Accidents at crossings without signals are often caused by drivers who incorrectly perceive that there will be no crossing vehicles. This study verified the drivers’ awareness and the effect of providing information to drivers with improper perceptions using experiments conducted in driving simulators. Our experiment revealed that providing safety advisories reduced improper perceptions, but providing abstract information had little effect on the approach speed. Therefore, drivers with improper perceptions should be provided more practical information.
A driving simulator experiment was conducted to investigate appropriate methods of presenting many different messages through visual and auditory displays. The results demonstrated that presenting many displays to the driver at the same time may cause driver misunderstanding and improper driving behavior. The result also revealed that display presentation methods based on message priority help drivers to understand many different messages at the same time. The appropriate presentation of many messages by visual and auditory displays is discussed.
The effect of carbon monoxide (CO) on the performance of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) for automobile fuel cell applications was investigated under constant current or square wave load cycle conditions. The experiment employed the JARI standard single cell using the H2 + CO (0.2 ppm) as the fuel. The cell voltage drop due to CO under the load cycle conditions was less than that under constant current conditions. The voltage drop during the load cycle was reduced when the lower current density was less, and when the holding time at lower current density was long. The water generated during the load cycle may be one of the causes of recovery from CO poisoning. The obtained results will be utilized to discuss the allowable concentration limit of CO in ISO/TC197/WG12 (hydrogen fuel - product specification).