アクセルとブレーキのペダル段差がペダル踏み間違いに及ぼす影響の分析

抄録

According to the White Paper on the Aged Society of the Cabinet Office in 2017 year, the proportion of the population aged 65 years or older (the aging rate) in the total population of Japan continues to increase, and in 2060 it is predicted that the aging rate will reach 38.4%. So, an increase in traffic accidents involving the elderly is also expected. Therefore, urgent measures are required to prevent accidents caused by elderly drivers. In this regard, recently, accidents caused by the pedal operation error by the elderly drivers have become a social problem. In the previous report, the authors conducted an experiment in which the driver operated the pedal, in a posture to twist the upper body to the right and look backwards, assuming back-drive. As a result, it was clarified that the pedal layout is one of the factors affecting the pedal operation error. In this study, the authors focused on the vertical height of pedal step among the brake and accelerator pedal layout. And the authors experimentally analyzed the behavior of the toes in the pedal-switching operation from the accelerator to the brake by elderly drivers. It was clarified that not only the physical decline due to aging but also the height of pedal step is one of the factors that affect the pedal operation error.-