Reducing Road Fatalities with Human-Centered Systems
Dr. Max Donath, director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute at the University of Minnesota, spoke about reducing road fatalities by focusing on human-centered systems on November 1, 2011.
About the Speaker
Dr. Max Donath is a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute at the University of Minnesota. The institute's activities are focused on human-centered systems for enhancing the safety and mobility of road-and transit-based transportation. The ITS Institute, under his direction since 1997, pursues research in the areas of human performance and behavior, driver interfaces, sensors, vehicle and traffic controls, communications, and traffic modeling and simulation—developing new approaches for confronting difficult transportation issues.
Dr. Donath's most recent research efforts have been directed toward the application of sensors and control systems to reduce driver error and the resulting road fatalities. The focus of his research can be grouped into four areas: (1) improved georeferenced location sensing ("which lane" and "where in lane" vehicle position), (2) collision avoidance and active safety, (3) novel human interfaces for providing improved situation awareness to the driver and pedestrian, and (4) reducing teen driver fatal crashes.
A driver-assistive system developed by the Intelligent Vehicles Lab at the institute has been operational in Thompson Pass in Alaska since 2003. The system integrates high-accuracy differential GPS, radar, and a head-up display, providing visual, haptic, and tactile feedback that allows drivers to perform high-priority snow clearance tasks while operating under difficult visibility conditions. A similar technology was deployed in 2010 on 10 buses in passenger service as part of a BRT system allowing drivers to bypass congestion by driving along a narrow shoulder with only a decimeter to spare. Dr. Donath also leads a major effort with the support of the U.S. DOT and MnDOT to reduce fatalities and crashes at rural unsignalized intersections by using innovative sensing techniques and human interfaces to help drivers (especially older ones) decide when it is NOT safe to enter a high-speed intersection. This new system is presently deployed at four intersections as part of a three-year field operational test.
Dr. Donath has been on the faculty at the University of Minnesota since he received his PhD from MIT in 1978.
*The views of this presenter do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
View the video from this event.