초록
Objective: The purpose of this research was to analyze the on-road driving performance of normal subjects for operating the foot operated steering devices in the virtual driving simulator. Background: According to the statistical data of the survey on physical condition of persons with disabilities in 2014, about 60,000 people in South Korea have problems with upper limbs. These people have a lot of difficulties in daily life in use upper extremities, such as eating, dressing, writing, and moving objects. They also have problems in driving a car because they cannot grasp and control a conventional steering wheel. Therefore, if foot operated steering devices are used for controlling the motor vehicles on the road, the disabled persons can improve mobility life by driving a car safely. Method: Twelve subjects were evaluated in this research to analyze on-road driving performance for operating different steering system by using three types of steering devices, e.g. conventional steering wheel, pedal type foot steering and circular type foot steering, in the virtual driving simulator. STISim Drive 3 software was used to test the on-road driving performance in the driving simulator. This research used One-Way ANOVA to analyze the influences of three different steering devices on the on-road driving performance. Results: Tukey test results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the conventional steering wheel and circular type foot steering system or pedal type steering system (p<0.01). However, there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between the circular type steering system and the pedal type steering system. The ANOVA test results showed that there was not statistically significant (p>0.05) difference conventional steering wheel user group in the first half period (session 1~session 5) and circular type or the pedal type foot steering user group in the second half period (session 6~session 10). Conclusion: The on-road driving performances with circular type and pedal type foot steering system in the second half period showed no significant statistical difference compared to conventional steering system in the first half period. In the case of using a foot operated steering system, the basic driving ability for acquiring a driver's license is secured through a certain level of practice if there is no problem with the lower limb function. Application: This study can be used to evaluate the on-road driving performance and to improve their community mobility in people with upper limb disabilities by using foot operated steering system for adaptive vehicle.