Brake Response Time and the Effects of Parked and Incurring Vehicles on Driver Behavior

A commonly investigated parameter in driving research is perception-response time (PRT), which refers to the duration required for a driver to respond to a roadway hazard. This study used a driving simulator to reproduce a commonly cited test-track response-time study by Mazzae et al., where responses to a laterally incurring vehicle were investigated. The primary goal of the current study was to evaluate how different factors in the configuration of the Mazzae et al. study, namely presence of parked roadside vehicles and incurring vehicles, affected response times. We enrolled 88 subjects and had them operate a driving simulator that replicated the prior study’s test track with and without the parked and incurring vehicles. A delay in accelerator pedal release was found when the incursion vehicles were present during three prior non-event passes through the critical intersection. The presence of parked vehicles did not affect response times. Accelerator-release times and brake response times from our simulator study align well with the original test-track response-time data.