Measuring a driver's reaction time

Since the real reaction time of a driver involved in an accident will always be unknown to reconstruction experts, and because the driver reaction-time databases published in the relevant literature have become almost obscure and hard to compare with the everyday practice of accident reconstruction, an expert decision was made at the Transport Safety Laboratory to investigate a driver reaction time and reaction-time measurement techniques as well as to develop a PC-based simulator for measurements of a driver reaction time. The driver-reaction-timer simulator structure and its components are described together with its measuring algorithm. The measurements of the driver reaction time in real and simulated driving environments were performed, and the results obtained are discussed. By comparing these results, a quality evaluation of the current stage of development of the simulator is addressed and the necessary further development of the simulator is defined. (c) 2006 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved.