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.     

Do driver training programs reduce crashes and traffic violations? — A critical examination of the literature

This paper reviews the evaluation literature on the effectiveness of classroom and behind-the-wheel driver training. The primary focus is on North America programs as originally taught in high schools but now also by private instructors. Studies from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia are also included.By far the most rigorous study to date was the experimental study in DeKalb, Georgia, U.S.A. This study used a randomized design including a control group and a very large sample size to provide reasonable statistical precision. I reexamine the DeKalb data in detail and conclude that the study did show evidence of small short-term crash and violation reductions per licensed driver. However, when the accelerated licensure caused by the training is allowed to influence the crash and violation counts, there is evidence of a net increase in crashes.The other studies reviewed present a mixed picture but the better designed quasi-experimental evaluations usually showed no effects on crash rates but almost all suffer from inadequate sample size. I show that as many as 35,000 drivers would be required in a two group design to reliably detect a 10% reduction in crash rates.The advent of GDL laws in North America and other countries has largely remedied the concern over accelerated licensure of high risk teenage drivers by delaying the progress to full licensure. Conventional driver training programs in the U.S. (30 h classroom and 6 h on-the-road) probably reduce per licensed driver crash rates by as little as 5% over the first 6-12 months of driving. The possibility of an effect closer to 0 cannot be dismissed.Some GDLs contain an incentive for applicants to complete an advanced driver training program in return for shortening the provisional period of the GDL. The results of Canadian studies indicate that any effects of the driver training component are not sufficient to offset the increase in accidents due to increased exposure.There is no evidence or reason to believe that merely lengthening the number of hours on the road will increase effectiveness. Programs directed toward attitude change and risk taking better address the underlying cause of the elevated crash risk of young drivers but these behaviors are notoriously resistant to modification in young people.     

Comparing the self-assessed and examiner-assessed driving skills of Japanese driving school students

Previous research about subjective driving skills has revealed that drivers, especially younger males, tend to rate their driving skills more highly than those of the average driver. This study examines the accuracy of Japanese novice drivers' self-evaluation of their driving skills by comparing their self-assessments with assessments made by a driving examiner. We also examined the effects of gender and age on the accuracy of driver self-evaluation of their skills.     

Comparison of driving characteristics between drivers in Korea and in the united states of America based on driver-vehicle interaction field database

Research and development involving intelligent vehicles of today is geared to safe, driver-friendly and sensitive vehicles that provide a driver with a pleasant and convenient driving environment while preventing him or her from possible risks of accident. In developing convenient and safe vehicles, research on drivers’ driving patterns, reactions and state characteristics depending on road conditions in actual field is essential in order to devise more driver-friendly intelligent vehicles. This paper describes how a driver-vehicle interaction (DVI) field database is built in order to obtain a driver’s input in normal road driving condition on highways, country roads, and city roads, and his or her state information, as well as data on the vehicle and traffic conditions. And the newly built database is compared with the RDCW FOT database established by UMTRI of the US for analysis to suggest that the driving tendencies of drivers in Korea and the road driving conditions are not the same as those in the US, reconfirming the need to establish a DVI field database, which will be used for the development of intelligent vehicles suitable for the Korean environment. The DVI data collected from actual driving in field are anticipated to be widely utilized as basic data for research on various intelligent driving safety systems, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and human-vehicle interface (HVI) that are suitable for the driving environment in Korea.     

The cognitive training needs of older drivers

According to a recent publication (OECD, 2001), in many OECD member countries one in four persons will be aged 65 or over in 2030. The significant increase in the number of driving licence holders means the percentage of older drivers will follow this trend. With age, many structural and functional changes occur leading to declines in the ability to perform common daily tasks and to a continuous need for medication. Both these factors affect driving skills. Moreover, changes in driving laws, or modifications (even temporary) in the road environment, may cause confusion and disorientation. Following a review of the literature on age-related declines and their effects on the driver’s activity and compensatory behaviours, this article suggests that the cognitive plasticity concept should be further developed in order to design adequate training programmes centred on systematic cognitive stimulation. The scientific evidence for adult cognitive plasticity suggests that cognitive training may become an important means of reversing or preventing age-related cognitive declines. On its own, an adequate road environment may not be able to improve road safety, an appropriate training programme is also required in order to slow down and/or prevent age-related declines in cognitive abilities, particularly those involved in driving. Also, telematic systems may allow older people to delay mobility loss by adding to their existing compensatory strategies, but a generation effect could cause the elderly to avoid using them. Therefore, training programmes should include adequate materials to familiarize older drivers with new technology, being designed according to current scientific knowledge in the area of cognitive training and aim to meet the identified needs of older drivers. Finally, older drivers should be encouraged to take part in specific re-training programmes, which should be widely available. To achieve this, further research is required, involving longitudinal studies with representative samples in different countries.     

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.     

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.     

Do driver training programs reduce crashes and traffic violations? — A critical examination of the literature

This paper reviews the evaluation literature on the effectiveness of classroom and behind-the-wheel driver training. The primary focus is on North America programs as originally taught in high schools but now also by private instructors. Studies from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia are also included.By far the most rigorous study to date was the experimental study in DeKalb, Georgia, U.S.A. This study used a randomized design including a control group and a very large sample size to provide reasonable statistical precision. I reexamine the DeKalb data in detail and conclude that the study did show evidence of small short-term crash and violation reductions per licensed driver. However, when the accelerated licensure caused by the training is allowed to influence the crash and violation counts, there is evidence of a net increase in crashes.The other studies reviewed present a mixed picture but the better designed quasi-experimental evaluations usually showed no effects on crash rates but almost all suffer from inadequate sample size. I show that as many as 35,000 drivers would be required in a two group design to reliably detect a 10% reduction in crash rates.The advent of GDL laws in North America and other countries has largely remedied the concern over accelerated licensure of high risk teenage drivers by delaying the progress to full licensure. Conventional driver training programs in the U.S. (30 h classroom and 6 h on-the-road) probably reduce per licensed driver crash rates by as little as 5% over the first 6–12 months of driving. The possibility of an effect closer to 0 cannot be dismissed.Some GDLs contain an incentive for applicants to complete an advanced driver training program in return for shortening the provisional period of the GDL. The results of Canadian studies indicate that any effects of the driver training component are not sufficient to offset the increase in accidents due to increased exposure.There is no evidence or reason to believe that merely lengthening the number of hours on the road will increase effectiveness. Programs directed toward attitude change and risk taking better address the underlying cause of the elevated crash risk of young drivers but these behaviors are notoriously resistant to modification in young people.     

A driver-adaptive stability control strategy for sport utility vehicles

Conventional vehicle stability control (VSC) systems are designed for average drivers. For a driver with a good driving skill, the VSC systems may be redundant; for a driver with a poor driving skill, the VSC intervention may be inadequate. To increase safety of sport utility vehicles (SUVs), this paper proposes a novel driver-adaptive VSC (DAVSC) strategy based on scaling the target yaw rate commanded by the driver. The DAVSC system is adaptive to drivers’ driving skills. More control effort would be exerted for drivers with poor driving skills, and vice versa. A sliding mode control (SMC)-based differential braking (DB) controller is designed using a three degrees of freedom (DOF) yaw-plane model. An eight DOF nonlinear yaw-roll model is used to simulate the SUV dynamics. Two driver models, namely longitudinal and lateral, are used to ‘drive’ the virtual SUV. By integrating the virtual SUV, the DB controller, and the driver models, the performance of the DAVSC system is investigated. The simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the DAVSC strategy.     

驾驶行为与驾驶风险国际研究进展

驾驶人在驾驶车辆的过程中总会面临由自身或外界条件所带来的或高或低的风险,即驾驶风险,通过对驾驶风险进行识别、分析及评估是对风险进行管理的有效对策,明确由人为因素（即驾驶人个体特征及驾驶行为）所带来的驾驶风险并对驾驶人进行安全管理尤为重要。为了全面了解各类危险驾驶行为和各种驾驶人群体的驾驶风险行为研究进展,对驾驶风险领域重点问题进行了总体概述。从驾驶人个体特征及驾驶行为的角度出发,探究了驾驶风险领域目前的研究现状,并利用科学知识图谱展示驾驶风险领域研究的发展进程与结构关系。通过Web of Science核心合集数据库获取了3 406篇在1986~2020年（截至2020年2月29日）间出版的驾驶风险研究相关英文文献,共涵盖8 684位作者及6 018个关键词,基于科学知识图谱对该领域文献进行梳理与分析。结果表明：驾驶风险领域的国外研究在驾驶人选择方面主要从年轻驾驶人、老年驾驶人、新手驾驶人及职业驾驶人的角度进行切入,重点围绕酒驾、药驾、分心驾驶及疲劳驾驶等主题开展研究。与国外研究相比,中国在分心驾驶、疲劳驾驶领域的研究相对丰富,而针对酒驾、药驾的研究试验手段较为单一,研究不够全面;在研究对象的选取上,有必要进一步增加老年驾驶人及新手驾驶人的深入研究,包括老年驾驶人适驾性评估与教育培训,以及新手驾驶人驾照分级制度的可行性探索。在研究方法方面,国外常见研究方法包括问卷调查、驾驶模拟器试验、实车试验以及自然驾驶研究等,而中国在自然驾驶研究领域尚未充分开发利用;未来应考虑多种方法相结合并从不同角度促进对驾驶行为及驾驶风险的全面理解。     

An international comparative study on driving attitudes and behaviors based on questionnaire surveys

Road traffic crashes (RTCs) are influenced by a driver's awareness and attitude toward road safety, as well as the socio-economic status, infrastructure development level, traffic status, social system, and traffic safety culture of the area to which the driver belongs. In this study, based on the results of a questionnaire survey conducted in seven countries, the characteristics of each country concerning tolerance for traffic violations, dangerous driving, and acceptance for road safety measures were studied. It was suggested that a high tolerance for traffic violations and dangerous driving might affect traffic violations and RTCs in each country. Additionally, to reduce the tolerance for traffic violations and dangerous driving, the promotion of road safety education, especially among young and male drivers, and stricter regulations and enforcement were suggested.     

城市水下道路隧道驾驶安全影响因素分析和改善思路

总结城市水下道路隧道事故分布规律，从驾驶人、隧道光环境及道路条件3方面分析隧道驾驶安全影响因素，对现有安全改善措施及其优缺点进行剖析，并指出城市水下道路隧道驾驶安全优化研究趋势： 应以提升隧道光环境质量为主，考虑交通事故形态、事故致因及影响因素，在确保交通安全的基础上，考虑不同隧道路段驾驶人差异化视觉需求。驾驶人视觉需求可以分为功能性、安全性与舒适性需求，对应的隧道行车环境可分为基本型、安全型与舒适型视觉参照系。提出以构建城市水下道路隧道舒适型视觉参照系为目标，通过隧道照明与隧道视线诱导技术相结合，缓解隧道出入口参照系的剧烈过渡，加强中间段弱视觉参照的城市水下道路隧道驾驶安全优化方法。构建基于空间路权、人因与驾驶任务、差异性与韵律性的隧道驾驶安全优化评价指标体系，为城市水下道路隧道驾驶安全优化提供新思路。     

线形空间几何突变对曲线路段车道偏移的影响

为了探讨道路线形变化对侧碰、刮擦等侧向安全事故的影响，以三维空间线形的曲率和挠率作为公路线形几何特征描述参数，以车道偏移量作为侧向行车安全的表征指标，剖析了线形在空间层面发生的几何突变对车道偏离的影响。在山区高速公路开展实车试验，采用侧向行车视频记录连续的车道偏移，进行图像距离与实际距离的标定，并通过图像识别技术自动读取连续的车道偏移曲线，从中获取最大车道偏移作为分析变量。采用单因素方差分析方法，对新手驾驶人和熟练驾驶人在线形空间几何特征不同的曲线路段所表现的最大车道偏移结果展开统计分析和检验。分析结果表明：当空间曲率突变超过一定的临界值时，空间曲率突变与最大车道偏移显著正相关；挠率突变对车道偏移产生的影响主要取决于线形扭转的方向，当线形扭转方向与路拱横坡反向时，会明显加剧最大车道偏移；而线形扭转方向与路拱横坡同向时，会降低最大车道偏移但降低效果不明显；熟练驾驶人的最大车道偏移小于新手驾驶人，这种现象在空间曲率突变较大和挠率突变不利的路段尤为明显。研究结论可为公路线形安全性评价、线形设计优化和路侧安全改善提供参考。     

Study of in-vehicle route guidance systems for improvement of right-side drivers in the Japanese traffic system

A country can adopt one of two standards for traffic flow — cars may travel on the left or right side of the road. When drivers who are accustomed to driving on the right side of the road drive on the left side, and vice versa, the mental workload is likely increased due to the driver’s unfamiliarity with a new language, the position of the driver’s seat, different driving directions, and other factors that differ from those of their home country. One method of doing this is to make sure that the in-vehicle route guidance information (RGI) is not overly complicated — thereby assisting drivers in improving their safety. Consequently, the aim of this study was to facilitate mobility and improve safety for natural right-side drivers driving temporarily in left-side traffic. In this study, driver behavior and workload — given various types of RGI — were evaluated in a driving simulator with a variety of prescribable test conditions. This research was composed of two experiments. In the first, various types of in-vehicle route guidance systems were tested and evaluated in terms of their characteristics and associated driver behaviors (while driving). In the second experiment, systemic factors and effectiveness were evaluated by two combined systems, arrow and map-type information, based on the results of the first experiment. In light of both experiments, the various types of route guidance systems were discussed in terms of their results. A navigation system was proposed to alleviate some of the secondary tasks such as route selection.     

Preliminary classification of driving style with objective rank method

This paper puts forward a method of preliminary driver classification, which applies two-criteria based analysis of the phenomenon of driving style. The resulting rank enabled the author to order the drivers according to their driving style, from the most active to the extremely mild. The most active driver in the sense of the two-criteria analysis is the one who covered a test stretch of the road the fastest while changing the position of the accelerator pedal most intensively. The classification of the drivers, along with the measurement data registered during road tests, will subsequently provide the foundation for later modeling of a dynamic classification of the driving style, in the form of a recurrent learning neural network of the Elman’s type.     

驾驶时间对营运驾驶员驾驶能力影响的试验研究

针对影响交通安全的疲劳驾驶问题,以公路客运行业的营运驾驶员为研究对象,应用人机工程学和试验心理学的理论方法按驾驶时间的不同设计了区组对比的试验方案,并用试验仪器现场采集了99个样本的试验数据,利用F检验和H检验等统计学方法分析了驾驶时间对驾驶员驾驶能力的影响。结果表明:驾驶时间在8~12 h之间,驾驶员的反应能力和注意能力会显著降低,而驾驶员的感知能力和操作能力的降低不明显;驾驶员的主观疲劳感受随驾驶时间的变化不明显。     

面向人机共驾车辆的驾驶人风险感知研究综述

面向人机共驾车辆的驾驶人风险感知是接管时正确应激反应和操作的前提,是交通安全领域的研究重点.分析了人机共驾车辆驾驶人风险感知概念及其特性;从驾驶人特性、自动驾驶系统、驾驶情景这3个方面分析了人机共驾车辆驾驶人风险感知的影响因素;从驾驶行为表现、接管绩效和主观评价这3个方面对人机共驾车辆驾驶人风险感知衡量方法进行归纳总结...     

普通公路驾驶员期望车速调查分析与建模

为了解普通公路驾驶员的车速选择机理,对驾驶员进行了期望车速问卷调查,对驾驶员的个人信息、车辆特征、以及驾驶员对超速10%的认可态度等可能影响期望车速的因素进行了重点调查。根据限速值的不同,分80、60和40 km/h 3个等级进行了调查,并为各等级公路选取了代表路段,由具有类似驾驶经历的驾驶员认真填写。对435份有效问卷进行了分析,发现期望车速广泛存在于驾驶员心中,驾驶员在行车过程中会使车速尽量维持在期望车速附近。期望车速主要受限速值、驾驶员的驾龄、对超速10%的态度以及车辆性能等因素的影响,驾驶员的性别和年龄对期望车速的影响不显著。采用逐步回归法,得到了期望车速的计算方法。对期望车速的特点、交通安全措施以及调查方案中可供改进的地方进行了总结。     

Traffic safety culture of professional drivers in the State of Qatar

Professional drivers play a significant role within the traffic system of the State of Qatar. With developing infrastructure, the need for professional drivers is growing. However, knowledge is lacking about their perception of traffic safety. Therefore, this study investigates the personal acceptance of risky driving and suggested traffic laws among this specific group of drivers, in order to create understanding about their likelihood to commit certain risky driving behaviors and their resistance to the implementation of certain traffic laws. The aim of this study is to establish which personal attributes of professional drivers in Qatar could influence a high likelihood to commit risky driving behaviors, estimating which specific groups of professional drivers impose the highest risk to violate certain traffic laws. Results indicate that transportation mode, origin and years of driving experience are all personal attributes that have a significant impact on the professional driver's risk to commit risky driving behaviors and their opposition to the implementation of related traffic laws. Distressing results have been found for the high likelihood to violate speed in school zones and the high risk to be distracted by any type of phone use while driving, suggesting the need to put emphasize on these safety hazards during the training programs of professional drivers at professional driving schools in the State of Qatar.