Identifying Pedal Misapplication Behavior using Event Data Recorders
2022-01-0987
03/29/2022
- Content
- Pedal misapplication (PM) crashes, i.e., crashes caused by a driver pressing one pedal while intending to press another, have historically been identified by searching unstructured crash narratives for keywords and verified via labor-intensive manual inspection. This study proposes an alternative method to identify PM crashes using event data recorders (EDRs). Since drivers in emergency braking situations are motivated to hit the brake hard, it follows that drivers in emergency braking situations that commit a PM would likewise hit the accelerator hard, likely harder than an accelerator pedal application of normal driving. Thus, the time-series accelerator pedal position and the derived accelerator pedal application rate were used to isolate accelerator misapplications. Additional strategic filters were applied based on characteristics observed from previous PM analyses to include cases that exhibit certain PM traits and exclude false positives. These include a crash type filter, since PM crashes have been shown to manifest as majority road departure, end departure, rear-end, and forward impact crash types. All other crash types were assumed to not be PMs. Because drivers are more likely to commit a hard, but appropriate accelerator pedal application from a full stop or in intersections or interchanges, those crashes were also assumed to not be PMs. After analyzing the NASS/CDS precrash EDR data, evidence of PM was observed in 4.6% of weighted events. This result was substantially higher than the previously estimated 0.2% PM frequency. The time-to-collision (TTC) at the point of PM was calculated for each case, and over 50% of cases had a TTC of less than 2.0 seconds. Over one-quarter of these drivers engaged the accelerator to 99% or above and over one-eighth of drivers engaged both the brake and the accelerator pedals simultaneously during the recorded precrash period.
- Citation
- Smith, C., Sherony, R., Gabler, H., and Riexinger, L., "Identifying Pedal Misapplication Behavior using Event Data Recorders," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0987, 2022, .