Technical Paper
Observed Errors in Distance Estimation
2010-04-12
2010-01-0046
In order to evaluate the variation in distance estimation accuracy, a survey was conducted during which 123 subjects estimated distances to static objects in a roadway setting. The subjects (which included many police officers) tended to underestimate distances to objects that were from 21 to 383 feet away; the average estimation error was −8.6% while the median error was − 22%. The variation in performance among individuals was extremely large, with extreme errors ranging from − 96% to + 811%. The distribution of error did not conform to a Gaussian (normal) distribution because of the skew of the observed error distribution towards large positive errors. Box plots were used to identify nine “outlier” respondents who produced a total of 15 error estimates which were extraordinary in their difference from the rest of the data.
