Abstract

Complete street systems integrate a wide range of users in the same space, with unequal risks and responsibilities. This makes driver attention a critical factor in assuring the safety of vulnerable users. The Conditioned Anticipation of People psychological model of driver attention proposes that drivers reflexively reengage their metacognitive processes when they anticipate visually interacting with the human face or form due to the neurological priority that the brain places on human recognition. To test this model, an eye-tracking tabulation was generated from the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study that measured midsegment percent of time on-task and multitasking behavior for 200 sites in Tampa, Florida and Seattle, Washington. This attention data was statistically analyzed for the impacts of a wide range of context variables using single variable ANOVA and various multivariate models such as ordered probit fractional split and ordered probit models. Context features with a strong correlation to vulnerable user presence that support driver's visual recognition of that presence were also strongly correlated with driver attention. Features like corridor width, block length, doorway density, and sense of enclosure had the largest impact. Features that did not have an impact on the potential visual connection with street users, like lane width, right of way width, onstreet parking, functional classification, or Walkscore had no impact on driver attention or weak effect sizes, despite strong correlations with vulnerable user presence. Crash history was evaluated in conjunction with the variables most sensitive to driver attention with mixed results. Many of the features that increase the potential for drivers to see and interact with people also contribute to increases in vehicle to vehicle conflicts. A decrease in crash rate with increasing sidewalk width implies that the CAP effect can have some impact on crashes. Implications for complete streets and community design are discussed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2021

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Eluru, Naveen

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering

Degree Program

Civil Engineering

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0008746;DP0025477

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0025477

Language

English

Release Date

August 2021

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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