On-road assessment of in-vehicle driving workload for older drivers: Design guidelines for intelligent vehicles

There has been recent interest in intelligent vehicle technologies, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) or in-vehicle information systems (IVISs), that offer a significant enhancement of safety and convenience to drivers and passengers. However, the use of ADAS- and IVIS-based information devices may increase driver distraction and workload, which in turn can increase the chance of traffic accidents. The number of traffic accidents involving older drivers that are due to distraction, misjudgment, and delayed detection of danger, all of which are related to the drivers’ declining physical and cognitive capabilities, has increased. Because the death rate in traffic accidents is higher when older drivers are involved, finding ways to reduce the distraction and workload of older drivers is important. This paper generalizes driver information device operations and assesses the workload while driving by means of experiments involving 40 drivers in real cars under actual road conditions. Five driving tasks (manual only, manual primarily, visual only, visual primarily, and visual-manual) and three age groups (younger (20–29 years of age), middle-aged (40–49 years of age), and older (60–69 years of age)) were considered in investigating the effect of age-related workload difference. Data were collected from 40 drivers who drove in a real car under actual road conditions. The experimental results showed that age influences driver workload while performing in-vehicle tasks.     

European advanced driver training programs: Reasons for optimism

Post license advanced driver training programs in the US and early programs in Europe have often failed to accomplish their stated objectives because, it is suspected, that drivers gain self perceived driving skills that exceed their true skills—leading to increased post training crashes. The consensus from the evaluation of countless advanced driver training programs is that these programs are a detriment to safety, especially for novice, young, male drivers.Some European countries including Sweden, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, and Norway, have continued to refine these programs, with an entirely new training philosophy emerging around 1990. These ‘post-renewal’ programs have shown considerable promise, despite various data quality and availability concerns. These programs share in common a focus on teaching drivers about self assessment and anticipation of risk, as opposed to teaching drivers how to master driving at the limits of tire adhesion. The programs focus on factors such as self actualization and driving discipline, rather than low level mastery of skills. Drivers are meant to depart these renewed programs with a more realistic assessment of their driving abilities. These renewed programs require considerable specialized and costly infrastructure including dedicated driver training facilities with driving modules engineered specifically for advanced driver training and highly structured curriculums. They are conspicuously missing from both the US road safety toolbox and academic literature. Given the considerable road safety concerns associated with US novice male drivers in particular, these programs warrant further attention.This paper reviews the predominant features and empirical evidence surrounding post licensing advanced driver training programs focused on novice drivers. A clear articulation of differences between the renewed and current US advanced driver training programs is provided. While the individual quantitative evaluations range from marginally to significantly effective in reducing novice driver crash risk, they have been criticized for evaluation deficiencies ranging from small sample sizes to confounding variables to lack of exposure metrics. Collectively, however, the programs sited in the paper suggest at least a marginally positive effect that needs to be validated with further studies. If additional well controlled studies can validate these programs, a pilot program in the US should be considered.     

Age effects on traffic sign comprehension

Ageing is associated with changes in cognitive functions that affect fitness to drive. However, little is known about age effects on traffic sign comprehension (TSC).In this study, we assessed 37 older and 29 younger healthy drivers with a standardised traffic sign test and a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery.Older drivers showed lower TSC speed and tended to interpret more recent traffic signs less accurately than younger drivers. Higher cognitive functioning was generally associated with better TSC performances in both groups. In older drivers, TSC speed was related to specific cognitive functions such as cognitive flexibility and inhibition.Our findings suggest that traffic signs should appear in time to meet age-related constraints in TSC processing speed and should put low demands on inhibitory skills and cognitive flexibility. However, our findings also suggest that cognitive abilities are important for TSC regardless of age. In addition, a periodic update of traffic sign knowledge appears to be necessary.     

European advanced driver training programs: Reasons for optimism

Post license advanced driver training programs in the US and early programs in Europe have often failed to accomplish their stated objectives because, it is suspected, that drivers gain self perceived driving skills that exceed their true skills—leading to increased post training crashes. The consensus from the evaluation of countless advanced driver training programs is that these programs are a detriment to safety, especially for novice, young, male drivers.Some European countries including Sweden, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, and Norway, have continued to refine these programs, with an entirely new training philosophy emerging around 1990. These ‘post-renewal’ programs have shown considerable promise, despite various data quality and availability concerns. These programs share in common a focus on teaching drivers about self assessment and anticipation of risk, as opposed to teaching drivers how to master driving at the limits of tire adhesion. The programs focus on factors such as self actualization and driving discipline, rather than low level mastery of skills. Drivers are meant to depart these renewed programs with a more realistic assessment of their driving abilities. These renewed programs require considerable specialized and costly infrastructure including dedicated driver training facilities with driving modules engineered specifically for advanced driver training and highly structured curriculums. They are conspicuously missing from both the US road safety toolbox and academic literature. Given the considerable road safety concerns associated with US novice male drivers in particular, these programs warrant further attention.This paper reviews the predominant features and empirical evidence surrounding post licensing advanced driver training programs focused on novice drivers. A clear articulation of differences between the renewed and current US advanced driver training programs is provided. While the individual quantitative evaluations range from marginally to significantly effective in reducing novice driver crash risk, they have been criticized for evaluation deficiencies ranging from small sample sizes to confounding variables to lack of exposure metrics. Collectively, however, the programs sited in the paper suggest at least a marginally positive effect that needs to be validated with further studies. If additional well controlled studies can validate these programs, a pilot program in the US should be considered.     

老年驾驶人的驾驶自我调节研究述评

随着社会人口老龄化的发展,老年驾驶人的占比逐年增加,提升老年人的驾驶安全性对于其安全自主出行和公共交通安全均具有重要意义。驾驶自我调节是老年驾驶人为适应身体、认知功能变化而对驾驶行为做出的主动调整,是其提升驾驶安全性、延长驾驶生命和维持自主行动能力的有效补偿策略。通过对已有关于老年驾驶人的驾驶自我调节研究进行系统回顾,介绍了老年驾驶人的驾驶自我调节行为的定义及其表现,归纳分析了其驾驶自我调节行为的影响因素及产生机制,在此基础上总结了现有研究的局限,并指出了未来进一步研究的主要思路和方向。对文献的梳理和分析表明：老年驾驶人的驾驶自我调节包括减少驾驶频率和回避具有挑战性的驾驶情境2种主要形式,并可分为策略性、战术性和生活目标性自我调节3种不同的层次水平;驾驶自我调节是一个复杂的过程,社会人口因素、生理健康和功能状况、心理因素等均可对其产生影响;驾驶自我调节的产生机制可以被概括为是个体从认知到态度改变,再到形成调节行为意向,直至最终发生驾驶行为改变的动态决策过程。未来对老年驾驶人的驾驶自我调节行为研究应更进一步将客观驾驶行为数据、医疗机构数据与驾驶人主观自我报告相结合,适当开展追踪研究,考察驾驶自我调节行为随年龄的发展变化趋势,深入探究驾驶自我调节的产生机制及其在降低事故发生和提升驾驶安全性方面的作用。     

Age and cross-cultural comparison of drivers’ cognitive workload and performance in simulated urban driving

Driving demands significant psychomotor attention and requires even more when drivers are engaged in secondary tasks that increase cognitive workload and divert attention. It is well established that age influences driving risk. Less is known about how culture impacts changes in attention. We conducted parallel driving simulations in the US and Korea to measure the extent to which age and culture influence dual-task performance. There were 135 participants divided into two groups: a younger group aged 20∼29, and an older group aged 60∼69. Whereas some differences by culture appeared in absolute control measures, the younger participants showed similar mean velocity and compensatory patterns associated with increased cognitive load in the urban setting; however, the results from the older samples were less similar.     

Âge des conducteurs de voiture et accidents de la route: Quel risque pour les seniors ?

Increasing life expectancy and the fact that the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age are increasing the size of the elderly population. As road users, seniors have quite specific travel behaviours, and this has an impact on accidents. This paper adopts a quantitative approach with a view to showing the specific characteristics of elderly drivers as regards travel, accidents and road risk. Towards this end it surveys a number of previous studies and takes advantage of recent data to update some of the findings of these contain. Some road risk indicators are described, and attention is paid to the methodological bias inherent in the methods employed. Our analysis shows that the presence of seniors on the roads is growing as the proportion, particularly of the women, in this group who are accustomed to driving increases. They nevertheless cover fewer kilometres than other drivers and develop compensatory strategies, for example not driving when conditions are difficult or driving more slowly than other drivers. When they have accidents they tend to be more severe because of their greater vulnerability. They have higher crash involvement at intersections as a result of detection and estimation difficulties in the driving task. The excess crash risk per kilometre driven for seniors that was observed a few years ago is tending to fall, or even disappear, if the low mileage bias is taken into account.     

Investigating the attitudes of Egyptian drivers toward traffic safety

One of the main pillars for improving road safety in any country is a good understanding of traffic safety culture and the driving behavior of local drivers. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether Egyptian drivers differ in traffic safety attitudes and level of acceptance of risky driving behavior. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the driving cognition of the participants. An exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the number of factors that differentiated the three types of drivers. Then a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to group the drivers with similar patterns of scores on the factors into clusters. Three driver clusters emerged: The drivers in cluster 1 were “drivers who rigidly followed regulations” (51.7%). The drivers in cluster 2 were “drivers who violated safety precautions” (23.3%). The drivers in cluster 3 were “drivers who had a tendency to violate regulations” (25.0%). A similarity between the social norms and personal attitudes of drivers was found. This can be explained by the high social norm of violating traffic laws, which can lead to more drivers accepting violations. The majority of the older drivers and drivers with no violations or traffic accident on their record in the past 2 years were in cluster 1. Cluster 2 had the highest proportion of young drivers who wore their seat belts and used hands-free phones while driving. Cluster 3 drivers accepted very dangerous violations, such as texting while driving, driving while intoxicated, and driving at very high speeds. They reported significantly more traffic accidents, but no more violations than the other two clusters. The results of this study can be used to improve road safety programs for education and enforcement in Egypt.     

Car drivers' road safety performance: A benchmark across 32 countries

The road safety performance of a country and the success of policy measures can be measured and monitored in different ways. In addition to the traditional road safety indicators based on the number of fatalities or injured people in road traffic crashes, complementary road safety performance indicators can be used in relation to vehicles, infrastructure, or road users' behaviour. The last-mentioned can be based on data from roadside surveys or from questionnaire surveys. However, results of such surveys are seldom comparable across countries due to differences in aims, scope, or methodology.This paper is based on the second edition of the E-Survey of Road Users' Attitudes (ESRA), an online survey carried out in 2018, and includes data from more than 35,000 road users across 32 countries. The objective is to present the main results of the ESRA survey regarding the four most important risky driving behaviours in traffic: driving under the influence (alcohol/drugs), speeding, mobile phone use while driving, and fatigued driving. The paper explores several aspects related to these behaviours as car driver, such as the self-declared behaviours, acceptability and risk perception, support for policy measures, and opinions on traffic rules and penalties.Results show that despite the high perception of risk and low acceptability of all the risky driving behaviours analysed, there is still a high percentage of car drivers who engage in risky behaviours in traffic in all the regions analysed. Speeding and the use of a mobile phone while driving were the most frequent self-declared behaviours. On the other hand, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was the least declared behaviour. Most respondents support policy measures to restrict risky behaviour in traffic and believe that traffic rules are not being checked regularly enough, and should be stricter.The ESRA survey proved to be a valuable source of information to understand the causes underlying road traffic crashes. It offers a unique database and provides policy makers and researchers with valuable insights into public perception of road safety.     

高速公路交通标志的认知及评价综述

交通标志作为高速公路与驾驶人进行信息交流的纽带,是道路交通必不可少的一部分.目前关于交通标志的研究已取得一定的成就,但在某些方面仍存在不足之处.为此从视认性、识别率、驾驶人理解能力以及驾驶水平4个方面分析交通标志认知的影响因素;将有效性评价分为定量评价方法以及定性定量结合的评价方法.并从这2个角度对目前的研究进行综述和...     

In-vehicle technology for self-driving cars: Advantages and challenges for aging drivers

The development of self-driving cars or autonomous vehicles has progressed at an unanticipated pace. Ironically, the driver or the driver-vehicle interaction is a largely neglected factor in the development of enabling technologies for autonomous vehicles. Therefore, this paper discusses the advantages and challenges faced by aging drivers with reference to in-vehicle technology for self-driving cars, on the basis of findings of recent studies. We summarize age-related characteristics of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions on the basis of extensive age-related research, which can provide a familiar to better aging drivers. Furthermore, we discuss some key aspects that need to be considered, such as familar to learnability, acceptance, and net effectiveness of new in-vehicle technology, as addressed in relevant studies. In addition, we present research-based examples on aging drivers and advanced technology, including a holistic approach that is being developed by MIT AgeLab, advanced navigation systems, and health monitoring systems. This paper anticipates many questions that may arise owing to the interaction of autonomous technologies with an older driver population. We expect the results of our study to be a foundation for further developments toward the consideration of needs of aging drivers while designing self-driving vehicles.     

平直高速公路低交通量下L2自动驾驶对驾驶人心理负荷的影响

为研究驾驶人在L2自动驾驶模式下的心理负荷特性,设计了正常驾驶和次任务驾驶2种状态,进行实车高速道路试验,采集21名被试驾驶人在2种驾驶状态下分别选择手动驾驶和自动驾驶模式的眼动数据、次任务绩效和主观评价数据.采用重复测量一般线性模型,分析不同驾驶模式对上述参数的影响,从客观和主观两方面分析驾驶人的心理负荷变化.结果表...     

Validation of the Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire (DATQ) in a sample of professional drivers in Iran

Aggressive driving has emerged as one of the most studied behaviors in the traffic safety field, due to its association with the odds of motor vehicle crashes and especially fatal crashes. Previous research has investigated the situations which provoke anger while driving, as well as the emotional (anger) and behavioral (aggression) aspects of aggressive driving. However, surprisingly the cognitive aspects of aggressive driving have largely been neglected. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the short-forms of the Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire (DATQ) and the Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) in a sample of professional drivers. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the mediation effects of aggressive thoughts, as the cognitive aspect of aggressive driving, on the relationship between traffic congestion and driving aggression. To this end, 613 public transport bus drivers completed the DATQ and DAX and were also asked to report the level of traffic congestion they normally faced in their daily driving, using six pictures. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the four factor DAX and the five factor DATQ, which largely replicated the original factors. The four forms of maladaptive thoughts on the road were positively associated with aggressive driving, while the positive factor (coping self-instruction) was negatively associated with aggressive driving and traffic violations. Moreover, the results indicated that traffic congestion does not contribute directly to anger expression on the road, but rather through aggressive thoughts. This study suggests that cognitive interventions may help to eliminate aggressive driving and its adverse outcomes on traffic safety.     

A multi-country survey for collecting and analyzing facts related to road traffic safety: Legislation,enforcement, and education for safer drivers

Road traffic safety is a crucial global objective. It is important for every country to review and improve road safety policies and strategies, based on an objective understanding of its own road traffic safety situation in the world. With the aim of contributing to such a review and understanding, this study conducted a multi-country survey to gather information about various facts related to legislation, enforcement, and education, which are designed to achieve safer drivers in nine countries, by using a common format. This paper introduces the results of the survey with a particular focus on legislation and enforcement regarding speed limit violations and red-light-running as well as on education within the driving licensing systems. It highlights variations, in terms of penalty settings and enforcement levels, in different countries; it also examines the training durations necessary for acquiring a driving license and license renewal procedures. In this way, it demonstrates the potential and significance of understanding the relative position of each country in terms of road traffic safety through an international comparison despite its limited information.     

自然驾驶状态下重型工程车驾驶人驾驶稳定性分析

重型工程车行驶过程中事故风险大,发生恶性事故的概率高,易造成重大生命和经济损失,其运输安全管理问题面临挑战.为探究重型工程车驾驶人驾驶稳定性与相关影响因素之间的关系,开展重型工程车自然驾驶试验,提取车辆运动学、道路条件、驾驶人状态和工作时间等数据;采用速度均值和速度标准差表征驾驶人驾驶稳定性,以睡眠模式、道路线形、道路...     

从驾驶者有效视野出发探讨交通标志设置与设计

从驾驶者的有效视野角度出发,探讨交通标志设置、设计的思路和理念.结合国外交通设施标准和报告,剖析驾驶者有效视野的分布及其与道路宽度、车速、驾驶负荷的关系.设计时,应充分考虑交通环境对驾驶者有效视野的影响,着重从标志的位置、大小、材料设计进行提升,以实现视野补偿,确保交通标志具备合理的视认性.     

基于因子模型的高速公路特长隧道驾驶人心理负荷特性研究

为研究驾驶人行驶通过特长隧道环境中的心理负荷变化特性,选取2座典型特长隧道进行实车试验,采集驾驶人实时心电信号,以心率和心率变异性指标分析为基础,通过数据挖掘构建了基于因子分析的心理负荷计算模型,采用心率变异性频域分析结果对模型进行验证。研究结果表明：心率变异性指标在计算心理负荷时比心率指标具有更高的效度和信度,驾驶人在距离隧道入口较远处和距离隧道出口较近时负荷较大;在隧道路段和普通高速路段,熟悉试验道路的驾驶人平均心理负荷小于不熟悉试验道路的驾驶人;被试在隧道路段的平均心理负荷大小依次为入口段、出口段、行车段,熟练驾驶人心理负荷在特长隧道入口前300 m至前180 m范围受到的影响最为明显;非熟练驾驶人心理负荷在入口前300 m至入口后240 m范围受到的影响最为明显。上述结果说明：在隧道出、入口段,尤其是入口段驾驶人负荷过高,也是造成事故数量多的主要原因之一;熟悉道路条件可在一定程度上降低驾驶人心理负荷;普通高速路段虽然行车环境较好,但运行车速过高也会造成驾驶人负荷增加。熟练驾驶人心理负荷在隧道入口前升高,而非熟练驾驶人心理负荷在进入隧道后仍保持较高水平。     

老年驾驶人在交叉口的视觉特性（双语出版）

机动车驾驶人主要通过视觉搜索行为获取交通信息,为了分析老年驾驶人进入道路交叉口的视觉特性,建立了5个道路交叉口的虚拟场景,并进行了驾驶模拟试验,采集了21名老年驾驶人和17名中青年驾驶人进入交叉口的眼动数据。应用动态聚类法将驾驶人的视野平面划分为5个注视区域;在此基础上对比分析了2组驾驶人进入交叉口的注视特性、扫视特性、注视转移概率和注视平稳分布概率;并通过灰色关联度矩阵分析了影响注意转移行为的因素。分析结果表明：老年驾驶人对非行驶方向上的注视区域的注意都相对较差,2组驾驶人的注视持续时间、扫视幅度和扫视平均速度存在较大的差异,其中老年驾驶人的扫视幅度和扫视速度明显低于中青年驾驶人,而且老年驾驶人的注视点分布在车辆正前方区域的平稳分布概率为80.7%,比中青年驾驶人的69.3%高11.4%,并且具有显著性差异,说明老年驾驶人注视转移模式的灵活性相对中青年驾驶人较差。     

Comparative study between Korea and UK: relationship between driving style and real-world fuel consumption

It is known that differences in driving styles have a significant impact on fuel efficiency and driving styles are affected by various factors such as driver characteristics, street environment, traffic situation, vehicle performance, and weather conditions. However, existing knowledge about the relationship between driving style and fuel consumption is limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the relationship beteen driving style and fuel consumption. The analysis presented in this paper used data from three on-road experiments were conducted independently in two different countries, i.e. South Korea and the United Kingdom. In this study, 91 participants, consisting 44 UK drivers and 47 Korean drivers, were asked to drive approximately 28 km of UK road and 21 km of Korean road, respectively. Driving data, including real-time fuel consumption, vehicle speed, and acceleration pedal usage were collected. The results suggested that driving styles including average vehicle speed and average throttle position were highly correlated with the real-world fuel consumption, and the cultural factors, e.g. road environment, traffic design, and driver’s characteristics affected the driving styles and, consequently, fuel efficiency.     

Factors affecting lane change crashes

This study aims to investigate the contributing factors affecting the occurrence of crashes while lane-changing maneuvers of drivers. Two different data sets were used from the same drivers' population. The first data set was collected from the traffic police crash reports and the second data set was collected through a questionnaire survey that was conducted among 429 drivers. Two different logistic regression models were developed by employing the two sets of the collected data. The results of the crash occurrence model showed that the drivers' factors (gender, nationality and years of experience in driving), location and surrounding condition factors (non-junction locations, light and road surface conditions) and roads feature (road type, number of lanes and speed limit value) are the significant variables that affected the occurrence of lane-change crashes. About 57.2% of the survey responders committed that different sources of distractions were the main reason for their sudden or unsafe lane change including 21.2% was due to mobile usage. The drivers' behavior model results showed that drivers who did sudden lane change are more likely to be involved in traffic crashes with 2.53 times than others. The drivers who look towards the side mirrors and who look out the windows before lane-change intention have less probability to be involved in crashes by 4.61 and 3.85 times than others, respectively. Another interesting finding is that drivers who reported that they received enough training about safe lane change maneuvering during issuing the driving licenses are less likely to be involved in crashes by 2.06 times than other drivers.