Using driving simulators to assess driving safety

doi:10.1016/j.aap.2010.03.006

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Volume 42, Issue 3, May 2010, Pages 785-787

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2010.03.006 Get rights and content

Abstract

Changes in drivers, vehicles, and roadways pose substantial challenges to the transportation safety community. Crash records and naturalistic driving data are useful for examining the influence of past or existing technology on drivers, and the associations between risk factors and crashes. However, they are limited because causation cannot be established and technology not yet installed in production vehicles cannot be assessed. Driving simulators have become an increasingly widespread tool to understand evolving and novel technologies. The ability to manipulate independent variables in a randomized, controlled setting also provides the added benefit of identifying causal links. This paper introduces a special issue on simulator-based safety studies. The special issue comprises 25 papers that demonstrate the use of driving simulators to address pressing transportation safety problems and includes topics as diverse as neurological dysfunction, work zone design, and driver distraction.

Section snippets

Prologue to special issue

The need for simulator-based studies is acute. More than any time in the past, driving and traffic safety is facing rapid and profound changes. Some of these relate to driver characteristics and others to technology and vehicle design. In the US and in other parts of the world, the aging of the baby boom generation (persons born between 1946 and 1964) will shift the demographics over the next decade. In the US alone, over 72 Million people are projected to be over the age of 65 by the year 2030

Acknowledgments

There were many reviewers whose expertise and constructive reviews made this special issue possible. The reviewers (in alphabetical order of first name) are:

Alison Smiley

Alrik Svenson

Anand Tharanathan

Andrea Hegyi

Andrew Parkes

Arthur Goodwin

Ben Chihak

Birsen Donmez

Bruce Simons-Morton

Bryan Reimer

Carryl Baldwin

Charles Farmer

Christopher Monk

Daniel Cox

Daniel McGehee

Dario Salvucci

Dary Fioretino

David Crundall

David Eby

David Neyens

Dick DeWaard

Don Fisher

Doug Evans

Ergun Uc

Erwin Boer

Essam Radwan

Gary Milavetz

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Collision warning timing, driver distraction, and driver response to imminent rear end collisions in a high-fidelity driving simulator
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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (72)

Use of smartphone apps while driving: Variations on driving performances and perceived risks
2024, Accident Analysis and Prevention
Distracted driving increases the crash frequencies on the road and subsequently leads to fatalities involved with crashes. As technology has evolved, drivers are continuously exposed to newer technology in their vehicles and applications in their phones, which has led to technology representing one of the main secondary tasks that distract drivers on the road. The impact of technology-involved distraction appears to be different by the type of distraction since a secondary task that can be exceedingly distracting to the driver causes more reckless and risky driving. Moreover, the impact of distracted driving may differ by roadway geometries since distracted drivers’ performance may vary depending on how actively they interact with other vehicles or surrounding environments. This study aims to understand the impacts of smartphone application distractions, in particular social media activities (e.g., video, feed, message), on different road geometries using a mixed-method analysis consisting of a survey, a driving simulator experiment, and individual interview. Results from the interview and simulation experiments show that most social media activities cause unsafe lane changes regardless of road geometry. Among various social-media activities, watching reels (videos) represent an unintentional but deeper level of engagement that consequently causes a driver to deviate in their lane, make unintentional lane changes, suddenly change their speed and acceleration, and headway. The interview also revealed varying levels of risk perception about distracted driving, in particular the lower level of risk perception in using GPS and music applications. This study concludes that the distractions caused by smartphone applications and social media activities combined with lower awareness and risk perception could significantly elevate the crash risks.
End-to-end BIM-based optimization for dual-objective road alignment design with driving safety and construction cost efficiency
2023, Automation in Construction
Road alignment design is crucial to ensure driving safety. The application of BIM technology increases efficiency and reliability in the road design process. However, it is challenging to consider multiple factors in BIM-based road alignment design. This study proposed an optimization design framework considering driving safety and road construction costs using BIM. A fast and reliable parameterization method was developed for road alignment. The BIM technique was used for modeling and earthworks statistics. The automated driving simulation was performed using MATLAB to quantify driving safety, and NSGA-II was used to solve the optimal alignment. The entire data interaction procedure is end-to-end. The framework was applied to the design project of the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville highway. The proposed optimization method results show a combined improvement of 6.6% compared to the expert design results.
Categorized review of drive simulators and driver behavior analysis focusing on ACT-R architecture in autonomous vehicles
2023, Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments
Driving a vehicle in a safe manner is a highly specialized task that depends on the driver’s cognitive ability, skills, attention, fast processing, interpretation of traffic situations and rules, and above all, sound decision making. By driver, we imply either a human or an intelligent agent. In parallel to numerous yet fragmented studies that have addressed the individual effect of the above factors, there has been a continuous quest towards a unifying perspective to articulate the driving task within the framework of a cognitive architecture. Adaptive Control of the Thought—Rational (ACT-R) as a theory of human cognition is among the most promising and complete cognitive architectures that has been widely used to model human behavior and decision making. It is sensible to suggest that it can realistically be employed to model human behavior in driving, and by the same token, it can be configured as architecture for an autonomous driving system. In this paper, we present a directed review of drive simulators, and cognitive architectures, notably ACT-R architecture. Resources including but not limited to Google, Google Scholar, Crossref, Science Direct, and Mendeley are examined, compiled, and presented in this document. The results are classified into seven categories: (1) simulation environment; (2) review of ongoing drive simulators; (3) driving simulation data analysis; (4) driving performance analysis; (5) driving simulation validation; (6) driver behavior analysis; and (7) driving simulation experiments. The review could be beneficial to researchers and stakeholders in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Driverless cars.
Safety of professional drivers in an ageing society – A driving simulator study
2019, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Of the road crashes involving personal injury in Hong Kong, over 70% involved at least one commercial vehicle. Besides, the proportion of older drivers in the transport sector has been increasing due to the shortage of labor and ageing population. It is believed that increase in age can have adverse impact on driving performance, even that professional drivers may possess better driving skill than non-professional drivers and the age-related impairment can be offset by task familiarity of professional drivers. In this paper, a driving simulator experiment was conducted to address this question. Additionally, possible factors that affect the driving performance of professional drivers and that of non-professional drivers were examined. A total of 50 participants were recruited and 94 tests were completed. Driving performance was assessed in terms of standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), standard deviation of heading error (SDHE), mean heading error (MeanHE) and standard deviation of speed (SDspeed). Results of random intercept models indicate that lateral and speed control performances of mid-aged drivers were better than those of older drivers. Then, disaggregated models were established for professional and non-professional drivers respectively based on the results of market segmentation analysis. It was found that lateral and speed control performance of mid-aged professional drivers were better than that of older professional drivers. In contrast, older non-professional drivers were more likely to have degraded steering performance under the high traffic condition. Results of this study are indicative to the driver management strategies of the transport operators for sustained safety improvement of commercial vehicle fleet.
Young male taxi drivers and private car users on driving simulator for their self-reported driving skills and behaviors
2019, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
This study investigated (1) the associations between young male drivers’ self-assessed driving skills and their driver behaviors on driving simulator, (2) the associations between their self-reported driver behaviors and their driver behaviors on driving simulator, and (3) the similarities and the differences between young male taxi drivers and private car users based on these associations. 38 male taxi drivers and 40 male private car users, between 18 and 25 years old, were provided a demographic information form, two self-reports for measurement of their driving skills and behaviors, and 9 km driving simulator scenario in the laboratory. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that safety skills and perceptual motor skills are in opposite associations with young male drivers’ speeds, overtaking behaviors, and their behaviors at traffic lights on driving simulator. Moreover, ordinary violations were found to be in positive association with young male drivers’ speeding, running a red light, and overtaking behaviors on driving simulator. Lastly, differing from each other based on the associations between their overtaking behaviors on driving simulator and types of self-reported violations, the results indicated that young male taxi drivers and private car users share a number of similarities in terms of their negative attitudes towards safety and aberrant driver behaviors in traffic.
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2018, Accident Analysis and Prevention
Road alignments that combine horizontal and vertical curves on freeways have effects on drivers’ speed changes that can lead to safety problems. This study examines speed changes on four types of combined curves: downslope, upslope, crest and sag. From design blueprints for a mountainous freeway under construction in Hunan Province, a total of 70 combined curves were programmed into the Tongji University driving simulator. Study participants drove through the simulated freeway while vehicle operation data was continuously captured. Speed changes on the combined curves were determined by calculating the differences between minimum and maximum speed values, and were classified into three behaviors: substantial speed decrease, steady speed (minimal change), and substantial speed increase. Multinomial logit models were used and the marginal effects of each variable were calculated in order to examine the effects on speed change behavior of each combined curve type and their adjacent segments. Results show that: 1) the speed change behaviors on the four types of combined curves differ in frequency, 2) the significant effects of geometric design characteristics on speed change differed by type of combined curve, and 3) design characteristics of adjacent segments also have significant and varying effects on speed change. Combined curves should therefore be studied separately, and their adjacent segments should be considered when combined curves are planned.

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View full text

Using driving simulators to assess driving safety

Abstract

Section snippets

Prologue to special issue

Acknowledgments

Accident Analysis and Prevention

Collision warning timing, driver distraction, and driver response to imminent rear end collisions in a high-fidelity driving simulator

Human Factors