This study collected the data concerning preferred driving postures and adopted seat adjustment levels. Then, the relationships among drivers' body sizes, postural angles, positions and angles of the ...seat, and body pressure distribution were investigated. An experiment was conducted to find observed optimum driving posture, seat adjustment level, and body pressure. Thirty-six subjects (20 males, 16 females) were selected to be representative of the automotive driving population of Korea. The preferred ranges for optimum postural comfort of Korean were presented. Considering the relationships among body sizes, driving postures, and seat adjustment levels, there was trade-off on the comfortable driving posture between steering wheel handling and pedal operation. Estimation models on observed optimum driving posture and seat adjustment level were constructed. The developed models enable us to estimate the quantitative optimum driving posture and seat adjustment level with a certain driver's physical dimensions.
The present study examined the perceptions of cellular phone users and nonusers on issues relating to vehicle control and driver distraction. Participants were asked if they own a cellular phone; if ...so, how much they use it; and their beliefs regarding cellular phone use while driving, including actions involving the use of cellular phones which could potentially cause vehicular accidents and the need for laws. A total of 330 individuals participated; 72% owned a cellular phone. The results indicate that nonusers of cellular phones believed more strongly than users that cellular phone use while driving negatively affects driving performance and that talking on the cellular phone could potentially cause an accident, and they also had a greater preference for new laws limiting such acts. Cellular phone users, more than nonusers, preferred no laws limiting cellular phone use and believed more strongly that other people driving while using a cellular phone were more dangerous than themselves doing the same. Implications of these results are discussed. Actual or potential applications of this research include interventions that limit driver distractibility.
The effect of practice on the parallel organization and control of discrete, asymmetrical bimanual movements was investigated. Subjects performed a flexion movement in the left limb together with a ...flexion-extension-flexion movement in the right limb. Two groups, one of which received kinematic information feedback, were instructed to produce the different patterns simultaneously. A third group performed each movement in isolation at all times, serving as the baseline condition. The degree of success in parallel action organization was assessed at the qualitative (or structural) and quantitative (or metrical) level of movement specification. Findings revealed that the bimanual groups displayed a tendency to synchronize the patterns of motor output, resulting in (mutual) interference. However,the provision of augmented kinematic information feedback resulted in more successful metrical and structural dissociation of the limb actions. The results are discussed in support of a movement dynamics perspective on motoric dual-task performance. The relevance of the approach for human factors is also emphasized.
