Eye, head and torso motion during daytime driving in an urban setting

由汽车碰撞引起的颈部扭伤是一个重要的健康问题。在加拿大的一些地区，仅颈部扭伤保险索赔就占所有保险索赔的80%。据普遍报道，在汽车撞击的瞬间，乘客的头部转向。先前的研究已经表明头部旋转和颈部扭伤症状的持续性之间有很强的联系。由于头部旋转的程度通常是未知的，因此难以评估乘员受伤的风险。本研究的目的是检查眼睛，头部和躯干旋转在日常驾驶中的关系，提供标准化的，统计上严格的信息，在城市驾驶环境中的司机的正常行为。在这项研究的过程中，10名受试者将驾驶5公里的预定路线通过市区4 总次数眼睛，头部和躯干的运动将被记录使用在汽车眼跟踪和先进的三维运动分析仪器。 本研究所需的仪器将包括单独的市售系统，这些系统自定义安装在受试车辆上，并通过专门为此研究开发的中央数据收集系统进行集成。 收集的数据将被分析，以将驾驶员行为与驾驶情况相关联。理解驾驶过程中正常的人类行为和身体运动是复杂的许多因素，包括情况相关的变量，由内部和主体间的变异性。因此，对正常行为的直接测量具有提供可量化的真实的世界数据的优点。

Whiplash injuries resulting from automobile collisions are a significant health issue. Whiplash insurance claims alone constitute up to 80 % of all insurance claims in some parts of Canada. It is commonly reported that occupants have their head turned at the moment of an automobile impact. Previous research has shown a strong link between head rotation and the persistence of whiplash symptoms. It is then difficult to assess the risk of occupant injury as the degree to which the head was rotated is often unknown. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of eye, head and torso rotation in everyday driving to provide standardized, and statistically rigorous information on the normal behaviour of drivers in an urban driving environment. During the course of this study, 10 subjects will drive a 5 km predetermined route through an urban area 4 times in total. Eye, head and torso movement will be recorded using in car eye tracking and advanced 3-d motion analysis instrumentation. The instrumentation required for this study will include separate commercially available systems custom mounted in subject vehicles, and integrated through a central data collection system developed specifically for this study. Collected data will be analyzed to correlate driver behaviour with driving situations. Understanding normal human behaviour and body motion during driving is complicated by many factors including situation dependent variables compounded by intra and inter subject variability. As a consequence, the direct measurement of normal behaviour offers the advantage of providing quantifiable, real world data.