Analysis of Street-Crossing Behavior: Comparing a CAVE Simulator and a Head-Mounted Display among Younger and Older Adults.

Analysis of Street-Crossing Behavior: Comparing a CAVE Simulator and a Head-Mounted Display among Younger and Older Adults. Accid Anal Prev. 2021 Feb 01;152:106004 Authors: Pala P, Cavallo V, Dang NT, Granié MA, Schneider S, Maruhn P, Bengler K Abstract Interactive pedestrian simulators have become a valuable research tool for investigating street-crossing behavior and developing solutions for improving pedestrian safety. There are two main kinds of pedestrian simulators: one uses a technology based on rear-projection screens (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, or CAVE), the other a head-mounted display (HMD). These devices are used indiscriminately, regardless of the research objective, and it is not yet known whether they are equally effective for studying street crossing. The present study was aimed at comparing the street crossing behavior and subjective evaluations of younger and older adult pedestrians when they are using a CAVE-like or HMD-based (HTC Vive Pro) pedestrian simulator. Thirty younger adults and 25 older adults performed 36 street-crossing trials (combining different speeds, two-way traffic conditions, and gap sizes) on each of the two types of simulators. The results indicated that participants in the HMD condition crossed the street significantly more often (58.6 %) than in the CAVE condition (42.44%) and had shorter safety margins. The most striking difference pertained to crossing initiation, which occurred c...
Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention. - Category: Accident Prevention Authors: Tags: Accid Anal Prev Source Type: research