Psychological predictors of college students’ cell phone use while driving

Despite the known risk, many people talk on a phone while driving. This study explored psychological predictors of cell phone use while driving. College students (final N = 69) completed a survey and predicted their driving performance both with and without a simultaneous phone conversation. Their actual performance on a driving simulator was then assessed. Cell phone use reduced performance on the simulation task. Further, perceiving oneself as good at compensating for driving distractions, overestimating one's performance on the driving simulator, and high illusory control predicted more frequent cell phone use while driving in everyday life. Finally, those who talked more frequently on a phone while driving had poorer real-world driving records. These findings suggest illusory control and positive illusions partly explain driver's decisions of whether to use cell phones while driving.     

Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) examination characteristics of cannabis impairment

BackgroundThe Drug Evaluation and Classification Program (DECP) is commonly utilized in driving under the influence (DUI) cases to help determine category(ies) of impairing drug(s) present in drivers. Cannabis, one of the categories, is associated with approximately doubled crash risk. Our objective was to determine the most reliable DECP metrics for identifying cannabis-driving impairment.MethodsWe evaluated 302 toxicologically-confirmed (blood Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] ≥1 μg/L) cannabis-only DECP cases, wherein examiners successfully identified cannabis, compared to normative data (302 non-impaired individuals). Physiological measures, pupil size/light reaction, and performance on psychophysical tests (one leg stand [OLS], walk and turn [WAT], finger to nose [FTN], Modified Romberg Balance [MRB]) were included.ResultsCases significantly differed from controls (p < 0.05) in pulse (increased), systolic blood pressure (elevated), and pupil size (dilated). Blood collection time after arrest significantly decreased THC concentrations; no significant differences were detected between cases with blood THC <5 μg/L versus ≥5 μg/L. The FTN best predicted cannabis impairment (sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive value, and efficiency ≥87.1%) utilizing ≥3 misses as the deciding criterion; MRB eyelid tremors produced ≥86.1% for all diagnostic characteristics. Other strong indicators included OLS sway, ≥2 WAT clues, and pupil rebound dilation. Requiring ≥2/4 of: ≥3 FTN misses, MRB eyelid tremors, ≥2 OLS clues, and/or ≥2 WAT clues produced the best results (all characteristics ≥96.7%).ConclusionsBlood specimens should be collected as early as possible. The frequently-debated 5 μg/L blood THC per se cutoff showed limited relevance. Combined observations on psychophysical and eye exams produced the best cannabis-impairment indicators.     

Using the community health assessment to screen for continued driving

This project used the interRAI based, community health assessment (CHA) to develop a model for identifying current elder drivers whose driving behavior should be reviewed. The assessments were completed by independent housing sites in COLLAGE, a non-profit, national senior housing consortium. Secondary analysis of data drawn from older adults in COLLAGE sites in the United States was conducted using a baseline assessment with 8042 subjects and an annual follow-up assessment with 3840 subjects. Logistic regression was used to develop a Driving Review Index (DRI) based on the most useful items from among the many measures available in the CHA assessment. Thirteen items were identified by the logistic regression to predict drivers whose driving behavior was questioned by others. In particular, three variables reference compromised decision-making abilities: general daily decisions, a recent decline in ability to make daily decisions, and ability to manage medications. Two additional measures assess cognitive status: short-term memory problem and a diagnosis of non-Alzheimers dementia. Functional measures reflect restrictions and general frailty, including receiving help in transportation, use of a locomotion appliance, having an unsteady gait, fatigue, and not going out on most days. The final three clinical measures reflect compromised vision, little interest or pleasure in things normally enjoyed, and diarrhea. The DRI focuses the review process on drivers with multiple cognitive and functional problems, including a significant segment of potentially troubled drivers who had not yet been publicly identified by others. There is a need for simple and quickly identified screening tools to identify those older adults whose driving should be reviewed. The DRI, based on the interRAI CHA, fills this void. Assessment at the individual level needs to be part of the backdrop of science as society seeks to target policy to identify high risk drivers instead of simply age-based testing.     

红色旅游发展规划探索

红色旅游是近年来兴起的一种专项特色旅游活动形式和产品类型。作为以弘扬爱国主义精神的革命活动历史遗迹和精神瑰宝为主要吸引物的旅游产品,红色旅游具有显著的中国特色。在分析国内红色旅游发展态势的基础上,提出红色旅游发展动力系统结构模型,并尝试以科学发展观为指导,对红色旅游发展规划的思路进行阐述。     

Navigational conversation impairs concurrent distance judgments

Dual-task performance as it relates to driving, such as tuning a radio or manipulating a cellular phone, forces drivers to divide their attention between the traffic demands and the in-car task. The present study investigated how concurrent spatial or non-spatial cognitive distractions mediated proximity judgments using vehicular stimuli. Utilizing a modified version of the task employed by [Elias, L.J., Robinson, B. in press. Drive on the right side of the road: perceptual asymmetries for judgments of automobile proximity. International Journal of Neuroscience.] the current study examined how mental navigation (spatial distraction) affected accuracy and response time for depth judgments on vehicular stimuli in each visual field. These were compared to a control condition in which no distraction was present, as well as when a semantic (non-spatial) distraction was present. We found that conversation of a navigational nature (i.e., spatial distraction) most negatively impacted accuracy and response time when processing dynamically changing vehicle proximity. Further, these deleterious effects appeared to be uniform throughout the visual field. Findings are related to driving while being distracted, with particular emphasis on the role of cerebral lateralization in dual-task performance.     

Task difficulty, risk, effort and comfort in a simulated driving task—Implications for Risk Allostasis Theory

Risk Allostasis Theory states that drivers seek to maintain a feeling of risk within a preferred range [Fuller, R., 2008. What drives the driver? Surface tensions and hidden consensus. In: Keynote at the 4th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology, Washington, DC, August 31–September 4, 2008]. Risk Allostasis Theory is the latest version of Task-Difficulty Homeostasis theory, and is in part based on the findings of experiments where participants were asked to rate the task difficulty, feeling of risk and chance of collision of scenes shown in digitally altered video clips [Fuller, R., McHugh, C., Pender, S., 2008b. Task difficulty and risk in the determination of driver behaviour. Revue européenne de psychologie appliqée 58, 13–21].The focus of the current research was to expand upon the previous video based experiments using a driving simulator. This allowed participants to be in control of the vehicle rather than acting as passive observers, as well as providing additional speed cues. The results support previous findings that ratings of task difficulty and feeling of risk are related, and that they are also highly related to ratings of effort and moderately related to ratings of comfort and habit. However, the linearly increasing trend for task difficulty and feeling of risk described by the previous research was not observed: instead the findings of this experiment support a threshold effect where ratings of risk (feeling of and chance of loss of control/collision), difficulty, effort, and comfort go through a period of stability and only start to increase once a certain threshold has been crossed. It is within the period of stability where subjective experience of risk and difficulty is low, or absent, that drivers generally prefer to operate.     

Reducing the disruptive effects of interruption: A cognitive framework for analysing the costs and benefits of intervention strategies

Interruptions are ubiquitous, and they can lead to disastrous consequences. The goal of this paper is to describe remedies that have been proposed to reduce the disruption caused by interruptions based on an understanding of how principles of human cognitive processing bear on the sequence of events that take place during an interruption. We show that interruptions tap disparate cognitive operations, from attention to decision making to memory. We illustrate how these cognitive processes can lead to interruption-induced errors, and how they can help in understanding potential problems with remedies that have been proposed to ameliorate those effects. We present a framework in which the load imposed by the task and the cost of an error suggests the types of solutions that should be considered for a given domain. We then discuss the implications of this approach for understanding and reducing the negative effect of interruptions in transportation domains.     

Back to the future: Brake reaction times for manual and automated vehicles

Rear-end collisions are often quoted as being a major cause of road traffic accidents. In response to this, a great deal of ergonomics research effort has been directed towards the analysis of brake reaction times. However, the engineering solution has been to develop advanced systems for longitudinal control, which, it is argued, will mitigate the problem of rear-end collisions. So far, though, there have been few empirical studies to determine how brake reaction times will be affected by such vehicle automation. This paper presents a literature review summarizing the current state of knowledge about driver responses in non-automated vehicles. The review covers driver factors, vehicle factors and situational factors. Following the review, some empirical data are presented from a driving simulator experiment assessing brake reaction times of skilled and unskilled drivers under two different levels of automation. When compared to previous data gathered during manual driving, there seems to be a striking increase in reaction times for these automated conditions. Implications for the design and safety of automated vehicle systems are discussed.     

关于冶金机械设备几种事故驱动方式的比较

比较了冶金机械设备在停电故障下几种事故驱动方式,重点介绍了新兴的EPS(Emergency Power Supply)事故驱动电源,并倾向于采用EPS作为冶金设备的主要事故驱动。     

驱动场作用下光子晶体中的光场-原子束缚态

光子晶体中光子带隙的存在导致光场 -原子束缚态的存在。该束缚态的性质与镶嵌在光子晶体中原子的个数、原子的能级结构、能级相对光子带隙边缘的位置以及有无驱动场有关。利用求束缚态本征波函数的方法 ,讨论了光子晶体中一个三能级原子在相干场驱动下 ,由于光和原子之间的相互作用产生束缚态的性质。分析了在各种束缚态下原子各能级的粒子数布居随驱动场拉比频率的变化。分析结果表明 ,系统中存在多重束缚态 ,而且与上能级相对光子带隙的位置有关 ,当上能级位于带隙外时 ,只有一个本征束缚态 ,且原子几乎不能停留在上能级 ;当上能级在带隙内时 ,有两个本征束缚态 ,且两个本征束缚态的性质截然不同 ,原子各能级的粒子数布居随驱动场参数变化很明显