News:
Conferences for 2011
Practicum
Robert Ramkhalawansingh, a MA student with the DRIVE Lab, had many exciting opportunities this summer at his practicum with the Flight Research Lab of the Institute of Aerospace Research of the National Research Council in Ottawa. While there, he flew in planes, and also got to copilot the helicopter pictured above. He described the practicum as challenging and fulfilling, giving him a new posibility for a direction he might like to pursue once he graduates.
Driving Assessment
Driving Assessment, held at Lake Tahoe, California, was a great opportunity for people in the DRIVE Lab to meet with other researchers with similar interests across the world. Researchers from 20 different countries around the world were present for the conference, allowing for a wide disemination of information.
Ryan Toxopeus presented his research on the effects of passengers on young drivers.
Martin Lochner presented his research on multiple vehicle tracking.
Dr. Lana Trick and Robert Ramkhalawansingh also attended the conference, and can be seen here networking with a student researcher named John Lyon from the University of Calgary.
Overall, research from the DRIVE Lab generated a lot of interest from the crowd, and we have several ideas for research projects moving forward, both for our own studies, and for collaborations with other researchers at other institutions.
Auto21
This year's Auto21 annual conference was held in downtown Ottawa at the Westin Hotel.
Congratulations to Alexandra Mueller! She was selected as a Round 1 winner at the annual Auto21 conference for her work on young drivers' reactions to visibility challenges.
Annette Erasmus also presented the findings of her honour's thesis on using music to help anxious drivers perform better.
A group picture of (from left to right) Kate Johnston, Lana Trick, Ryan Toxopeus and Annette Erasmus discussing Alexandra Mueller's Round 1 win.
Additionally, there are several great websites that have been created to promote driving safety, and we will add those here:
The United Nations are calling on all of us to carefully examine our driving habits in order to drive more safely. Every day more than 3000 people die in vehicle crashes, world wide. We need to bring attention to this fact, and get people to think about how they can change their own driving behaviours in order to save lives and reduce injuries.
Transport Canada is also seeking to increase awareness of road safety, and get people to rethink road safety. In this way, they are hoping to have Canadians adopt safer driving behaviours.
This website is dedicated to teaching people about one of the least used and understood safety features in our vehicles: The head restraint (aka head rest). You can find your current/future vehicles listed and find their ratings for whiplash safety.