Pnina Gershon and Zach Noonan Present Driving Behavior Research at HFES 2024

AgeLab Research Scientist and AVT Consortium co-Director Pnina Gershon was a member of a panel at the HFES ASPIRE International Meeting on advances and challenges in vehicle electrification and how the increasing adoption of electric vehicles may pose considerations for road and driver safety and new thinking on transportation infrastructure.

Dr. Gershon’s shared insights into how electric vehicles (EVs) are reshaping driver behavior and road safety. She discussed findings showing that drivers of EVs spend more time and miles coasting and that drivers of these vehicles exhibit lower rates of brake pedal use and smoother deceleration profiles, but higher rates of extreme acceleration, compared to drivers of internal combustion engine vehicles. “As more drivers purchase EVs,” she writes, “there is an increasing need to understand how drivers may adapt to new vehicle technologies within the first months of interaction. Assessing the impact of electrification on driver behavior may support the development of in-vehicle technologies that can shape behavior to promote driving safety and facilitate effective public education.”

David Rempel of the University of California, Berkeley, Gretchen A. Macht of the University of Rhode Island, Justin Mason of the University of Iowa, and Raul Arbelaez of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety also participated on the panel with Linda Boyle from New York University as the moderator.

Dr. Rempel examined the functionality and reliability of EV DC chargers in the San Francisco Bay Area, finding that nearly a quarter of all chargers they tested were not functional. Dr. Macht observed differences in demand periods and utilizations of EV charging stations in provinces across Canada. Dr. Mason performed a qualitative study of attitudes toward electric vehicles compared to gas-powered vehicles through interviews with EV purchasers, dealership employees, and emergency responders. Dr. Arbelaez discussed the severity of accidents involving EVs, which are heavier than gas-powered cars, compared to conventional vehicles by studying insurance loss databases.

Taken together, these presentations demonstrate a wide range of open questions related to infrastructure, driver behavior, and road safety, as the number of electric vehicles increases on North American roads.

Noonan’s paper presentation described a study that quantified bidirectional gazing–when drivers and pedestrians look at one another–in a naturalistic setting. Understanding bidirectional gazing provides insights into the communication dynamics between pedestrians and drivers, and their relation to infrastructural support (e.g., a stop sign).

Bidirectional gazing tends to be more prevalent and longer for crossings with less infrastructural support, especially when the pedestrian is still relatively far away from the lane. This suggests that when pedestrians lack infrastructural support and are farther away from the lane, drivers and pedestrians rely more on visual communication (looking at each other) to determine things like gap size, trajectory, speed, and distance. However, when pedestrians are closer to the road lane, similar gaze patterns manifest regardless of the level of available infrastructural support, suggesting that they may be attending to other features of the roadway to navigate the crossing. AgeLab postdoctoral associate Linda Pipkorn was the lead author for the paper, with Noonan, Josh Domeyer, Gershon, Bruce Mehler, Bryan Reimer, and Gershon serving as co-authors.