Foot-in-the-door technique and reduction of driver’s aggressiveness: A field study

Research has reported that the foot-in-the-door technique is effective at increasing helping behavior. However, the effect of this technique on negative social behavior has never been examined. A field experiment was conducted to explore whether this technique could reduce aggressiveness. Drivers waiting at a traffic light were blocked by an experimental car. In the Foot-in-the-door condition, when the traffic light was red, a passerby confederate asked the driver for directions to a well-known store located in the area of the experiment. The confederate then thanked the driver and walked off in the direction indicated. In the control condition, no request was addressed to the car driver. When the traffic light turned green, the experimental car pretended to be blocked by an engine problem. The number of drivers who honked at the target car and the amount of time that elapsed before the drivers responded by honking their horns were the dependent variables. It was found that fewer drivers honked in the Foot-in-the-door condition and drivers who honked displayed their behavior later than those in the control condition. Self-perception theory was used to explain these results.     

Investigating driving instructors: The mediating roles of driving skills in the relationship between organizational safety strategies and driver behaviours

The aim of the present study is to investigate the mediating roles of driving skills in relationship between organizational safety strategies and driver behaviours among driving instructors. Driving skills consist of perceptual-motor skills and safety skills. Driver behaviours are investigated under four factors: violations, errors, lapses, and positive driver behaviours. Participants were 132 driving instructors (108 male and 24 female). In order to measure organizational safety strategies, Organizational Safety Strategies Scale (OSSS) was developed for driving schools. Results of the principal component analyses yielded one-factor solution for OSSS. In order to test the indirect effects of organizational safety strategies on driver behaviours through driving skills, multiple mediation analyses were conducted by entering age and annual mileage as the control variables. As organizational safety strategies were stronger, driving instructors had higher levels of perceptual-motor skills, which resulted in higher violations. On the other hand, as organizational safety strategies were stronger, driving instructors had higher levels of safety skills, which resulted in less violations and lapses. It can be inferred that; organizational stronger safety strategies might have negative influences on road safety through higher perceptual-motor skills; whereas there can be positive influences on road safety through higher safety skills. In addition, both skills are related to organizational safety strategies. Hence, driving schools should consider the asymmetric relationship between perceptual-motor skills and safety skills while improving their safety strategies to decrease violations and lapses. Organizations might also develop interventions to balance the stated skills to increase road safety.     

An exploration of the effectiveness of in-person and online versions of the induced hypocrisy paradigm to reduce smartphone use among young drivers

Worldwide, smartphone use is a major contributing factor to road crash among young drivers. While young drivers may be aware of their heightened crash risk and the legal penalties associated with this behaviour, young drivers continue to engage with their smartphones. The development of novel interventions targeting this behaviour is therefore crucial. The current 2 × 2 between groups experimental study (N = 153, 107F, 43 M, 1 other) investigated the concept of cognitive dissonance in relation to smartphone use among young drivers aged 17–25 years (M_age = 20.66 SD = 2.26). Specifically, it applied the induced hypocrisy paradigm to this context. The induced hypocrisy paradigm elicits cognitive dissonance by asking participants to both advocate for the desired behaviour and identify their engagement in the undesired behaviour. Participants are then motivated to change their behaviour to reduce the feelings of dissonance. The current study investigated the efficacy of both the traditional in-person methodology with a new online methodology. Analyses (e.g., ANCOVA) found that the online conditions were more effective than the in-person groups at eliciting dissonance and that the intervention conditions were more effective in reducing both intention and change in behaviour (from pre- to post-intervention) than the control groups. The intervention groups were also more likely to take/request a flyer about driver distraction. While more research is needed to corroborate these findings, these initial results suggest that cognitive dissonance occurs when young drivers use their smartphones and that the induced hypocrisy paradigm may be an effective intervention. In particular, this study’s findings suggest that an online version of the induced hypocrisy paradigm has merit and may form part of future cost-effective, mass interventions.     

The power and sensitivity of four core driver workload measures for benchmarking the distraction potential of new driver vehicle interfaces

This study evaluated the power and sensitivity of several core driver workload measures in order to better understand their use as a component of future driver distraction potential evaluation procedures of the in-vehicle human machine interface (HMI). Driving is a task that requires visual, manual and cognitive resources to perform. Secondary tasks, such as mobile phone use and interaction with in-built navigation, which load onto any of these three processing resources increase driver workload and can lead to impaired driving. Because workload and distraction potential are interrelated, a comprehensive method to assess driver workload that produces valid and predictive results is needed to advance the science of distraction potential evaluation. It is also needed to incorporate into New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) testing regimes. Workload measures of cognitive (DRT [Detection Response Task] Reaction Time), visual (DRT Miss Rate), subjective (NASA-TLX [driver workload questionnaire]), and temporal demand (Task Interaction Time) were collected as participants drove one of 40 vehicles while completing a variety of secondary tasks with varying interaction requirements. Of the evaluated measures, variance and power analyses demonstrated that Task Interaction Time is the most sensitive in detecting differences in driver workload between different in-vehicle HMIs, followed by DRT Miss Rate, NASA-TLX and finally DRT Reaction Time. There were relatively weak correlations between each of the four measures. These results suggest that Task Interaction Time, coupled with a reliable visual demand metric such as DRT Miss Rate, eye glance coding, or visual occlusion, more efficiently detect differences in driver workload between different HMIs compared to DRT Reaction Time and the NASA-TLX questionnaire. These results can be used to improve the understanding of the utility of each of these core driver workload measures in assessing driver distraction potential.     

Driving examiners’ views on data-driven assessment of test candidates: An interview study

Vehicles are increasingly equipped with sensors that capture the state of the driver, the vehicle, and the environment. These developments are relevant to formal driver testing, but little is known about the extent to which driving examiners would support the use of sensor data in their job. This semi-structured interview study examined the opinions of 37 driving examiners about data-driven assessment of test candidates. The results showed that the examiners were supportive of using data to explain their pass/fail verdict to the candidate. According to the examiners, data in an easily accessible form such as graphs of eye movements, headway, speed, or braking behavior, and color-coded scores, supplemented with camera images, would allow them to eliminate doubt or help them convince disagreeing test-takers. The examiners were skeptical about higher levels of decision support, noting that forming an overall picture of the candidate’s abilities requires integrating multiple context-dependent sources of information. The interviews yielded other possible applications of data collection and sharing, such as selecting optimal routes, improving standardization, and training and pre-selecting candidates before they are allowed to take the driving test. Finally, the interviews focused on an increasingly viable form of data collection: simulator-based driver testing. This yielded a divided picture, with about half of the examiners being positive and half negative about using simulators in driver testing. In conclusion, this study has provided important insights regarding the use of data as an explanation aid for examiners. Future research should consider the views of test candidates and experimentally evaluate different forms of data-driven support in the driving test.     

Roadside digital billboard advertisements: Effects of static,transitioning, and animated designs on drivers’ performance and attention

The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the effects of different types of digital billboard advertisements (DBAs) on drivers’ performance and attention allocation. Driver distraction is a major threat to driver safety. DBAs are one form of distraction in drivers’ outside environment. There are many different types of DBAs, such as static images, changing images, or videos. However, it is not clear to what extent each of these contributes to driver distraction. A total of 100 students participated in a controlled driving simulator experiment in an urban environment. Measures of driving performance were collected, as well as eye tracking and EEG as windows into attention allocation. The different types of DBAs investigated were static (a single image), transitioning (one static DBA replaces another), and animated (short videos). The statistical analysis demonstrated that there were significant differences in the effect of each type of DBA on drivers' performance (deviation from the center of the lane and reaction time), visual attention to the road (percent of fixations on the road, percent of fixations on DBAs, fixation duration on DBAs, and number of gazes on DBAs), and the EEG theta band and beta band. These results show that driving performance and attention to the road were both more negatively affected when drivers were exposed to transitioning and animated DBAs as compared to static DBAs. The results of this study provide guidance for the better design and regulation of DBAs in order to minimize driver distraction.     

Mapping drivers’ mental models of adaptive cruise control to performance

Driver support features (DSF) have the potential to improve safety, but they also change the driver-vehicle relationship —as well as their respective roles and responsibilities. To maximize safety, it is important to understand how drivers’ knowledge and understanding of these technologies—referred to as drivers’ mental models—impact performance and safety. This simulator study examined how drivers with different mental models of adaptive cruise control performed in edge cases. The study compared the responses of groups of drivers, with strong and weak mental models of ACC, established through a combination of screening, training, and exposure, in edge case situations in a high-fidelity driving simulator. In general, participants with strong mental models were faster than those with weak mental models to respond in edge-case situations—defined as cases where the ACC did not detect an approaching object, such as a slow-moving motorcycle. The performance deficits observed for drivers with weak mental models appear to reflect uncertainty surrounding how ACC will behave in edge cases.     

Differential effects of driver sleepiness and sleep inertia on driving behavior

ObjectivesDriver sleepiness is one of the major safety issues in conventional driving and sleep inertia emerges as a driver state in automated driving. The aim of the present study was to assess the differential impacts of sleepiness and sleep inertia on driving behavior.Method61 participants completed a 10-min manual driving task during an otherwise automated drive. They completed the task (a) under an alert state, (b) under a sleepy state, and (c) after EEG-confirmed sleep. Driving performance was assessed with the parameters lane-keeping, speed choice, and speed-keeping. The eye-blink-based sleepiness measure PERCLOS (the proportion of time with eyes closed) was compared for the three driver states.ResultsLane- and speed-keeping performance were impaired under the sleepy state and after sleep, relative to the alert state. After sleep, lane-keeping behavior recovered rapidly and speed-keeping recovered by trend. Under the sleepy state, performance deteriorated. After sleep, the mean speed was lower than in the sleepy state and in the alert state. PERCLOS was increased after sleep and under the sleepy state, relative to the alert state.ConclusionsAlthough sleep inertia had detrimental effects on driving parameters similar to sleepiness, this effect rapidly vanished. Hence, while brief naps might be suitable to restore alertness in general, the minimal time needed to regain full capacity after napping should be a focus of future research.     

A novel conceptual framework investigating the relationship between roadside advertising and road safety: The driver behaviour and roadside advertising conceptual framework

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between roadside advertising signs, driver behaviour, and road safety outcomes. Roadside advertising signs are external distractions that may take a driver's attention away from safety-critical driving tasks, potentially increasing crash risk through driver distraction and inattention. Although studies report safety concerns, as a whole, the body of research in the field is inconclusive with inconsistent quality, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Definitive links between roadside advertising and road trauma are not yet evident, which has major consequences for road regulators' capacity to develop evidence-based policy to safely administer public roads. However, a lack of consistent evidence does not indicate an absence of risk but underscores its complexity. To address this problem, the Driver Behaviour and Roadside Advertising Conceptual Framework (DBRA framework) was developed to strategically investigate and conceptualise the phenomena of roadside advertising. A new term – “extended engagement” – has also been proposed to account for situations of prolonged attentional engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Further, it is posited that important variations in driving performance may be associated with a driver's extended engagement with a roadside advertising sign. Built on extant theories of driver behaviour and empirical research, the DBRA framework is designed to be a robust tool that encourages a common agenda for future roadside advertising research.     

Evaluation of a dynamic blocking concept to mitigate driver distraction: Three simulator studies

In recent years, the number and complexity of in-vehicle infotainment systems has been steadily increasing. While these systems certainly improve the driving experience, they also increase the risk for driver distraction. International standards and guidelines provide methods of measuring this distraction along with test criteria that help automakers decide whether an interface task is too distracting to be used while driving. Any specific function failing this test should therefore be locked out for use by the driver. This study implemented and tested a dynamic approach to this blocking by algorithmically reacting to driver inputs and the pace of the interaction in order to prevent drivers from having prolonged or too intense sequences of in-vehicle interactions not directly related to driving. Three simulated driving experiments in Germany and the United States were conducted to evaluate this dynamic function blocking concept and also cater for differences in the status quo of either no blocking or static blocking. The experiments consisted of a car following scenario with various secondary interface tasks and always included a baseline condition where no blocking occurred as well as an implementation of the dynamic function blocking. While Experiments 1 and 3 were aimed at collecting and analyzing gaze and driving data from more than 20 participants, Experiment 2 focused on the user experience evaluation of different visual feedback implementations from 13 participants. The user experience as rated by these participants increased throughout the course of all three studies and helped further improve both the concept and feedback design. In the experiments the total glance time towards the road was significantly higher in the dynamic function blocking condition compared to the baseline, already accounting for the increase in total task time inherent to the dynamic condition. Participants developed two strategies of interacting with the dynamic function blocking. They either operated at their normal baseline speed and incurred task blockings or operated slower to avoid the blockings. In the latter strategy, participants chunked their interactions into smaller steps with the present data suggesting that they used the pauses in between chunks to look back onto the road ahead. Theoretical and practical implications of this first evaluation of a dynamic function blocking concept are discussed.