Situation Awareness Measurement in Remotely Controlled Cars.

This study reviews the current information concerning the measurement of the situation awareness (SA) of the teleoperated drivers of remotely controlled cars. The teleoperated drivers who drive these cars are in a remote location, and they control the cars through a communication interface. The objective methods with probes are beneficial in measuring SA on a closed circuit without real traffic. Questions specifically should address the information provided on the road by haptic sensations, such as the slope of the road and the vehicle's speed. Methods for measuring SA that involve probes and interruptions obviously are not suitable for use on public roads. A stable environment for the display and control of the communication interface is suitable for an eye tracker in measuring SA. These features also facilitate the use of subjective observer-rating methods. Both of these methods are suitable for driving on real roads because they are not intrusive. SA research in a real-road environment also should demonstrate how the SA of other drivers is affected by seeing a car without a driver. Given the remote character of driving, cultural differences in cognition may have a significant influence on the SA of the teleoperated driver.

Walking against or with traffic? Evaluating pedestrian fatalities and head injuries in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Allowing contraflow cycling on one-way streets has been reported to reduce crash risks in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Similarly, walking against traffic on roadways without sidewalks substantially improves pedestrian safety. This study examined fatalities and head injuries sustained by pedestrians in against-traffic and with-traffic crashes. METHODS: Using police-reported crash data in Taiwan between 2011 and 2016, fatalities and head injuries were compared for pedestrians involved in against-traffic and with-traffic crashes. RESULTS: Of the 14,382 pedestrians involved in crashes, 10,749 and 3633 pedestrians in with-traffic and against-traffic crashes, respectively, were reported. Compared with pedestrians involved in against-traffic crashes, those in with-traffic crashes were more likely to sustain fatalities and head injuries. Results of logistic regression models revealed several influential factors on pedestrian fatalities and head injuries, including elderly pedestrians, male drivers, intoxicated drivers, rural roadways, unlit streets in darkness, limited sight distance, adverse weather conditions, midnight hours, and a heavy vehicle as the crash partner. CONCLUSIONS: Pedestrians in with-traffic crashes were more likely to sustain fatalities and head injuries compared with those in against-traffic crashes. Furthermore, the negative effect of walking with traffic on injuries was more pronounced in reduced-visibility conditions.

Population-based case-control study of the effect of sun glare on pedestrian fatalities in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES: Sun glare is a serious driving hazard and increases crash risks. Relatively few studies have examined the effects of sun glare on pedestrian fatalities, given that a crash has occurred. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of sun glare on pedestrian fatalities. DESIGN: A population-based case-control study. SETTING: Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Using the Taiwan National Traffic Crash Data and sunrise and sunset data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the period 2003 to 2016, 100 411 pedestrians involved in crashes were identified. Of these crashes, 13 355 and 87 056 were glare-related (case) and non-glare-related (control) crashes, respectively. METHODS: To account for unobserved heterogeneity, mixed logit models were estimated to identify the determinants of pedestrian fatalities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pedestrian fatalities. RESULTS: Pedestrians involved in glare-related crashes were more likely to be fatally injured than those in non-glare-related crashes (ß=0.527; t=3.21). Other contributory factors to fatal injuries among pedestrians were older pedestrians (ß=0.553; t=2.33), male drivers (ß=0.324; t=2.33), older drivers (ß=0.218; t=2.14), intoxicated motorists (ß=0.606; t=2.85), rural roadways (ß=0.985; t=3.92), overtaking manoeuvres (ß=0.472; t=3.58), heavy vehicle crash partners (ß=0.248; t=2.78) and sunset hours (ß=0.274; t=3.08). Walking against traffic appeared beneficial for decreasing injury severity (ß=-0.304; t=-2.76). CONCLUSIONS: Sun glare is associated with pedestrian fatalities. Older pedestrians, male drivers, older drivers and intoxicated motorists are prevalent determinants of pedestrian fatalities in glare-related crashes.

Human Factors in the Cybersecurity of Autonomous Vehicles: Trends in Current Research.

The cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is an important emerging area of research in traffic safety. Because human failure is the most common reason for a successful cyberattack, human-factor researchers and psychologists might improve AV cybersecurity by researching how to decrease the probability of a successful attack. We review some areas of research connected to the human factor in cybersecurity and find many potential issues. Psychologists might research the characteristics of people prone to cybersecurity failure, the types of scenarios they fail in and the factors that influence this failure or over-trust of AV. Human behavior during a cyberattack might be researched, as well as how to educate people about cybersecurity. Multitasking has an effect on the ability to defend against a cyberattack and research is needed to set the appropriate policy. Human-resource researchers might investigate the skills required for personnel working in AV cybersecurity and how to detect potential defectors early. The psychological profile of cyber attackers should be investigated to be able to set policies to decrease their motivation. Finally, the decrease of driver's driving skills as a result of using AV and its connection to cybersecurity skills is also worth of research.

Training or Battling a Monster of a Location-Based Augmented-Reality Game While Descending Stairs: An Observational Study of Inattentional Blindness and Deafness and Risk-Taking Inclinations.

Several emerging smartphone location-based augmented-reality (AR) games require three primary tasks: training or battling a monster, capturing a monster, and searching for a monster, which involve different levels of perceptual load. Using the AR game originated from Japan as a single case study, this study examined inattentional blindness and deafness and risk-taking inclinations among participants concurrently descending stairs and engaging in these three tasks. Participants descending stairs in Taipei Medical University were observed through recordings obtained from Wi-Fi cameras to determine whether they engaged in risk-taking behaviors such as hopping, not using the handrail, and stopping suddenly. After the participants descended the stairs, they were interviewed to obtain additional information regarding demographics, game tasks (training or battling a monster, capturing a monster, or searching for a monster), data plan, and screen size. Inattentional blindness and deafness were investigated by determining whether participants saw something unusual, a police ascending the stairs, and heard the national anthem played by the police, respectively. In total, 1036 participants descended the stairs and underwent the interview between August 2016 and July 2018. Logistic regression models revealed that training or battling a monster was most associated with inattentional blindness, deafness, not using the handrail, and stopping suddenly, whereas hopping behavior was the commonest among those capturing a monster. Other contributory factors include a large smartphone screen (≥5 in), unlimited mobile data, being an undergraduate student, and an increase in the daily gaming hours. Development of smartphone apps toward detection of stair locomotion may be beneficial for curbing phone use in general and AR game playing in particular.

Motorcycle door crashes: An evaluation of crash characteristics in Taipei City, Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES: Crashes due to motorcyclists colliding with an open car door can cause devastating injuries. In Taiwan, such crashes typically occur when the motorcyclist is travelling alongside a row of parallel-parked cars, and a driver suddenly opens the door in front of or next to the motorcycle without determining whether it is safe to do so. Injuries resulting from motorcycle door crashes tend to be severe. This study examined the factors that contribute to motorcycle door crashes. METHODS: By using linked data from the National Traffic Crash Dataset and Emergency Medical Service for Taipei City for the years 2010-2015, this study estimated a mixed multinomial logit model to predict the likelihood of three types of door crashes: driver-door crashes, left passenger-door crashes, and right passenger-door crashes. RESULTS: Data on 8237 motorcycle door crashes were extracted from the two datasets and matched. The results from the mixed multinomial logit model revealed that illegal parking, older car occupants, teenage car occupants, intoxicated car occupants and motorcyclists, and motorcycle speeding contribute to driver-door crashes; and female passengers and taxis as the type of vehicle involved in crash are associated with left passenger-door crashes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that controlling motorcycle speed, and prosecuting illegal parking and drink driving/riding may constitute effective countermeasures. The "Dutch Reach" intervention measure, which is commonly adopted in Europe for bicycle door crashes, should be applied in Taiwan to curb motorcycle door crashes, especially for elderly car occupants.

Psychology is not primarily Empirical Science: A Comparison of Cultures in the Lexical Hypothesis Tradition as a Failure of Introspection.

A large part of psychology has become an empirical science that assumes that there might exist one set of research methods suitable for psychological research in all human cultures. Research questions, methods, and theories formulated from one cultural perspective are not thoroughly introspectively examined when being used in another cultural environment. This leads to research that answers questions that are not meaningful in such environments. Research coming from the lexical hypothesis tradition is given as an example. The original research in English language decided that the lexicon was enough to represent language structures for the purpose of examining how language reflects personality; however, some languages might use specific grammatical structures to reflect personality, so the lexicon is not enough to adequately represent these languages. Despite this, researchers still follow the research method developed for the English language. The Czech and Korean languages are examples of this approach. A solution to this problem is the thorough use of introspection during the formulation of research questions.

Tokenism in psychology: standing on the shoulders of small boys.

Tokenism is a situation in which a member of a distinctive category is treated differently from other people. This article is about the situation in which Tokens (people perceived as distinctive) are considered experts on something for having the properties of a token (the thing which makes them distinctive). Tokens who differ by appearance or by being born into another culture might be considered experts on cultures grouped into the same racial/cultural category. Tokens who differ by being skilled in number-related mathematics might be considered experts on the mathematization of phenomena. Tokens might say that some result is valid for all people in some racial/cultural category without sufficient evidence, or use number-related mathematics as a mathematization of psychological phenomena without trying to find more abstract mathematizations. This harms psychological research. A possible future genesis of cultural and number tokenisms is discussed, and some suggestions to improve the discourse offered. The effect of tokenism might be diminished if psychologists focus on more proper thinking about psychological phenomena.