Analyzing Driving Behavior Change as Influenced by Visual Feedback in Following Distance

Rear-end crashes are the most common crash in US. One factor influencing this type of crash is following distance. Since achieving and maintaining an appropriate following distance is a function of vehicle speed and distance, a mental model is difficult to establish. In general, it is thought that visual feedback is effective to support driver awareness. In the present research, changing driver behavior was investigated by giving in-vehicle visual feedback. The results indicated that drivers try to improve their behavior in a trip as a result of the visual feedback. The detail of improved behaviors included indirect impact of feedback such as frequency of receiving feedback as well as direct impact such as recovery time. Moreover, the effectiveness was not consistent with all drivers. This also suggests that research should focus on population subgroups instead of the entire group when evaluating the effectiveness of driver assistance systems.