Browsing by Author "Tidwell, Scott"

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    Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Safety Website
    Tidwell, Scott; Trimble, Tammy E.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2016-08-06)
    This report documents the CMV Driving Safety website (http://cmvdrivingsafety.org/), which was created by the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) as an outreach effort to assist commercial motor vehicle (CMV) fleets and drivers, driver trainers, CMV training schools, and insurance companies. The website contains 15 unique pages and provides six downloadable training modules on driver distraction, driver health, hours of service, driver drowsiness and fatigue, sharing the road, and safety systems. In addition to profiling the website, the report provides statistics on site visits and the number of times the training modules have been downloaded.
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    Consumer Driving Automation System Education: A Learning and Retention Assessment
    Trimble, Tammy E.; Baker, Stephanie Ann; Russell, Sheldon M.; Tidwell, Scott (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2020-07-08)
    For the potential safety benefits of driving automation systems to be fully realized, drivers must understand the capabilities and limitations of these systems. This study explored a range of materials that drivers may access when trying to learn about driving automation system safety features: owner’s manual only, owner’s manual and OEM website video or animation, and owner’s manual and MyCarDoesWhat.org videos. Three vehicles, a 2015 Infiniti Q50, a 2016 Honda CR-V, and a 2015 Chevy Tahoe, were selected to represent a range of vehicle types, sizes, technologies, and price points. Each training condition was tested with each vehicle for a total of nine possible testing scenarios. Thirty-six participants were recruited for the study, with an equal number of males and females from two age groups, 25–39 and 40–54 years old. Participants were balanced across the nine possible testing scenarios. A two-part study was conducted to assess participants’ ability to learn from existing training materials and to determine how well participants were able to retain what they learned. When taking into consideration participants’ self-reported learning styles, average scores across all technologies were fairly comparable across style, and participants were able gain at least a rudimentary understanding of the operation and purposes of driving automation system technologies. However, participants were less sure of the specifics associated with the technologies (i.e., activation, alerts or warnings, and appropriate use). Those in the multimedia testing conditions reported feeling more familiar with the technologies than those in the owner’s manual only condition. Participants found the videos to be an entertaining and easier-to-understand alternative to the manual. Several indicated that they would refer to the video first to see how the technology worked and then refer to the manual to gain a more in-depth understanding. Videos with sound and additional details were preferred to the simpler animations.
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    Evaluation of Light-Vehicle Driver Education Programs Targeting Sharing the Road with Heavy Vehicles: A Case Study Analysis
    Baker, Stephanie Ann; Schaudt, William A.; Joslin, Spencer; Tidwell, Scott; Bowman, Darrell Scott (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2014-10-16)
    The purpose of this case study project sponsored by the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) was twofold. First, researchers investigated current light-vehicle driver education programs that contain components on sharing the road with heavy vehicles and developed a supplemental practices document on key sharing-the-road information that teachers could cover with students. Second, a case study was performed with a light-vehicle driver education program in a single state that only included a basic textbook-based component on sharing the road with heavy vehicles. Two components were introduced into different driver education classrooms and evaluated in comparison with the basic textbook-based component. The first component introduced was updated material in the form of a DVD developed by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance titled Teens and Trucks. The second component introduced was a hands-on truck experience program developed by NSTSCE researchers. Each classroom of students that received one of the components was invited to take part in a survey two months later and knowledge retention of key learning points (e.g., heavy vehicle No-Zones) was measured. Focus groups were also conducted with students to explore learning preferences related to driver education, understanding of key sharing-the-road information, and ratings of the various components. The mean percentage of correct responses for all survey questions was calculated and compared across the three conditions and did not show a statistically significant difference in knowledge retention of any one condition over another. Further analyses were performed to evaluate each survey question individually across conditions. Results found only one statistically significant difference: the textbook and truck condition outperformed the textbook condition regarding the proper front No-Zone distance. Although only one survey question analyzed for knowledge retention resulted in a statistically significant difference, students and teachers found the supplemental DVD and truck hands-on demonstration to be helpful, in particular the truck experience. The conclusion would seem to be that if a truck and driver are available teachers should try to include a truck hands-on experience when teaching sharing the road with trucks. Students are likely to find it helpful and preferable to just reading about sharing the road in their textbook.
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    Fact Sheets
    Tidwell, Scott; Fitchett, Vikki L.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2017-12-06)
    To extend its public outreach, the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence has created concise fact sheets describing research findings important to surface transportation safety. To date, fact sheets have been completed for nine projects. They are readily accessible through the NSTSCE page of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s website (https://www.vtti.vt.edu/national/nstsce/index.html) and the Commercial Motor Vehicle Driving Safety website (http://cmvdrivingsafety.org).
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    Transportation Research Today: The NSTSCE Quarterly Newsletter
    Tidwell, Scott; Fitchett, Vikki L.; Blanco, Myra (National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence, 2015-11-02)
    The National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE) newsletter, Transportation Research Today, was published quarterly from January 2014 to October 2014. The newsletter described NSTSCE research and included profiles of researchers, announcements, safety facts, and a transportation-related cartoon. As of September 20, 2015, the newsletter had been viewed over 8,900 times with an average reading time of 15 minutes. After the fourth issue, the newsletter was combined with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s (VTTI’s) e-newsletter. All issues remain available at http://www.vtti.vt.edu/national/ncstsr/index.html.