운전 시뮬레이터 고속 주행이 운전자의 근육 긴장도, 눈감은 시간비율, 안구도약 지속시간 및 주관적 피로도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to analyze the psychophysical effects on the drivers at high-speed driving such as 100km/h, 120km/h, and 140km/h by using driving simulator. Background: USA and Germany set the highway speed limit as 130km. Thus, the speed limit of highway is subject to change. However, the highway speed limit is always associated with the risk of accident. Therefore, driver's psychophysical workload needs to be assessed at high-speed driving for the safety of drivers. Method: This experiment was conducted under a simulated driving condition. 10 participants drove four sessions including driving for familiarization. A repeated measure design was used to warrant the data size and parameter comparison among speeds. Dependent variables were RMS (Root Mean Square) value of EMG measurement, PERCLOS (Percentage of Eyelid Closure), Saccade Duration, and subjective fatigue. A series of statistical analyses were performed in order to discover the significant effects on drivers (1) Repeated measures ANOVA was performed to see the significant difference among different speeds. (2) post-hoc analysis was performed when significant results were derived from ANOVA, (3) Correlation analysis was performed between the main dependent variables. (4) Gender difference was examined by T-test. Results: The muscle tension of the right and left pectoralis major muscle increased steadily as the driving speed increased. PERCLOS steadily decreased as the driving speed increased, which could be interpreted as the sign of increased vigilance at high-speed driving. Saccade duration increased as the driving speed increased, which could be interpreted as the sign of additional scanning by drivers. There was no significant difference in subjective muscle fatigue and subjective eye fatigue. Positive correlations were observed between the right pectoralis major and right middle deltoid, and between the left pectoralis major and left middle deltoid, which was the sign of muscle synergy. For male drivers, PERCLOS and Saccade duration were relatively lower than female subjects, which was the sign of active driving or increased alertness. Conclusion: The increased muscle tension, decreased PERCLOS, and increased Saccade duration at high-speed driving indicated the significant psychophysical change of drivers. That is, subjects were adapting themselves to the high-speed driving by using muscle synergy or coordination as well as increased visual workload. Male drivers seemed to be more involved in the high-speed driving and affected by the increased speed than female drivers in terms of PERCLOS and Saccade duration. A further study is necessary to investigate the psychophysical effect at 125~135km/h speed range in order to suggest a safe highway speed limit as well as to disclose the high-speed driving pattern of different gender. Application: The results of study could be use as one of reference for highway speed design. The parameters tested in this study can be referred in further studies.