| Rev Up Your Electric Engines! - Science Insider
Reported November, 2010
ANOTHER REASON THAT A SOUND MIGHT HELP PEDESTRIANS: Human factors and experimental psychologists found that pedestrians crossing the street while talking on a cell phone were at a greater risk of endangering their health than those not on the phone. Participants walking on a treadmill in a virtual reality environment that simulated a busy intersection missed more opportunities to cross and took 25 percent longer to cross the street than those not on the phone. Pedestrians preoccupied with phone calls were also more likely to get run over.
HELPING DRIVERS NOTICE CYCLISTS: Human factors engineers developed a vehicle warning system to improve the safety of bicyclists. The system consists of a GPS-enabled device mounted to the dashboard that communicates with a similar device on a bicycle. When the system detects a bicyclist in close proximity to the vehicle, the car's driver is alerted to the potential collision.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Everett Meyer
Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA
(650) 906-8582
Evmeyer@stanford.edu
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
Pender McCarter
IEEE http://www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA http://www.ieeeusa.org
p.mccarter@ieee.org
Ellen Weiss
Director of Policy & Communications
Biophysical Society
(240) 290-5606
eweiss@biophysics.org
Acoustical Society of America
Melville, NY 11747-4502
(516) 576-2360
http://asa.aip.org
asa@aip.org
Lois Smith
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(310) 394-1811
http://www.hfes.org
lois@hfes.org
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