[Quietcars] Study of trafficintersections and hybrid cars.

[Nightingale, Noel]

A study into solutions for quiet cars and the blind.


 


WMU sets its sights on easing challenges for blind pedestrians


One of the nation's premier university programs in blindness and low vision studies is putting its resources behind an effort to help pedestrians with visual impairments navigate increasingly complex traffic patterns.


WMU's College of Health and Human Services is home to the nation's oldest and largest university-based personnel preparation program focused on blindness and low vision rehabilitation. One of only about 15 programs in this area nationwide, WMU's Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies
educates:

*	orientation and mobility specialists, who teach individuals with
blindness and low vision the skills needed for safe travel; 

*	vision rehabilitation therapists, who provide instruction to
children and adults in activities such as Braille and adaptive communication, daily living skills, and social and leisure activities; 

*	teachers of vision impaired children, who help to meet the academic
needs of school-aged children; and 

*	rehabilitation counselors, who assist children and working-age
adults with vocational issues. 

Continuing the University's long tradition of innovation and research productivity, researchers in the department have been working since 2000 with the largest single research grant ever awarded in the field of orientation and mobility. The $4.2 million grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health and its National Eye Institute for work aimed at improving the access to complex traffic intersections by adults and children with low vision or blindness.

Work on the initial effort was guided by Dr. Richard Long. The funding supported a set of about 30 research projects in support of the overall effort. Long, professor of blindness and low vision studies and associate dean in the College of Health and Human Services, had three WMU co-investigators on the grant from WMU: Dr. David Guth, professor, and Dr.
Robert Wall-Emerson, associate professor, in the Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, and Dr. John Gesink, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering. With extensions, the initial five-year award ended in May 2007.

In June 2008, the investigators received word that their competitive renewal application was approved. This renewal will provide an additional $4.9 million in funding on the topic of access to complex intersections between
2008 and 2012. In total, WMU has been awarded $9.9 million in research dollars to investigate this topic.


Nature of the Research


The research is multidisciplinary in nature, involving traffic engineers, psychologists, and orientation and mobility specialists. Collaborating with WMU are Boston College, University of North Carolina, Vanderbilt University and the Maryland School for the Blind. Important to note is the fact that Boston College, UNC and Vanderbilt are premier research institutions with extensive programs of heavily funded, highly complex research.

Each of the four partner institutions investigates specific areas related to intersection access. At WMU, one emphasis is on how people with low vision and blindness cross streets at roundabout intersections. Proven to be safe and to reduce by as much as 60 percent the number of serious traffic accidents as they improve the traffic flow pattern, roundabouts offer a unique challenge to blind and low- vision pedestrians seeking to access the intersection.

Under federal law, the American with Disabilities Act mandates that people with disabilities have equal access to public spaces, including the street environment. Long and his cohorts are studying how to identify which roundabouts are likely to be problematic, and investigating how access might be facilitated by the use of low- and high tech-solutions, such as flashing beacons and video-based systems to detect vehicles.

Another potential challenge for pedestrians with low vision and blindness, as well as sighted pedestrians, is the increasingly popular hybrid cars.
Environmental and energy groups are urging the Big Three automakers and the general public to invest in hybrids. But with their influx into the mainstream, the challenge for blind and low-vision people is to hear these quiet cars as they approach crosswalks. 

Unlike those with typical vision, some blind and low-vision pedestrians cannot visually preview the roadways to see the traffic pattern. They rely on sound cues to determine when to cross the street. Researchers at WMU are working to study how hybrids with their quiet engines impact traffic detection for people with low vision and blindness, and they ultimately will investigate access solutions that will make detection of hybrid vehicles easier. 


For more information, contact Dr. Richard Long at richard.long at wmich.edu.

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