Browsing by Author "Glenn, Eric"

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    Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke: Evaluation of Preventative Technologies
    Glenn, T. Laurel; Glenn, Eric; Neurauter, Luke (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2021-04-06)
    In 2018 and 2019, pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH) was the leading cause of nontraffic child fatalities involving vehicles in the United States. Legislation is being introduced in Congress to require passenger vehicles to be equipped with rear seat reminder technologies (RSRTs), which would help to mitigate against PVH. In a previous study, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) conducted an extensive literature review to better understand the circumstances under which PVH occurs, identify the available preventive technologies, and examine what is necessary for an optimized PVH-prevention solution. The current study builds on that work by conducting a functional evaluation of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and aftermarket RSRT implementations, focusing on occupant detection methods and driver/bystander notification approaches. Using scenarios based on real-world PVH cases, this effort was a hands-on evaluation of how each RSRT implementation performed, accounting for OEM and select aftermarket RSRTs available at the time of data collection. Each implementation received ratings for reliability and effectiveness, offering opportunities to examine and discuss specific RSRT advantages and shortcomings.
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    Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke: Review of Literature and Preventative Technologies
    Glenn, Eric; Glenn, T. Laurel; Neurauter, Michael L. (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2019-10-08)
    Pediatric vehicular heatstroke (PVH) was the leading cause of nontraffic child fatalities in the United States in 2018. On average, there are 38 PVH fatalities in the U.S. each year, for a total of 905 child fatalities on record and thousands of non-fatal injuries. PVH can occur when a child gains access to a vehicle without parental knowledge or is intentionally or unintentionally left in the vehicle, and the temperature in the vehicle rises to a dangerous level from ambient heating. To safeguard against children being left behind in vehicles, legislation has been introduced in Congress to require rear seat reminder technologies (RSRTs) in passenger vehicles of less than 10,000 pounds. RSRTs provide audible and visual reminders to drivers when they leave their vehicles to check the rear seat for a child. This report reviews the literature on PVH, discusses both original equipment manufacturer and aftermarket RSRTs, and offers guidelines on how to make future RSRTs more effective and consumer friendly.
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    Quiet Car Detectability: Impact of Artificial Noise on Ability of Pedestrians to Safely Detect Approaching Electric Vehicles
    Neurauter, Luke; Roan, Michael J.; Song, Miao; Miller, Marty; Glenn, Eric; Walters, Jacob (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2020-04-10)
    Many auto manufacturers are now producing hybrid and electric vehicles with an additive noise component to signal vehicle presence in the same way that internal combustion engine vehicles signal their presence through engine noise. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute conducted an evaluation of quiet car detectability as part of a GM-funded project in 2015–2016. The internal combustion engine benchmark significantly outperformed the other three vehicles under a 10-km/h steady approach, but these differences largely disappeared at 20 km/h due to increased tire and road noise. Trends of improved detectability offered by the additive noise signals were observed but did not demonstrate a significant advantage over an electric vehicle with no additional noise component. Since that original project, NHTSA has released their final version of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141, outlining “Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.” This project aimed to demonstrate differences in detectability by replicating the previous study but with newer FMVSS 141-compliant sounds. The proposed additive sounds examined drastically improved detectability compared to the production variants included in the first round of testing. At 10 km/h, the additive sound conditions outperformed the no-sound condition by magnitudes ranging from 3.4 to 4.6, each eliciting mean detection distances well above the NHTSA minimum detection criteria. At 20 km/h, detectability also improved dramatically over the earlier production variants, achieving a similar magnitude advantage over no-sound as observed at 10 km/h. Increasing background noise resulted in a measurable impact on mean detection distances. The average reduction across all conditions was approximately 33% and 28% for approach speeds of 10 km/h and 20 km/h, respectively. In terms of accurately recognizing a stopped vehicle in a 20 to 0 km/h scenario, all sound conditions significantly outperformed the no-sound condition across both background noise conditions.