Safe Speed Forums

I am doing a thesis on road safety. Does anybody know of any study about how long a speedometer check takes? I want to use the figure from the main site but I need a valid source.

Just as a side note, the RoSPA first tip for safe driving is to "check your speedometer regularly"
http://www.rospa.com/RoadSafety/toptentips/speedometer.htm

Cheers for the help

Sorry if this sounds sarcastic, not the intent.

How about filming a range of drivers and timing it? Doing your own original research to back up your thesis if you cannot find a previous study.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

If I go on to phd I would do that but this is only an undergraduate thesis, I'd never get the funding for that.

I expect there are some, but I know of none. It's not the type of thing that is easy to measure.
To take a measurement, you'd need to know things like

a) the time instant when a person decides that a speedo check is desired
b) the duration before he instigates an action to make the check
c) the physical time of the check (moves his eyes)
d) the time taken for cognitive input
e) after the check, the duration of time before cognitive attention is redirected back to the road.

Only (c) could be measured in a traditional way. There are plenty of studies into the human action
cycle - most of them originate in the IT industry, for user interface design. You might find that it is
necessary to conduct a controlled study to get a fix on the value!

That is common in the UI industry. For this application you would film the driver's face as he goes along.
After, you would review the data, asking him to identify speed checks in the film. Then you would measure
the duration. As say, this would not capture the cognitive elements, though.

Last night I came up with a cheap way to do this. The university got a driving simulator last summer. Have to meet 1 more person and if I get the go ahead, I'll run the experiment. Should be an interesting result.

What I'm going to do is have people drive in a 50kph zone on the simulator with a camera pointed in their face, review the video and, using frame by frame video, count how long it takes someone to look at their speedo, and the number of times they do it per minute.

Any suggestions/improvements to methodology would be appreciated.

There is a whole branch of system design devoted to this. I will give you some basic tips
on usability studueis. Essentially, this is a usability study on a speedometer. A crap speedo will
take a long time to read, and a good one will be easy to read.

First, treat it as a project. You'll need to acquire resources such as equipment, volunteers etc.

So, make a plan. You need to list your objectives, and have a procedure to follow
which should include introductory material to brief the participants on the
requirements, e.g. instructions for them. You'll also need to allocate setup time
and tear down time. And time or the observation sessions themsevles. You're going to do a
recording, but you also want to take notes, because some things may need to be captured.
You're also better off doing a debrief with each participant to make sure you get their views as well.
Oh, and give each of them a bottle of whiskey or something

Most important is this: make sure you test the setup first. It won't work first time - you'll forget
something.

Last: buy a book on usability studies. This might be a good place to start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability_testing

Aber. I suspect that his "thesis" is actually just a project report and, as such, he will have neither the time nor the funds to do, nor be expected to do, original research. Such reports are generally just a literature review with some attempt to draw new conclusions from existing research.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Interesting what RoSPA say,

personally I believe that an experienced, safe driver is capable of driving the length and breadth of the country without the need to have a speedo (except to stay within the law) and not kill himself or half the population en route. A good driver can judge what a safe speed is for the road and conditions without constantly watching a speedo but, unfortunately, these days speed is such a "hidden danger that surpasses all others", that we must tame it if we are to survive til the next millenium.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Personally, I would say that checking your mirror regularly is FAR MORE IMPORTANT for safe driving that checking your speedo regularly but that's probably not PC is it?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Spot on, dissertation I think is the proper name for it. This experiment is just for extra credit, considering it is due in on March 31st it will be a quick test (roughly 30 volunteers). The rest of the project has just being various other road safety schemes that worked and didn't.



If I have time I will check this as well although it might just be something I do in the summer after exams.

Aber, set-up time will be getting my camera steady and laptop set up to take the videos of it, the simulator is a permanent fixture so shouldn't take too long to set-up.The debrief, I was just going to do a basic survey but letting them write down their own opinions would be helpful alright.

Another one of RoSPA's tips:
http://www.rospa.com/RoadSafety/toptent ... ntrate.htm

Distracted drivers are more likely to speed? I might only be driving for 2 years but if I'm distracted I find I tend to subconsciously slow down. Where did their "top ten tips" come out of?

Probably from a junior PR person on a deadline...

My favourite "fact plucked out of the air" was Dorset Safety Camera Partnership's statement that:



Link

I sent them an email asking if this was regardless of journey length, which they didn't reply to.

What did you expect? We already know how 'convenient' they are with their statisics

I'm sure they also would have ignored others like: what amount of time/fuel is saved by reducing NSLs down to 30mph?

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

That's a huge number! In UI testing, five participants is generally considered to be sufficient.

Really, I thought I would need at least 30 for a valid result. Fair enough, I might just go with 5-10

Go with 7, because 2 won't turn up!

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html

Very interesting Aber, you just saved me a lot of time and effort I owe you a !
Also going to do the test on myself in an actual car just for comparison.

I've checked this myself - it takes me approx 3/4 second to flick eyes down to the speedo, refocus, check the reading, eyes back to the road, refocus again.

That's three quarters of a second when I'm not actually watching the road. How many extra MPH is that equivalent to?

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Magistrates rule #1: "Never let justice get in the way of a conviction."

Assuming that the speedo is well placed and easy to read, and/or the pair of eyes in question change focus back and forth adroitly.

A Heads-Up Display might remove the 'head movement' factor. More importantly, I think it would keep those things drivers should be concerned about in the field of view, even if out of focus; good drivers can probably determine that something out of focus yet in their field of vision is worth concern before

a) total refocusing occurs
b) that concern is actually categorized
The answer is speed dependent.

80Mph = 117 Feet, 4Inches per Second

117' 4" / 4 * 3 = 88 FpS

88 FpS = 60 MpH

Just checking.

Anyway, the only time one checks one's speedo is
a) when one doesn't need to look at the road (there is only one 'driving emergency' which could possibly require taking your eyes off the road to look at the speedo)
b) when the need is created from the outside
c) when one is trying to make trip-related calculations
d) when the car isn't moving, staring at zero MpH

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The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation