Undergraduate Research: Colton Turner

The Honors Office works along side the Undergraduate Research Grants Program Assistant to provide opportunities and funds to Wichita State's undergraduate researchers. For the next few weeks, The Innovator will feature the current projects of Shocker researchers. If you have questions about undergraduate research, please contact Stephanie Rogers at 316-978-6378.

Last month, the students had the opportunity to present their research to legislators, lobbyists, and the Kansas Board of Regents at the Day at the Capitol event hosted this year by Wichita State. The Sunflower covered the event and took pictures which are included below.

Student: Colton Turner
Year: Senior
Department: Psychology
Mentor: Dr. Alex Chaparro
 
Title: Pedestrian Detection During Night Time Driving and Texting
 
There is very little research on how distracted driving effects driving performance at night time. There is even less research on how distracted driving effects a driver’s ability to detect roadside pedestrians. This study aimed to find how night time driving and texting effects a drivers ability to detect roadside pedestrians, as well as determine what types of clothing may make pedestrians more visible under night time conditions. The strength of this study lies in its real world setting. Participants were passengers in an automobile driven by a researcher on a closed road course and were asked to monitor the driving scene for pedestrians both while texting and when not distracted.