• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.91-106
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• 2017

PURPOSES : Because elderly drivers are more prone to becoming confused when approaching an urban intersection and thus may yield prolong judgment and decision times than non-elderly drivers, to increase the comfort and safety of the intersection environment for elderly drivers, this study applied autonomous driving tests at an urban intersection to examine their driving characteristics. METHODS : To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of driving features, this study collected drive data of non-elderly drivers and elderly drivers via an autonomous experiment using OBD2 and an eye-tracker, in addition to performing a literature review on the measured visibility range of elderly drivers at intersections. This literature review was conducted considering the general knowledge of elderly drivers having relatively reduced visibility. Additionally, as they are commonly more vulnerable, this study analyzes characteristics of elderly drivers as compared to those of non-elderly drivers. CONCLUSIONS : The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) the peripheral visible distance of elderly drivers is reduced as compared to that of non-elderly drivers; 2) elderly drivers approach and proceed through intersections at slower speeds than non-elderly drivers; and 3) elderly drivers yield increased driving distances when performing a right or left turn as compared to non-elderly drivers as a result of their reduced speed and acceleration and larger turning radii relative to non-elderly drivers.