The role of preference in speed choice

Individual differences with regard to speed preference may be a source of speed heterogeneity and conflicts in traffic, such as tailgating and dangerous overtaking. The main aim of the current study was to explore drivers’ speed preferences when driving for different reasons (saving money on fuel, driving safely, driving for fun or driving as usual) and the relationship of these preferences to observed speeds and self-reported speed. 193 drivers were interviewed at five different locations, and were asked about their speeds on roads they had just travelled. Drivers’ speeds on these roads were also sampled with a speed gun. The results showed large differences between speeds chosen for different driving purposes; the lowest speeds were chosen when the goal was economy and the highest when driving for fun. In addition, there were individual differences in speed preferences such that some drivers indicated that their usual speed was above what they believed was a safe speed while others indicated that they usually drove even slower than what they thought was safe. These differences may account for much of the speed heterogeneity observed in on-road behaviour. The results also showed that drivers’ speed choices are highly influenced by their usual speeds, even more so than their beliefs regarding what constitutes a safe speed, which may help explain non-compliance with speed limits. No relationship was found between speed choice and risk perception.     

Personality, risky driving and accident involvement among Norwegian drivers

Despite the large body of studies, the role of personality in risk research still remains debatable and unclear. The objective of this study was to identify determinants of road user behaviour and accident involvement with the aim of developing effective accident countermeasures. Examining relationships between personality, risky driving and involvement in accidents can open up the possibility of early identification of those more likely to be involved in accidents. The aim is not to influence personality as such, but to develop measures constructed for specific groups. The results are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey carried out among a sample of Norwegian drivers in year 2000 and 2001 (n=2605). The Norwegian Directorate of Public Roads financed the study. The questionnaire included measures of risky driving, accident involvement, normlessness, sensation-seeking, locus of control and driver anger. Results showed that those who scored high on sensation seeking, normlessness and driver anger reported more frequent risky driving compared to those who scored low on these variables. They were more often involved in both speeding and ignorance of traffic rules. Respondents involved in risk taking-behaviour experienced near-accidents and crashes leading to both injuries and material damage more often than other drivers.     

驾驶经验和危险类型对驾驶员危险检测的影响

结合反应时和信号检测方法,考察不同危险类型下驾驶员危险检测的特点。35名新手和35名有经验驾驶员依次完成一个反应时测试和一个信号检测任务。结果发现：新手对明显和隐藏危险的反应时间比有经验驾驶员长。与隐藏危险相比,驾驶员对明显危险的敏感性高、判断标准低。驾驶员对两类危险的反应时间长是因为他们的判断标准严格。研究结果表明,驾驶员危险检测的特点随着危险类型不同而变化。     

驾驶经验和危险类型对驾驶员危险检测的影响

结合反应时和信号检测方法,考察不同危险类型下驾驶员危险检测的特点。35名新手和35名有经验驾驶员依次完成一个反应时测试和一个信号检测任务。结果发现：新手对明显和隐藏危险的反应时间比有经验驾驶员长。与隐藏危险相比,驾驶员对明显危险的敏感性高、判断标准低。驾驶员对两类危险的反应时间长是因为他们的判断标准严格。研究结果表明,驾驶员危险检测的特点随着危险类型不同而变化。     

自我评估的能力与驾驶经验对危险知觉的影响

结合反应时和眼动研究方法,采用驾驶经验2（新手,有经验）×自我评估的能力2（高,低）×危险类型2（明显,隐藏）的混合实验设计,探索驾驶员驾驶能力的自我评估和驾驶经验对危险知觉及视觉注意的影响。采用驾驶能力量表和基于动态交通视频的危险知觉任务对86名驾驶员测试,并使用Tobbi T120记录眼动数据。结果发现,新手和有经验驾驶员自我评估的能力与危险知觉反应时间之间相关不显著,这说明两组驾驶员对自己驾驶能力的认识和评估不准确。有经验驾驶员对两类危险的反应比新手快。新手自我评估的能力过高,他们对两类危险的反应比同龄驾驶员和有经验驾驶员慢。然而,有经验驾驶员自我评估的能力与危险知觉反应时间之间不存在显著差异。此外,与新手相比,有经验驾驶员对两类危险的首次注视较快,总注视时间更长。与同龄驾驶员相比,新手自我评估的能力过高,他们对危险的首次注视较慢,对危险的总注视时间更少。这些研究结果表明,新手自我评估的能力过高,可能会提高他们的风险接受阈限,由此降低了他们对危险的反应速度。未来驾驶训练应当采取措施减少新手对驾驶能力的自我评估偏见,改善他们的视觉搜索模式以降低事故风险。     

Even experienced phone users drive worse while texting – A driving simulator study

Several studies have clearly shown that texting on a mobile phone increases crash risk (e.g. Dingus et al., 2006; Victor et al., 2014). However, the frequency of texting while driving still remains high (e.g. Vollrath, Huemer, Teller & Likhacheva, 2016). One reason may be that drivers are convinced that they are able to manage this dual task due to their competency in driving and texting. From a theoretical point of view, this may be true within limits – two well-learned, automatically processed tasks may require so few resources most of the time that interferences may not occur.In order to test this assumption, a study with a standardized driving simulator task (the lane change task, LCT; Mattes, 2003) was done with n = 40 drivers selected for their driving experience and tested for their texting abilities. The effect of driving experience (high vs. low) and texting competence (high vs. low) on driving performance was examined in single (driving only) and dual-task (driving and texting) conditions. Additionally, a subjective assessment of one’s task performance was obtained. Texting on the mobile phone significantly impaired driving performance. While driving experience did not have an influence, the deteriorating effect of texting was significantly less pronounced in highly competent phone users. Interestingly, this objective effect was not found in the subjective assessment. Drivers with a high texting competence felt as impaired as drivers with a low texting competence. This is in line with the finding that even in this simple driving task their performance was still significantly deteriorated as compared to driving, only. Thus, it seems that the reason why people text while driving is not that they are not aware of the performance loss. However, this awareness of the possible risk does not seem sufficient to prevent them from texting while driving.     

Visual search of driving situations: danger and experience

Previous research on visual search in driving suffers from a number of problems: small sample sizes, a concentration on mundane situations, and a failure to link results to more general psychological theory. The study reported in this paper addresses these issues by recording the eye movements of a large sample of drivers while they watched films of dangerous driving situations and comparing the findings with those from more general studies on scene perception. Stimuli were classified according to the types of road shown and the degree of danger present in the scenes. Two groups of subjects took part, fifty-one young novice drivers who had just gained a full driving licence and twenty-six older more experienced drivers. Dangerous situations were characterised by a narrowing of visual search, shown by an increase in fixation durations, a decrease in saccade angular distances, and a reduction in the variance of fixation locations. These effects are similar to the concept of 'attention focusing' in traumatic situations as it is described in the literature on eyewitness memory. When road types are compared, the least visually complex rural roads attracted the longest fixation durations and the shortest angular saccade distances, while the most visually complex urban roads attracted the greatest spread of search but the shortest fixation durations. Differences between the groups of subjects were also present. Novices had longer fixation durations than experienced drivers, particularly in dangerous situations. Experienced drivers also fixated lower down and had less vertical variance in fixation locations than novices.     

Are novice drivers competent to take over control from level 3 automated vehicles? A comparative study with experienced drivers

With level 3 automated vehicles poised to appear on the roads soon, takeover remains a major challenge. At present, the effect of manual driving experience on takeover performance is unknown. Therefore, a simulator study was conducted to investigate the influence of driving experience (novice and experienced) on takeover performance in different takeover time budgets (7 s and 5 s) and in combination with a visual secondary task (i.e., surrogate reference task). Data from 48 young and middle-aged participants consisting of 24 novice and 24 experienced drivers were used for this study. Researchers found that the overall stability of evasive maneuvers by novice drivers was considerably worse than that by experienced drivers. A detailed analysis showed that the influence of driving experience on takeover stability was mainly reflected in longitudinal control rather than lateral control. A significant interaction between driving experience and visual secondary task showed that the latter had a substantial impact on the takeover stability of experienced drivers but not on that of novice drivers. Researchers also found that rich manual driving experience cannot make the takeover process of experienced drivers more stable than that of novice drivers under conditions of eye-off-road. In addition, no significant difference was found between novice and experienced drivers in automation disengagement time, takeover time and minimum time to collision. Results indicate that novice drivers have poor takeover stability and weak adaptability, but their longitudinal collision risk is not deteriorated by the lack of manual driving experience.     

The influence of road familiarity on distracted driving activities and driving operation using naturalistic driving study data

This paper analyzed the influence of familiarity on the involvement of secondary tasks and driving operation using naturalistic driving study (NDS) data. Distracted driving activities were extracted from face videos captured in 557 trips, including 501 trips on familiar roads and 56 trips on unfamiliar roads. These trips were completed by 155 drivers using their own vehicles during daytime hours under good weather conditions. The data showed the frequency of distracted driving activities and duration time were higher on familiar roads compared to unfamiliar roads. More types of secondary tasks were found on familiar roads. Focusing on objects was the most common distracted driving activity on familiar roads. The average time drivers used to eat or drink was highest (8.67 s) on familiar roads. The time drivers spent checking their cell phone was high on both familiar roads and unfamiliar roads. Since driving operation is directly related to crash risk, this paper also analyzed the difference of driving operation on familiar roads and unfamiliar roads. The speed profiles were generated on well-known versus unfamiliar roads. It was shown that drivers were more likely to be speeding and select a short distance to deceleration near the intersections. The findings indicated that distracted driving phenomenon was more serious on familiar roads.     

When grandparents drive their grandchildren

Driving their grandchildren has become one of the common tasks grandparents perform as part of the support they provide for working parents. The current research made use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in two complementary studies conducted on grandparents who drive their grandchildren, the first using personal interviews and the second self-report questionnaires. The goal of the qualitative study was to capture grandparents’ subjective experience (n = 27), whereas the quantitative study sought to provide more specific data on the factors affecting grandparents’ experience behind the wheel and attitudes to child restraints by examining the contribution of driving styles and parental influence (n = 330). The findings of the qualitative study indicate that having grandchildren in the car is a unique situation which affects grandparents’ emotions and driving behavior. Less careful drivers were found to adapt a more careful driving style when driving their grandchildren than when driving without them. In the quantitative study, risky and anxious drivers felt more tension when driving their grandchildren. Furthermore, parental intervention was found to heighten tension among grandparents. Finally, heightened tension and less angry and more careful grandparents’ driving styles were associated with more positive attitudes to child restraints. Possible explanations of the findings are discussed.     

Anger-congruent behaviour transfers across driving situations

Anger and aggression on the road may sometimes appear unprovoked and unrelated to current driving circumstances. It is unclear whether such anger and aggression arises because of events prior to those circumstances in which anger is experienced and aggression is exhibited. In this study, time pressure and enforced following of a slowly moving vehicle were used to increase drivers' anger in order to assess whether affect and behaviour during a subsequent, non-provocative, drive would change accordingly. Ninety-six drivers drove twice in a simulated urban environment. During the first drive, oncoming traffic and a slowly moving lead vehicle required that half of the drivers travelled far slower than they would choose. During the second drive, drivers again followed slower vehicles and were required to respond to traffic events not encountered in the manipulation drive. Mood (Profile of Mood States) was assessed before and after each drive, and anger evaluations, arousal (heart rate) and behaviour (speed, lane position and collisions) were measured during drives. Anger increased and both mood and driving behaviour deteriorated in drivers exposed to slower lead vehicles, compared with control group drivers. These behavioural differences of speed and lane positioning carried over into the subsequent drive even to driving situations unlike those where provocation had previously occurred. Drivers who had previously been impeded later approached hazards with less caution, and attempted more dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. It is concluded that sometimes dangerous driving may result from anger provoked by circumstances other than those in which the behaviour is exhibited.     

Anger-congruent behaviour transfers across driving situations

Anger and aggression on the road may sometimes appear unprovoked and unrelated to current driving circumstances. It is unclear whether such anger and aggression arises because of events prior to those circumstances in which anger is experienced and aggression is exhibited. In this study, time pressure and enforced following of a slowly moving vehicle were used to increase drivers’ anger in order to assess whether affect and behaviour during a subsequent, non-provocative, drive would change accordingly. Ninety-six drivers drove twice in a simulated urban environment. During the first drive, oncoming traffic and a slowly moving lead vehicle required that half of the drivers travelled far slower than they would choose. During the second drive, drivers again followed slower vehicles and were required to respond to traffic events not encountered in the manipulation drive. Mood (Profile of Mood States) was assessed before and after each drive, and anger evaluations, arousal (heart rate) and behaviour (speed, lane position and collisions) were measured during drives. Anger increased and both mood and driving behaviour deteriorated in drivers exposed to slower lead vehicles, compared with control group drivers. These behavioural differences of speed and lane positioning carried over into the subsequent drive even to driving situations unlike those where provocation had previously occurred. Drivers who had previously been impeded later approached hazards with less caution, and attempted more dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. It is concluded that sometimes dangerous driving may result from anger provoked by circumstances other than those in which the behaviour is exhibited.     

A cross-cultural comparison of where drivers choose to look when viewing driving scenes

A substantial proportion of road accidents occur as a result of drivers having poor or insufficient visual search strategies. However, the majority of research into drivers visual search comes from high income Western countries where roads are relatively safe, with less being known about the visual search of drivers from non-western, low and middle income countries with much higher crash rates. This is despite the fact that cross-cultural studies have shown differences in visual search outside of driving between Western and Eastern individuals. The current study aimed to see whether these differences were present in driving by asking UK and Malaysian drivers to select where they would look when viewing images of roads from the perspective of a driver. Results showed that all drivers selected a similar number of focal objects, however there was a difference in the type of background information drivers chose to attend to, with Malaysian drivers selecting more task irrelevant information at the expense of task relevant information. Results suggest that there are cultural differences in what drivers choose to attend to which may contribute to the increased crash rate amongst drivers from low and middle income countries.     

Cross-cultural effects on detecting multiple sources of driving hazard: Evidence from the deceleration detection flicker test

Collision rates in Malaysia are much higher than the UK; do these reflect poorer hazard perception skill or does exposure to hazardous events improve hazard detection ability? The deceleration detection flicker test (DDFT) was used to investigate the effect of experience and cross-cultural differences between Malaysian and UK drivers in their ability to detect the deceleration of a lead vehicle while simultaneously identifying any secondary hazards in side roads. Matched groups of participants with lower or higher levels of experience were recruited from the University of Nottingham in the UK and Malaysia. Malaysian drivers were significantly less accurate than UK drivers in detecting the deceleration of lead vehicles on urban roads, and significantly less accurate in detecting the presence of secondary hazards across all road types. Experienced drivers were significantly faster than novices in detecting decelerations of the lead vehicle, and were significantly more accurate in detecting the presence of secondary hazards. The study concludes that high exposure to hazardous events on the road in Malaysia does not yield expertise in this hazard perception task, although the DDFT does differentiate experience cross-culturally.     

Road safety education for older drivers: Evaluation of a classroom-based training initiative

Around the world, a growing proportion of drivers are aged 70 or over. Although accident rates for older drivers are lower than for young or novice drivers, increased frailty and slowed reactions mean that older drivers are at higher risk of death or serious injury when involved in a road collision. The objectives of this study were to: (a) identify driving knowledge and self-regulatory strategies among a group of older drivers with a view to planning future on-road training; (b) measure driver self-assessments of ability and confidence before and after classroom training delivered by driving instructors; (c) evaluate the utility and acceptability of training courses for older drivers using questionnaires and focus groups; d) examine the characteristics of course participants.142 drivers aged ≥75 completed a two-hour classroom-based driving course and took part in the evaluation: 94 aged 75–79, 48 aged ≥80, 68% male. Main reasons for taking part were to update knowledge, improve driving and check they were safe to drive. Results showed that females were more likely than males to avoid driving in difficult conditions (at night, in bad weather, unfamiliar roads). More drivers aged 75–79 said they did not restrict their driving (52, 57%) compared to drivers aged ≥80 (19, 43%). Pre-course, males rated their driving confidence and ability significantly higher than females. Post-course, self-ratings of confidence and ability were unchanged for 76 (60%) drivers. However, two-thirds reported improved knowledge and 80% said they would change their driving behaviour as a result of the course. Focus group results suggest that competent drivers are more likely to attend educational courses than unsafe drivers. This study provides preliminary evidence that classroom-based training can initiate behaviour change among older drivers. Future research will examine the effectiveness of on-road training in this age group.     

Driving experience, attentional focusing, and the recall of recently inspected events

How does a driver’s perception of roadway events change with experience? A laboratory study addressed this question by comparing novice and experienced drivers as they watched video recordings taken from a moving vehicle. While watching the recordings, the drivers had their eye movements monitored. When the recording was paused, memory for immediately prior events was tested, and recall performance related to what the viewer had been inspecting. The recordings were taken from a vehicle as it travelled along a series of roads, and questions were asked about other road users and about roadway features. The experiment asked about the relationship between driving experience and attentional capture, and about the recall of events recently seen. What attracted attention were objects of central interest such as other road users appearing close to the camera, and moving objects. When the memory test was administered immediately after a hazardous event had occurred, such as a pedestrian stepping into the path of the camera vehicle, then there was evidence of attentional focussing and reduced availability of details about incidental objects. Recall performance generally reflected the pattern of eye fixations, but viewers did not always recall details about fixated objects, and were sometimes able to recall information about objects that were not fixated. Experienced drivers recalled more of the incidental events than the novices, but they were similar in their recall of central events. This supports the association between driving experience and the extent of the effective perceptual field.     

On-Road vehicle study of the experience of automated driving

Prior studies of automated driving have focused on drivers’ evaluations of advanced driving assistance systems and their knowledge of the technology. An on-road experiment with novice drivers who had never used automated systems was conducted to examine the effects of the automation on the driving experience. Participants drove a Tesla Model 3 sedan with level 2 automation engaged or not engaged on a 4-lane interstate freeway. They reported that driving was more enjoyable and less stressful during automated driving than manual driving. They also indicated that they were less anxious and nervous, and able to relax more with the automation. Their intentions to use and purchase automated systems in the future were correlated with the favorableness of their automated driving experiences. The positive experiences of the first-time users suggest that consumers may not need a great deal of persuading to develop an appreciation for partially automated vehicles.     

Driving speed choice: The role of conscious monitoring and control (reinvestment) when driving

This study aimed to examine the role of reinvestment - the propensity to consciously monitor and control actions (movement specific reinvestment) and to consciously monitor and evaluate decision making processes (Decision specific reinvestment) while driving in everyday risky scenarios. The study also aimed to evaluate the association between reinvestment and previously validated driver attitude measures. Fifty one participants completed a series of questionnaires (Driving Self-Efficacy Scale, Driver Attitude Questionnaire, Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale, Decision Specific Reinvestment Scale) after which they completed a test phase in a driving simulator. In the test phase, driving scenarios included roads with different markings (i.e., double yellow, wide centrelines, wire rope barriers, Audio Tactile Profiled markings) and alerting scenarios (i.e., police car present, high crash risk area sign, reduced speed zone). Results revealed that on risky roads (wide centrelines), participants with a high propensity for decision specific reinvestment drove slower than those with a low propensity. Driver experience, attitudes towards speeding and scores on the Decision Reinvestment subscale of the Decision Specific Reinvestment Scale significantly predicted speed choice. More experienced participants with higher scores on the Decision Reinvestment subscale were more likely to drive slower and participants with worse attitudes towards speeding were likely to drive faster. Participants with a low propensity for movement specific reinvestment (specifically, Movement Self-Consciousness) reduced their speed to a greater extent than those with a high propensity when driving in the police car scenario. There was some evidence to suggest that high decision specific and movement specific reinvesters were more likely to be involved in crashes and receive driving infringements. The current study is the first to demonstrate a significant relationship between reinvestment and driving. The implications of these findings for road safety are discussed.     

Matters of State: Examining the effectiveness of lane departure warnings as a function of driver distraction

Lane departure warnings (LDW) have the potential to mitigate a significant number of lane departure crashes. Such safety benefits have yet been realized, in part due to drivers deactivating LDW systems. Perceived false alarms—where drivers receive a warning but feel the warning was unnecessary or incorrect—could lead to system disuse. In part, this could be a failure of LDW systems to account for the state of the driver. The current study investigated whether LDWs were more effective for drivers when they were distracted compared to when they were undistracted, using a high-fidelity driving simulator. During distracted lane departures, drivers with LDW responded faster and had less severe lane departures than drivers without LDW. During undistracted lane departures, there was no evidence of a benefit of LDW over no warning. These results suggest that lane departure warnings are most effective when drivers are distracted. This study suggests a need for driver state monitoring systems to enable adaptive automation.     

An exploratory investigation into the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving: Are young drivers more externally regulated?

An upward trend in drug driving has been observed in several countries around the world. Research suggests that younger drivers are more likely to engage in drug driving compared to older drivers. There is also evidence to suggest young drivers differ from older drivers in their capacity for self-regulation. Despite this, research has yet to explore the impact of age on the self-regulatory processes with regard to decisions to drug drive among drug users. A total of 507 Queensland drivers (72.8% female), who reported ever taking an illegal drug, were involved in the research. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which collected demographic and drug consumption information, as well as items assessing the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving, and drug driving behaviour. Regardless of age, participants reported a tendency towards internalised regulation. However, results suggest that young drivers (aged 18–24 years) feel greater belongingness to people who promote safe transport decisions after taking drugs, compared to drivers aged 25 years and over. Interaction effects revealed that for young drug takers, feeling greater relatedness, along with perceiving competence and importance in planning alternative transport after taking drugs, can be protective against drug driving behaviours. Significant predictors of drug driving were lower relatedness, greater perceived pressure to drug drive, lower effort/importance to plan safe alternatives after taking drugs, being of older age, and greater drug abuse. Counterintuitively, perceiving more options (choice) to take alternative transport after taking drugs also predicted the offending behaviour. The results of this study suggest that enhancing drivers’ competency to make (and value) safe driving decisions is a critical step for road safety.