Utilizing driving simulators for persons with multiple sclerosis: A scoping review

ObjectiveThis scoping review synopsized and mapped the evidence on the utility of driving simulators for drivers with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) including participant characteristics (e.g., demographic, clinical) suited to simulator use; and driving scenario environments, maneuvers, and outcomes reflective of driving performance.Data SourcesThe research team searched six databases for English studies on driving simulator performance in drivers with MS.Study SelectionFour reviewers independently screened 976 unique titles, 148 abstracts, and 18 full-text sources for study inclusion or exclusion. Inclusion criteria ensured that studies utilized measures of driving simulator performance in adults 18 years or older with MS.Data ExtractionReviewers independently charted, verified, and achieved consensus on 100% of the data in the extraction table.Data SynthesisThe scoping review included thirteen studies (twelve assessment, one intervention), published between 2001 and 2021. Studies included small samples (N = 11–50) of adults (M age = 36–50 years; 40–91% female), mostly with a relapsing-remitting (53–100%) diagnosis and low to moderate physical disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale score < 6.0). The assessment studies utilized driving scenarios to assess pre-driving (n = 1) or driving abilities (n = 2), responses to hazardous events in suburban (n = 1) or urban environments (n = 4), or the ability to maintain speed or lateral lane positioning during monotonous highway drives (n = 7), with four scenarios also including responses to secondary divided attention tasks. The intervention study utilized driving simulation as a training program to improve driving-related skills.ConclusionsThe evidence on the utility of driving simulators for adults with MS is limited to assessment of driving performance, mostly during monotonous highway drives. Further research should consider exploring how driving simulators can be utilized to assess driving performance in other environments or for intervention. Gender should be examined to support gender diverse populations.     

Do people change behind the wheel? A comparison of anger and aggression on and off the road

The question of whether “we drive as we live” or whether “we are transformed behind the wheel” generates discussion at all levels from the scholarly to the popular. To shed light on this issue, this study measured the personality traits of general anger and driving anger and four modes of expression common to both contexts (verbal, physical, displaced and adaptive) in a sample of 198 drivers. The results showed a moderate correlation between the two measured traits and indicated that each mode of expression correlated better with its equivalent mode in the other context than it did with the other modes of expression. Next, three hypotheses about the multivariate relationship were tested through five path models. These models confirmed that general anger and driving anger, although related to each other, are two different traits: a propensity to general anger and a propensity to driving anger. However, it was observed that when someone experiences anger, either on or off the road, it is expressed in the same way, given that each mode of expression behind the wheel is associated to both the propensity to driving anger and the equivalent mode of expression in a general context. Finally, the study’s implications are discussed.     

Driver fatigue among military truck drivers

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Transport Center is the largest and the most diverse transportation organization in Israel: three times as large as the largest commercial fleet in Israel, and military bases are spread all over the country. It also has the ability to regulate the drivers better: enforcing diet, hours of sleep, and working hours. The drivers are either permanently employed civilians, career service personnel, or mandatory service personnel. This employment status correlates with age, experience, carrier type, and several job characteristics (for example mandatory service drivers typically do not drive at night).The study consisted of a survey of 314 male drivers (30% of the entire base driver population). Despite the different environment, the military drivers display many characteristics and coping-behaviors characteristic of civilian drivers. Our results cast a doubt on the efficacy of enforcing night sleep and prohibiting night drives as an alternative to regulating hours of service. Our findings also reveal that it is insufficient to provide drivers with the time to sleep. One has to ensure that they also get a good quality of sleep. Implications for reducing fatigue in this environment are suggested. We identified the mandatory service drivers (young, less experienced drivers, lower military ranks) as a group of drivers that falls asleep more often and to a greater extent. They are particularly sensitive to sleep deficits and influenced by external events such as aggravation and boredom.It is important to provide drivers with more in-vehicle, accessible countermeasures to counter fatigue since they often do not stop, particularly in short-haul conditions. Since the radio has a high level of usage and acceptance among drivers, it could be exploited as an interactive communications system, as an educational medium, and as an image-enhancing device.     

Spatio-temporal accident analysis for accident prevention in relation to behavioral factors in driving: The case of South Anatolian Motorway

Analyzing the pattern of traffic accidents on road segments can highlight the hazardous locations where the accidents occur frequently and help to determine problematic parts of the roads. The objective of this paper is to utilize accident hotspots to analyze the effect of different measures on the behavioral factors in driving. Every change in the road and its environment affects the choices of the driver and therefore the safety of the road itself. A spatio-temporal analysis of hotspots therefore can highlight the road segments where measures had positive or negative effects on the behavioral factors in driving. In this paper 2175 accidents resulted in injury or death on the South Anatolian Motorway in Turkey for the years between 2006 and 2009 are considered. The network-based kernel density estimation is used as the hotspot detection method and the K-function and the nearest neighbor distance methods are taken into account to check the significance of the hotspots. A chi-square test is performed to find out whether temporal changes on hotspots are significant or not. A comparison of characteristics related driver attributes like age, experience, etc. for accidents in hotspots vs. accidents outside of hotspots is performed to see if the temporal change of hotspots is caused by structural changes on the road. For a better understanding of the effects on the driver characteristics, the accidents are analyzed in five groups based on three different grouping schemes. In the first grouping approach, all accident data are considered. Then the accident data is grouped according to direction of the traffic flow. Lastly, the accident data is classified in terms of the vehicle type. The resultant spatial and temporal changes in the accident patterns are evaluated and changes on the road structure related to behavioral factors in driving are suggested.     

Look where you have to go! A field study comparing looking behaviour at urban intersections using a navigation system or a printed route instruction

In this study, experienced navigation system users (N = 20) drove a given unfamiliar route twice: once with the navigation system activated and once with a printed instruction including a route instruction. Quantitative analysis indicated that drivers passed intersections slower when they used the printed instruction than when they used the navigation system. Drivers looked more often and in proportion longer to the side scene when they used the printed instruction and made less and proportionally shorter glances away from the road scene and to the instruction than when they were supported by the navigation system. No difference was found between these two conditions in the total number of glances and the amount and duration of glances to the forward scene. A qualitative analysis provided understanding of the quantitative results: the type of route guidance was identified to influence drivers’ motive for scanning the side road scene. When the navigation system was used the motive was primarily to look for potential hazards and when the printed instruction was used the motive was more focused to look for salient orientation points. The outcomes of the study are discussed in terms of looking motive and the ‘look but failed to see’ phenomenon.