Driving with IVCAWS 1 Human Factors, in press Effects of an In-Vehicle Collision Avoidance Warning System on Short and Long-Term Driving Performance

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have enhanced the way we can deal with road safety issues. Many new in-vehicle systems focus on accident prevention by facilitating the driving task. One such driving aid is an in-vehicle collision avoidance warning system (IVCAWS), used to alert the driver to an impending collision. Our study evaluated the effects of an imperfect IVCAWS both on driver headway maintenance, and on driver behavior in response to warning system errors. Our results showed that drivers tend to overestimate their headway and consequently drive with short and potentially dangerous headways, and that IVCAWS are a useful tool for educating drivers to estimate headway more accurately. Moreover, our study showed that after a relatively short exposure to the system, drivers were able to maintain longer and safer headways for at least six months. Drivers responded properly for the most part to the system alerts, slowing down when necessary, and ignored false alerts. The practical implications of these results are that the use of an IVCAWS should be considered for inclusion in driver education and training programs.