Posted on 02/24/2014 12:56:38 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) – The National Science Foundation has awarded a $356,337 grant to the University of Iowa to use virtual technology to study social influences on risky cycling and pedestrian behavior.
“This project will create a simulation facility that will advance a capability to study the social interactions of two children, or a child and parent, as the two people walk or bicycle across a traffic-filled roadway,” the grant announcement said.
It will “expand existing infrastructure” at the university “to build a new simulator that matches a recently installed simulator at the same institution, which will permit each of two experimental participants to inhabit their own separate simulated environment.”
Both stimulators will be connected by a “high-speed network and programmed to share a single, virtual environment that can be configured for either bicycling or walking.”
“Experimental participants will control their motion by actually walking or cycling across these virtual intersections, surrounded by graphically rendered images that show a real-time, first-person view of their motion through the environment,” the grant said.
Using a “full-body motion tracking system,” avatars will be created to represent the motions of the participants to “provide a realistic experience of walking or riding with a friend or parent.”
“On the computational side, this research will advance the technology for immersive, interactive virtual environments by developing methods to represent full-body movements in avatars moving through large-scale environments, and by studying how the fidelity of avatar movements influences rider and pedestrian interactions,” the grant said.
“On the behavioral side, this research will advance an understanding of social influences on risk taking by studying how children interact with friends or parents in the context of crossing roads, an everyday and yet risky activity,” it added.
Researchers hope the project will contribute “to an understanding of the risk factors for car-bicycle and car-pedestrian collisions.”
“The project will create a foundation for future intervention studies that will help to reduce such collisions,” the grant said.
“Advances in simulation technology, experimental methodology, and methods to create life-like avatars will contribute to the development of virtual environments for use in behavioral research and simulation-based training,” it added.
The results of the research will be presented to the public through “scientific publications and presentations” as well as “open house events and bicycling/pedestrian safety lectures.”
Calls to the principal investigator at the University of Iowa were not returned by press time.
The grant is for a three-year period from Nov. 1, 2013 to Oct. 31, 2016.
Why did the conservative cross the road . . . ?
Combined PING! and DANG!
This sort of thing just makes it SO rewarding to turn over your hard-earned cash every April.
Why did the Scientist cross the road?
To get to the grant money on the other side.
Why did the Scientist cross the road?
To get to the grant money on the other side.
They were following the chicken.
Now if they had spent it on studying why chickens cross the road, it would be money well spent.
Why did the conservative cross the road . . . ?
Because all the nuts all arguing over at the Fuddy plane crash thread.
Why did the Democrats cross the road?
To take the Democrat’s bagman and his loot across the county line.
They were stapled to the chicken.
Sheesh, people. It is HOW, now WHY...
Everyone should be asking “With what?”
You want to know why people cross the road in a risky manner? Because unlike when we grew up and were told to look both ways, now we tell kids, and adults for that matter, that pedestrians always have the right of way and cars must stop for them.
As if they couldn’t have sent some undergrads out to a few street corners with a pad and pencil without wasting a dime of tax dollars.
One foot in front of the other,now send me the money!
money well spent. Hopefully it will help me break my habit of rolling when crossing a street.
This conservative crossed the road because I always walk and play on the RIGHT side!
Feds Spend $356,337 on ‘Simulation Facility’ to Study How People Cross the Roads in Atlanta during a Snowstorm
One of my traffic engineering classes required us to read a book about the politics of traffic engineering. The author was very clear in stating that the traffic engineer should avoid trying to interpret public behavior/perception in their designs because the variables are to vast to account for.
I’m sure people being watched at a safe simulation facility are going to act just the same as people trying to cross the street while avoiding getting run over by a bus or truck or muzzlem taxi in real traffic.
Bogus science.
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