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The Relationship Between Collision History and a Computerized Assessment of Visual and Cognitive Skills in a Sample of School Bus Drivers
Get PDFThe objective of this study was to explore whether measures of visual and cognitive performance in a safe computerized driving environment were associated with collision involvement and the cost of collisions in a sample of professional motor vehicle operators. One hundred and nine (109) school bus drivers in a large metropolitan area were asked to take a 15-minute interactive computer-based driving assessment. The skills included visual target identification, scanning in four directions, divided-attention, reaction time, steering smoothness, false positive responses, and evasive maneuvers. An overall score validated in previous research summarized each driver’s performance. Each driver’s collision history over the last three years was then compared to the driving assessment scores. Collision data included collision type, frequency, and damage cost associated with each incident. Drivers with collisions (n = 27) were compared to drivers with no collisions (n = 82). Drivers with collisions had significantly lower overall scanning and steering smoothness scores than drivers without collisions. Drivers with collisions also had significantly higher braking and target false-positive scores, indicating disorientation. The total cost of collisions for the lower 40th percentile test scores was 10,314. The results indicate that drivers who are prone to become disoriented and overwhelmed in a high-demand computerized assessment were more likely to have had collisions on the road. The relationship between collision cost/incidence and test scores suggests that a sufficiently complex and rapidly paced computerized assessment has utility in identifying drivers who would benefit from remedial training
A Comparison of Traffic Sign Comprehension Using Static, Dynamic and Interactive Media
Get PDFTraditionally, traffic sign comprehension has been tested using paper-and-pencil tests with line drawings of signs and uncontrolled viewing time of the test signs. This study compares these types of tests to dynamic tests using an interactive driving simulator. Multiple-choice tests concerning sign comprehension were administered to five groups of Texas drivers following exposure to traffic sign stimuli via line drawings, still computer drawings in a roadway context either with or without controlled exposure, a video of a “drive through” from the simulator, or driving in the simulator itself. Results show interesting differences among the groups that suggest that past studies may have overestimated sign comprehension
Novice Driver Training Results and Experience with a PC Based Simulator
Get PDFThis paper reports on work accomplished subsequent to a pilot study that was presented at the 2001 conference. This current study will eventually involve the training of over 500 novice drivers, and subsequent comparison of real-world accident and violation rates of the simulator trained group with a traditionally trained control group of demographically matched novice drivers. This paper describes the simulator training system and presents some training data for 111 student subjects collected at three sites involving different simulator configurations. These configurations include a desktop system with a single monitor narrow field of view display, a desktop system with wide field of view display and a cab with wide field of view display. The results include performance measures, a measure of simulator sickness and experience involved in implementing driver-training simulators in the high school environment
Reducing Crash Risk in Visually-Impaired Older Drivers: Medical-Surgical versus Educational Interventions
Get PDFOBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of a medical-surgical intervention and an educational intervention in reducing the rate of crash involvement among visually impaired older drivers. Visual impairment is a common functional problem in older adults. Older drivers with visual processing deficits have an increased crash risk. Interventions that reduce these risks need to be identified in order to enhance driver safety. METHODS We have conducted two studies in an effort to examine two types of interventions to lower crash risk in visually impaired drivers. In a prospective cohort study we focused on 277 older drivers with cataracts, about half of who elected surgery and intraocular lens implantation at baseline, and the other half who declined surgery. They were followed for police-reported crash involvement for four to six years. In a second study, 403 older drivers who were visually impaired (acuity and/or useful field of view deficit) were randomly assigned to an individually administered and tailored educational intervention plus usual care, or to usual-care-only. The educational intervention promoted the use of self-regulatory driving strategies and was based on current models of health behavior change. Usual care was a comprehensive eye exam. In this study, subjects were also followed for police-reported crash involvement. RESULTS With respect to the study evaluating the cataract surgery intervention, patients who underwent cataract surgery had half the rate of crash involvement during follow-up compared with cataract patients who did not undergo surgery (rate ratio [RR] 0.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.23 to 0.94; p0.05) CONCLUSIONS Cataract surgery has a previously undocumented benefit for older driver safety. However, an individualized educational intervention to promote safe driving strategies did not enhance driver safety. The most effective public health initiatives for reducing crash risk in older drivers may be to focus on the timely treatment of chronic medical conditions in order to prevent, reverse, or slow functional decline. Evidence that educational programs improve older driver safety remains unavailable
Loading Drivers to Their Limit: The Effect of Increasing Secondary Task On Driving
Get PDFThis paper outlines the results of a number of studies that were designed to create a series of suitable “secondary tasks” that would act as appropriate surrogate in-vehicle information systems (s-IVIS). In particular, an attempt was made to design tasks that would allow a step-by-step increase in visual or cognitive load. Following a brief introduction to the development of each s-IVIS, the paper will present results from a study which examined the effect of completing an auditory s-IVIS on a simulated driving task
Older and Younger Driver Performance at Complex Intersections: Implications for Using Perception-Response Time and Driving Simulation
Get PDFOlder drivers are at increased accident risk at intersections for a variety of maneuvers. To examine why, a study was conducted to assess older driver performance at complex intersections in a driving simulator. The University of Calgary Driving Simulator was used to test healthy older drivers (65-83, M = 71.4) and younger drivers (19-22, M = 20.7). Critical scenarios included the sudden appearance of a pedestrian in an intersection, a lastsecond yellow light, an unexpected change during a left, and a vehicle violating a stoplight. Older drivers had significantly higher perception response times (PRT) than younger drivers for the latter three of the four intersection scenarios. Analysis of specific maneuvers also revealed qualitative response differences between young and old groups. In contradiction to expectation, more older drivers ran the yellow light than younger drivers. The capability of older drivers to respond under time constraints is implicated. The utility of driving simulators to assess older driver performance at intersections was limited by the prevalence of simulator sickness
Driver Fatigue: Is Something Missing?
Get PDFDrowsiness and fatigue are serious problems in all transportation systems. One persistent issue is the lack of an agreed definition of these respective energetic states. Here we review the theoretical approaches (cognitive versus physiological) framing the driver fatigue problem. Known contributing factors to drowsiness include sleep debt, circadian rhythm, and shift work. However, we also suggest that certain inherent physiological reactions engaged in responses to motion itself represent a previously unrecognized but significant source of fatigue. We confirm the impact of this factor through comparisons of studies that either have or have not included prolonged motion
Traffic Scene Related Change Blindness in Older Drivers
Get PDFThe study investigated if a driver’s age affects the detection of change in driving-related images. A touch screen computer presented the images for a maximum duration of 10 seconds. Half of the images presented included a gradually changing element, and half remained static. Participants were instructed to identify manually the change on the screen, or to depress the spacebar if no change had occurred. We found that older drivers (N = 13, 54% male, mean age 68.5 years) were less accurate (t36 = 5.445, p < .001), displayed greater response times (t36 = -2.67, p < .05), and produced more false positive responses (t36 = -2.754, p < .01) than younger drivers (N = 25, 68% female, mean age 22.3 years)
