Outline of My Third Oral Presentation

The Imperfect Driver

This is a presentation of “Driving Lessons”; Written by Sany Zein, Edited by Peter Rothe; The University of Alberta Press, 2002; Pages 271-281

By: Kyle Santos

Instructions for this oral presentation are found at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonpsy22/g22-oral.htm

1. Introduction to Concepts
1. Background: The Faulty Human Driver

i. Drivers are human, and humans make mistakes

2. The Integrated Traffic-Safety System

i. The Vehicle, Road, and Driver are inseparable

3. Creating a better vehicle

i. Recent efforts have been huge, but there have also been some setbacks.

4. Creating a better road

i. Examples of planning for driver error in road design.

2. The Integrated Traffic-Safety System
1. All are one: the vehicle, road, and driver are really inseparable.

i. Cars will always contain drivers and they will always be on the road.

ii. This symbiotic relationship is always acted upon by outside influences

1. Road maintenance, Police enforcement, vehicle design, driver training, etc.

2. It’s more difficult and less effective to train the better driver

1. Speeders will continue to speed even days after receiving a ticket.

2. What we learn quickly gets replaced by bad habits

ii. Solution: Design better roads and cars.

3. My thoughts…
2. Creating a better vehicle
1. Presently experiencing an unprecedented explosion of safety features built into cars.

i. Driver and passenger airbags, side impact beams, side airbags, collapsible steering column, rear passenger shoulder belts, emergency crash notification using GPS.

ii. Future will even more safety features

1. such as ITS (intelligent transportation system) such as forward, back, and side monitoring radar and heat sensors that alert drivers of approaching objects and impending collisions.

2. Some features are sometimes harmful or negated by others

i. The introduction of Antilock Braking Systems seemed to give drivers the impression they could follow cars closer and stop safer. Thus, they began driving less cautiously.

ii. Many features are negated by vehicle design improvements in speed, power, and lightweight design.

3. My thoughts…
3. Creating a better road
1. The stages of the highway

i. The traditional highway

1. Unforgiving and simple. You were in trouble if you left the road…

ii. The forgiving highway

1. Design allowed for a less harsh result in leaving the road

iii. The caring highway

1. Design focuses on prevention by anticipating driver mistakes. Goal is to prevent crashes from even happening.

2. Some examples

i. Freeway circle off-ramps. Increase turn radius and add impact dampeners to prevent serious accidents.

ii. The use of turn lanes and turn lights at busy intersections. Allows for more organized turns and minimizes driver’s tendency to rush a turn to beat oncoming traffic and possibly cause an accident.

3. Goal of such design, again, is to prevent accidents by analyzing driver tendency and applying that to specific problem areas of road design.
4. My thoughts…
4. Conclusion: people will always be human… It’s nice that we are looking at more than one angle to correct our driving problems.

Helpful links:

http://www.usroads.com/

http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/webonly/webex514.html

http://www.drivehomesafe.com/index.html

Home Page:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2005/santos/home.htm