I CRASHED IN A "TEST
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This writer drove in a head-on collision and a plunge off a cliff but,
thanks to laboratory science, all he got was a lesson in why such things happen
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Why did more than 40,000 men,
women, and children die on Amer
ica's roads last year? What could they
have done to survive?
Recently, I learned some of the newer answers
to these questions as I drove, without danger, in
two deadly crashes. My "fatal accidents" took
place in a remarkable driving-research tool the
Driver Simulator. It is located at the Institute
of Transportation and Traffic Engineering at the
University of California at Los Angeles.
The Simulator was built to "create" accidents
in the controlled world of the laboratory. What
has it proved?
"Many people believe speed cauaes most acci
dents," says psychologist Dr. Slade Hulbert
"But our team of engineers and psychologists
finds it to be driver inattention. Let's take a
drive and I'll show you what I mean."
Dr. Hulbert led my wife Patricia and me into
a high-ceilinged room cluttered with scientific
gadgetry. In the center was a new sedan with
its rear wheels sitting on rollers. Curving around
the front and sides of the car was a great screen.
Behind the car was another screen.
I took the wheel, and Patricia crawled into the
passenger's seat. An assistant snapped a belt
around my chest to measure breathing and at
tached a wire to my left ankle to pick up electri
cal skin changes. These devices, similar to a lie
detector, register emotional reactions.
Dr. Hulbert slipped into the back seat, wear
ing a headset. "Ordinarily," he told us, "the
driver is alone. He merely responds to what he
sees during the drive."
The room went dead black. "Start the engine,"
Dr. Hurlbert said. Until then, I'd been skeptical.
Bring the road into the laboratory? Impossible.
There might be a few clever effects, but . . .
"Shift into drive," Dr. Hulbert said. I shifted.
All was still black. "Accelerate to 40, please." I
watched the speedometer climb. It was eery.
Forty miles an hour in utter darkness.
"Now," said Dr. Hulbert Suddenly I blinked.
M family VVnkly, August i.lMl
Before, around, and behind us was the road
and we were moving!
I turned the wheel and the car, cleverly linked
to the picture on the screen, turned from side
to side on the road. I stepped on the gas and
the scenery moved past faster. We were whizzing
over a California highway, seeing nothing but
the road, mountains, and sky. The illusion, cre
ated by a special projector lens invented by Carl
Williams and Dr. Richard Vetter of the UCLA
faculty, was incredible.
After a few minutes, our test seemed like a
Sunday drive. As we cruised along. Dr. Hulbert
told us something of the Institute's findings about
inattention. At the speeds the average driver
often travels, a car can easily move into a trou
ble zone while he is turning to look at scenery,
road signs, or even a pretty girl. Police often
explain such accidents by speed. But careful in
terviewing usually turns up a brief diversion
sometimes of a very subtle kind which can
mean disaster.
As Dr. Hulbert talked, I became engrossed in
what he had to say. I began turning my head to
speak to him.
"Look out!" Patricia cried.
I spun around. Two cars were coming toward
us on the narrow mountain road. One was pull
ing out to pass. "There's no room," I shouted.
I couldn't BELIEVE it. The passing car was
picking up speed, headed straight for us on
our side of the road. Suddenly, I realized what
was going to happen. I braked hard. I spun the
wheel. But it was too late. There was no place to
go. We were going to crash!
There was a kaleidoscopic rush of images, and
suddenly the car was gone. But my heart pounded.
"You have just had a fatal accident," Dr. Hul
bert said. Then he analyzed the crash. It began
with the simplest kind of inattention: I wasn't
looking. Then, after I had seen the problem, I
wasn't able to respond to what I saw.
"Your judgment was blocked psychologically,"
Dr. Hulbert pointed out "Experience told you
the other driver would do the sensible thing
that he would turn back into his own lane. So
you paid no attention to the cues which called
for immediate action. You waited.
"Our engineers stage actual car crashes. They
find that in the last three to five seconds before
most head-on crashes, maneuvers make no prac
tical difference."
But had I not lost seconds during my inatten
tion, I could have braked sooner and thus left a
longer track for the oncoming car to return to
its proper lane.
How can this common and often tragic trick
of the mind be avoided? "Our staff men," Dr.
Hulbert said, "all practice what they call defen
sive driving. They never assume the other fel
low will do the right thing. They assume he may
well do the wrong thing that he may judge or
steer badly, even be sick or drunk. That way,
they can protect themselves by responding to
danger in time."
We continued our drive, though I was warned
I might soon be shown another form of inatten
tion. Then another car came up behind me. No
matter what I did, he stayed there, much too
close for safety. It was darned annoying.
"Why don't you just speed up and get away
from him?" asked Dr. Hulbert
The road was twisting, and we were doing 50.
I shook, my head. But after 10 minutes that car
was a nerve-wracking nuisance. Then I saw a
straight stretch of road ahead. In annoyance, I
gunned the engine to 60, then 65. And then the
road was curving again, and I began to slow.
Suddenly, there was a bang a blowout! The
car yawed off course as I hit the brakes and tried
to straighten out We skidded toward a cliff, and
I turned with the skid, braked again, and finally
stopped inches from the guardrail. My mouth
was very dry.
"Just made it," Dr. Hulbert said. "The con
trol room reports that, as that car stayed close
behind you, you became steadily more emotional
until your emotions blocked your judgment
and attention. Your reaction to the blowout was
"Look out!" cries Mrs. Deutseh (photo left)
as author swerves in effort
to avoid "collision." A researcher (above)
points out driving errors.
slow. And anyway, if you hadn't been angry, you never
would have been driving so fast would you?"
I shook my head. I'd never had a blowout at high
speed. I was unnerved. "Had you been driving defen
sively," said Dr. Hulbert, "you would have pulled over
and stopped, allowing the other driver to go on. Then
your attention would not have been blurred."
As we resumed driving, Dr. Hulbert told me my han
dling of the blowout could have been better. Researchers
find that contrary to popular belief, a blowout does not
usually throw a car out of control ; the driver does. In a
blowout, the car's wheels usually continue to follow the
path of the car. But sudden braking or panic twisting
of the wheel can produce a nightmare. The correct an
swer usually is gentle braking and steering to a stop.
Dr. Hulbert concluded by saying, "Let's stop for a drink."
HE WASN'T joking. We stopped, and I had two cock
tails. Then I drove again better than before, I
thought "Your co-ordination has slipped," he warned,
after getting a report from the control room.
I couldn't see anything different about my driving.
We were back on that mountain road again, chatting.
And again there was that ominous bang.
Another blowout I hit the brakes and at once remem
bered that was wrong. The car skidded for the guard
rail. I tried to correct the steering, but couldn't.
"Same curve," said Dr. Hulbert. "Same blowout. But
last time you made it This time . . ." he shook his head.
"Your reactions were poor. You never realized that the
alcohol had sharply reduced your driving attention."
Clearly, the Simulator can provide scientists with many
answers to the urgent questions of driving safety.
"We are beginning to believe that preventing inat
tention may be the most important of all safety de
vices," says Dr. Hulbert. "Every time you slip behind
the wheel, ask yourself this question : Am I alert enough
to drive safely ?"
If not, perhaps you should simply let someone else
drive or wait a while before you set out. Psychologists
believe that in certain cases simply reminding yourself
of the potential hazard may snap you back to alertness.
I learned the dangers of inattention when I drove in
two accidents which, had they been real, might have cost
my life. You might not be so lucky.
family Weekly, Aufutt 4. 196 J
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