night Performance

The recent statistics indicating 7,500 annual pedestrian deaths in the US, with approximately 75% occurring at nighttime, amplify the critical concerns about pedestrian safety. This alarming trend highlights the urgent need to enhance the effectiveness of crash avoidance systems. Given this pressing necessity, this research aims to bridge the gap by exploring a broader category of advanced safety technologies, focusing particularly on Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (P-AEB) systems under night and daytime conditions. The primary goals are to assess the proportion of P-AEB systems that successfully detect pedestrians and to identify the contributing factors to both detection and subsequent deceleration. Utilizing field experimental data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) spanning from 2021 to 2024, which includes numerous scenarios post-outlier correction, the research employs the Heckman two-step model with panel data. The initial phase focuses on pinpointing variables that influence the detection capabilities of these systems, while the subsequent phase involves analysis of scenarios where pedestrian detection has occurred, with an emphasis on analyzing braking system performance. This comprehensive approach facilitates a deep exploration of the sequential functions of P-AEB systems—from detection through to braking—shedding light on their effectiveness across different conditions. Initial findings indicate that factors such as body size, fuel type, pedestrian movement, sensor deployment in vehicles, headlight technology, and ambient lighting conditions play significant roles in the performance of P-AEB systems. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the rapid advancement of crash avoidance technologies and the critical need for further research and policy development to improve pedestrian safety.

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $105000
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3552348336

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    Department of Transportation
    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Managing Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    Department of Transportation
    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Project Managers:

    Stearns, Amy

  • Performing Organizations:

    University of Tennessee, Knoxville

    Center for Transportation Research (CTR)
    Knoxville, TN  United States  37996
  • Principal Investigators:

    Mahdinia, Iman

    Khattak, Asad

  • Start Date: 20240601
  • Expected Completion Date: 20250531
  • Actual Completion Date: 0
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01923819
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3552348336
  • Files: UTC, RIP
  • Created Date: Jul 8 2024 2:54PM