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Report
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-RD-96-147
 Date: October 1997

Development of Human Factors Guidelines for Advanced Traveler Information Systems and Commerical Vehicle Operations: Components of the Intelligent Transportation Systems: Designs Alternatives for In-Vehicle Information Displays

 

FOREWORD

This report is one of a series of reports produced as part of a contract designed to develop precise, detailed human factors design guidelines for Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) and Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO). The contractual effort consists of three phases: analytic, empirical, and integration. This report is a product of the empirical phase. The empirical phase will also address topics such as: ATIS function transition, display channels, multi–modality displays, CVO driver fatigue, display formats and workload, and head–up displays. Among the analytic topics discussed in the series are a functional description of ATIS/CVO, comparable systems analysis, task analysis of ATIS/CVO functions, alternate systems analysis, identification and exploration of driver acceptance, and definition and prioritization of research studies.

This report describes an experimental examination of In–Vehicle Safety Advisory and Warning Systems (IVSAWS) and In–Vehicle Signing Information Systems (ISIS) characteristics and their effect on driver performance. The study examines the impact of display modality, message style, and display location on driver compliance with warning messages and driving safety.

A. George Ostensen, Director
Office of Safety and Traffic
Operations Research and Development

 

NOTICE

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its content or use thereof. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade and manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the object of the document.

 

TECHNICAL REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE

1. Report No.

FHWA–RD–96–147

 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle

Advanced Traveler Information Systems and Commercial Vehicle Operations Components of the Intelligent Transportation Systems: Design Alternatives for In–Vehicle Information Displays

5. Report Date

October 1997
6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s)

J. D. Lee, S. Stone, B. F. Gore, C. Colton, J. Macauley, R. Kinghorn, J. L. Campbell, M. Finch, G. Jamieson

 8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Battelle Human Factors Transportation Center
4000 NE 41st Street
P.O. Box 5395
Seattle, WA 98105–0395

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

3B2C1012
11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61–92–C–00102
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R&D
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101–2296

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Technical Report

April 1995 – August 1996
14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes

Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR): Joe Moyer, HSR–30; Thomas Granda, SAIC

16. Abstract

This report describes the results of an experiment that examines the effect of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) devices. Specifically, it examines how In–Vehicle Safety and Warning Systems (IVSAWS) and In–Vehicle Signing and Information Systems (ISIS) characteristics affect driver compliance with warning messages and driving safety. These characteristics include display modality, message style, and display location. A general issue facing ATIS designers is the concern that ATIS warning messages may go unheeded by drivers. Therefore, a critical element of ATIS design concerns is making information easily accessible and compelling so drivers comply with the warnings. The results show converging evidence that ATIS warnings can generate greater compliance compared to road signs. Another general issue that faces ATIS designers is the potential for ATIS devices to undermine driving safety. The results of this experiment show that ATIS devices can undermine driving safety by fostering an overreliance on ATIS information. The results also show how particular ATIS design characteristics can minimize the overreliance and its negative effects on driving safety.

17. Key Words

ATIS, ISIS, ITS, IVSAWS, warning compliance, driving safety.

 18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia, 22161.
19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified

 20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified

 21. No. of Pages

86

 22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2. METHOD

CHAPTER 3. RESULTS

CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSIONS AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS

APPENDIX A: SUBJECT SELECTION PHONE QUESTIONNAIRE AND DRIVER DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX B: PRE/POST–STUDY QUESTIONNAIRES

APPENDIX C: SUBJECTIVE MEASURES, SITUATIONAL AWARENESS QUESTIONS, AND ATIS MESSAGES

APPENDIX D: SCENARIO EVENT DOCUMENTATION

REFERENCES

 

LIST OF FIGURES

  1. Factors moderating the effect of ATIS design characteristics on driving safety and warning compliance
  2. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables and the focus of the data analysis
  3. A hypothetical trace of a driver's compliance with a warning message
  4. The timeline of the experiment showing the distribution of driving activity
  5. The effect of message style and modality on the perceived performance of male and female drivers
  6. The fluctuation of trust and self–confidence for various levels of roadway and ATIS information
  7. The effect of information availability and message style on trust in the ATIS
  8. The effect of information availability and message style on drivers' self–confidence
  9. The effect of information availability and message mode on trust
  10. The effect of information availability and driver age on trust in the ATIS
  11. The effect of age, gender, style, and mode on trust
  12. The effect of information availability, age, gender, and display location on trust
  13. The effect of information availability and driver age on situational awareness
  14. The effect of age, gender, message style, and information availability on mental effort
  15. Situational awareness accuracy and perceived accuracy for younger and older drivers
  16. The effect of gender, age, and message style on confidence in situational awareness accuracy
  17. The variables examined in this study
  18. The design trade–off between driving safety and warning compliance for different levels of roadway redundancy
  19. The design trade–off between driving safety and warning compliance for different message styles
  20. The design trade–off between trust and self–confidence for different message styles

 

LIST OF TABLES

  1. General guidelines for the selection of auditory versus visual forms of information presentation
  2. The combination of events within–subjects variables in a Latin square design
  3. Independent variables included in the experiment
  4. ATIS warnings for each of six different events
  5. Measures of compliance for the four levels of information availability with standard deviations in parentheses
  6. Correlation matrix of measures of compliance
  7. The effects of the independent variables on three measures of driver compliance
  8. The effect of information availability on driving safety
  9. The effect of message style on driving safety
  10. The effect of age on the five measures of driving safety
  11. The effects of the independent variables on the five measures of driving safety
  12. Comments explaining the effects shown in figure
  13. Summary of all significant effects for trust and self–confidence
  14. Responses to ATIS messages
  15. Responses to road signs
  16. Summary of significant effects for situational awareness and effort
  17. Summary of significant effects for message acknowledgment

 

LIST OF ACRONYMS

ATIS Advanced Traveler Information Systems

BAS Battelle Automobile Simulator

BMDP Bio–Medical Data Processing

CRT Cathode Ray Tube

CVO Commercial Vehicle Operations

EL Electroluminescent

HOV High–Occupancy Vehicle

HUD Head–Up Display

ISIS In–Vehicle Signing Information Systems

IVSAWS In–Vehicle Safety Advisory and Warning Systems

LCD Liquid Crystal Display

RMS Root Mean Square

SA Situational Awareness

SAGAT Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique

SD Standard Deviation

STI Systems Technology, Inc.

 

FHWA-RD-96-147

 

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