Updates
2018-04
I gave a presentation about "Development of a Vehicle-Based Experimental Platform for Quantifying Passenger Motion Sickness during Test Track Operations " at SAE 2018. Motion sickness in road vehicles may become an increasingly important problem as automation transforms drivers into passengers. Motion sickness could be mitigated through control of the vehicle motion dynamics, design of the interior environment, and other interventions. However, a lack of a definitive etiology of motion sickness challenges the design of automated vehicles (AVs) to address motion sickness susceptibility effectively. Few motion sickness studies have been conducted in naturalistic road-vehicle environments; instead, most research has been performed in driving simulators or on motion platforms that produce prescribed motion profiles.
To address this gap, a vehicle-based experimental platform using a midsize sedan was developed to quantify motion sickness in road vehicles. A scripted, continuous drive consisting of a series of frequent 90-degree turns, braking, and lane changes were conducted on a closed track. The route was selected to be representative of naturalistic urban driving conditions and parameterized in terms of lateral and longitudinal acceleration intensities likely to produce motion sickness. Vehicle instrumentation included simultaneous measure of vehicle acceleration, passenger head kinematics, self-reported motion sickness ratings and associated sensations, and physiological responses. A no-task condition involved normative passenger behavior and unconstrained gaze. During the task condition, passengers read a handheld mini iPad tablet. The resulting vehicle-based experimental platform provided a reliable methodology designed to quantify motion sickness. Knowledge generated from studies with this platform will inform the design of AVs and the development and evaluation of countermeasures.
2018-01
I have recently published two complementary manuscripts entitled “Evaluating an Intervention to Improve Belt Fit for Adult Occupants” and “Evaluating an Intervention to Improve Belt Fit for Adult Occupants: Promoting Positive Beliefs” that provide insights into a novel intervention to improve belt donning with respect to seat belt fit.
Previous interventions have focused on use/ non-use, these papers are among the first to focus on an intervention that encourages adults to improve seat belt fit with belt placement. The objective of the first manuscript was to evaluate the efficacy of a video-based intervention intended to show drivers how best to put on their belt, with a focus on lap belt fit. It details objective measurement from both the in-vehicle and laboratory belt measures and efficacy testing of the intervention pre-post. The second manuscript aims to outline the role of theory, the use of the Health Belief Model in intervention design, and provide information about the implementation and delivery of the messaging. This involved self-report mixed-methods including surveys, open-ended description of experiences, and depiction of belt fit. The results provide preliminary evidence that an intervention improves driver belt fit. More research is needed to establish what aspects of this intervention affected behavior and how effective such an intervention is in the context of public health. These findings can help better inform intervention initiatives to improve occupant belt fit.
2017-10
My colleague Matt Reed presented our paper "Effects of High Levels of Obesity on Lap and Shoulder Belt Paths" at the annual European meeting of the International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury. Analyses of crash data indicate that high BMI is associated with a higher risk of thoracic injury in frontal crashes. In previous work, we found only small differences in shoulder belt placement relative to the clavicle associated with obesity, although large effects on lap belt placement were found. In the current paper, we used functional regression techniques to model the effects of driver attributes on the path of the belt relative to the skeleton. As expected, higher BMI is associated with with belt routing farther from the skeleton, but we also found sex differences for both the lap and shoulder belt after holding stature and BMI constant. In general, we find that higher BMI causes the lower torso portion of the belt to route more laterally, which may cause increased risk of rib fractures and liver injuries for drivers. We will use these results to improve the routing of belts in simulations of frontal crashes with high-BMI drivers.
