Abstract
The aging rate continues to increase, and in 2065 it is predicted that the aging rate will reach 38.4%. It has been pointed out that the number of accidents caused by the elderly will increase in the future. Recently, accidents caused by elderly drivers from pedal operation error, when pedal change operation between brake and accelerator pedal have become a social problem. In this study, a sedan-type passenger vehicle with a pedal step of 20 mm was used as the test vehicle. The subjects were 5 elderly people （average age 72.8 years） and 5 young people （male average age 18.0 years）. And the subject was in a pedal-operated posture, putting the heel of right foot on the floor. The subjects were given the task of stepping on the brake pedal or accelerator pedal with their right foot. The author made a video of the movement of the foot when the subject changed from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal, and analyzed the video. In elderly subjects, when subjects put heel in the position of the accelerator pedal and try to step on the brake pedal with right toe facing inward, a near miss, stepping on a place near the accelerator pedal, occurred. On the other hand, when the heel is placed between the accelerator and the brake, It was confirmed that no near miss occurred. Therefore, the author conducted an experiment on young subjects with the heel placement positions set to “Condition 1: Accelerator pedal position”, “Condition 2: Position between the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal”, and “Condition 3: Brake pedal position”. As a result, the following was confirmed. In “Condition 1”, subjects make a near miss like elderly persons, or step on the accelerator pedal. In “Condition 2”, there are both cases where near misses occur and cases where near misses do not occur. In “Condition 3”, near miss does not occur. “Pedal operation with heels on the floor” is a pedal operation method recommended for elderly drivers, such as stable operation because the heel is placed on the floor. However, when recommending this pedal operation method to elderly drivers, it is important to instruct including “putting the heel of the right foot in the position of the brake pedal”.
