Assessment of Driver’s Head Acceleration during a Possible Car Skidding Effect

Abstract

This document provides a design description of a data acquisition device that allows an alert to be issued to suggest to the driver to take a break after having subjected his body to a certain amount of acceleration and pressure changes after driving on a road with too many curves. The tests were carried out using sensors based on microelectromechanical systems. The system was strategically installed at specific points on the body of the driver and car. Several electronic arrays were carried out, like the design of a printed circuit board. The establishment of an inter-integrated circuit communication and its multiplexing to work with several devices with the same address simultaneously. Finally, in this context, the document also presents the critical velocity for each curve in the Hakone roadway, which was obtained by using a mathematical model and contrasted with data acquisition values for acceleration. The risk of skidding on a curve increases when the driver does not reduce driving velocity; only a slight variance in acceleration or environmental conditions is enough. The value of acceleration was acquired for the analysis of each curve; there is a greater possibility of skidding in curves 2 and 4 because their radius is smaller and the critical speed is approximately 60 km/h, which is very close to the driving speed. On the other hand, the deceleration value of −0.65 G read on the head accelerometer can increase fatigue symptoms such as blurry vision or dizziness.

Keywords

• driving risk
• curve road
• driver fatigue
• test drive
• head accelerations