Effective control of the micro-climate in a vehicle has traditionally been regarded as being important for comfort, but in the absence of experimental results showing any measurable negative effects of compartment temperatures in or near the comfort zone on driver performance, it has not been regarded as a factor in road safety. The authors have recently reported new results demonstrating an unexpectedly large negative effect on driver vigilance at 27°C, in comparison with 21 °C, in a moving vehicle: drivers missed 50% more of the signals presented in the first hour at the moderately raised temperature, and response times were 22% slower on average. These results provide powerful arguments for regarding not only air-conditioning, but also automatic temperature control, as safety features. Compartment temperatures in vehicles without these features often exceed 27°C due to solar and engine load, even at ambient temperatures well below 20°C. Compartment temperatures are often raised voluntarily to 27°C in winter, and in air-conditioned vehicles in summer, to avoid discomfort due to cold draughts on certain body sections. Effective vehicle climate control thus contributes to road safety by optimising working conditions for the driver.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Driver Vigilance - The Effects of Compartment Temperature


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    International Congress & Exposition ; 1992



    Publication date :

    1992-02-01




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Driver vigilance - the effects of compartment temperature

    Norin,F. / Wyon,D.P. / Volvo,SE | Automotive engineering | 1992


    Driver vigilance monitoring - new developments

    Boverie, S. / Daurenjou, D. / Esteve, D. et al. | Tema Archive | 2002


    DrowseGuard – DeepAlert Driver Vigilance System

    Awachat, Snehal / Mundada, Krishna / Dewangan, Parag et al. | IEEE | 2024


    Driver vigilance reminding circuit and system

    ZHAO HONG / ZHANG WENWEN / LIU GUOFEI et al. | European Patent Office | 2024

    Free access

    DEVICE FOR CONTROL OVER DRIVER VIGILANCE

    BELOVA TAT JANA IVANOVNA / SUKHOV SERGEJ SERGEEVICH / GAVRISHCHUK VLADIMIR IVANOVICH et al. | European Patent Office | 2015

    Free access