Martin Lavallière

Impact of age and cognitive demand on lane choice and changing under actual highway conditions

Previous research suggests that drivers change lanes less frequently during periods of heightened cognitive load. However, lane changing behavior of different age groups under varying levels of cognitive demand is not well understood. The majority of studies which have evaluated lane changing behavior under cognitive workload have been conducted in driving simulators. Consequently, it is unclear if the patterns observed in these simulation studies carry over to actual driving. This paper evaluates data from an on-road study to determine the effects of age and cognitive demand on lane choice and lane changing behavior. Three age groups (20-29, 40-49, and 60-69) were monitored in an instrumented vehicle. The 40s age group had 147% higher odds of exhibiting a lane change than the 60s group. In addition, drivers in their 60s were less likely to drive on the leftmost lane compared to drivers in their 20s and 40s. These results could be interpreted as evidence that older adults adopt a more conservative driving style as reflected in being less likely to choose the leftmost lane than the younger groups and less likely to change lanes than drivers in their 40s. Regardless of demand level, cognitive workload reduced the frequency of lane changes for all age groups. This suggests that in general drivers of all ages attempt to regulate their behavior in a risk reducing direction when under added cognitive demand. The extent to which such self-regulation fully compensates for the impact of added cognitive demand remains an open question.

Changing Lanes in a Simulator: Effects of Aging on the Control of the Vehicle and Visual Inspection of Mirrors and Blind Spot

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine lane change strategies in active younger and older drivers. Visual inspection of mirrors and the blind spot and the control of the vehicle were documented in a simulator environment. Methods: Younger (n = 10, 21–31 years) and older (n = 11, 65–75 years) active drivers drove through a continuous simulated environment including urban and rural sections. The scenario included events where, to negotiate a secure lane change, the driver needed to look at 3 regions of interest (ROI): (1) the rearview mirror, (2) the left side mirror, and (3) the left blind spot. The lane change maneuvers were necessary to avoid a vehicle parked halfway in the rightmost lane that was partially or completely blocking the lane or for overtaking a slower moving vehicle. Results: Compared with younger drivers, older drivers showed a reduced frequency of visual inspection toward the rearview mirror and the blind spot. Also, though the older drivers showed a constant frequency of visual inspection across the 2 types of driving maneuvers, the younger drivers increased their frequency of inspection when overtaking a slower vehicle. Control of the car was mostly similar for both groups. Conclusion: A better knowledge of the drivers’ visual search strategies when changing lanes could help in identifying suboptimal strategies at-risk of causing crashes and also serves to develop retraining programs.

Effect of terminal accuracy requirements on temporal gaze-hand coordination during fast discrete and reciprocal pointings.

BackgroundRapid discrete goal-directed movements are characterized by a well known coordination pattern between the gaze and the hand displacements. The gaze always starts prior to the hand movement and reaches the target before hand velocity peak. Surprisingly, the effect of the target size on the temporal gaze-hand coordination has not been directly investigated. Moreover, goal-directed movements are often produced in a reciprocal rather than in a discrete manner. The objectives of this work were to assess the effect of the target size on temporal gaze-hand coordination during fast 1) discrete and 2) reciprocal pointings.MethodsSubjects performed fast discrete (experiment 1) and reciprocal (experiment 2) pointings with an amplitude of 50 cm and four target diameters (7.6, 3.8, 1.9 and 0.95 cm) leading to indexes of difficulty (ID = log2[2A/D]) of 3.7, 4.7, 5.7 and 6.7 bits. Gaze and hand displacements were synchronously recorded. Temporal gaze-hand coordination parameters were compared between experiments (discrete and reciprocal pointings) and IDs using analyses of variance (ANOVAs).ResultsData showed that the magnitude of the gaze-hand lead pattern was much higher for discrete than for reciprocal pointings. Moreover, while it was constant for discrete pointings, it decreased systematically with an increasing ID for reciprocal pointings because of the longer duration of gaze anchoring on target.ConclusionOverall, the temporal gaze-hand coordination analysis revealed that even for high IDs, fast reciprocal pointings could not be considered as a concatenation of discrete units. Moreover, our data clearly illustrate the smooth adaptation of temporal gaze-hand coordination to terminal accuracy requirements during fast reciprocal pointings. It will be interesting for further researches to investigate if the methodology used in the experiment 2 allows assessing the effect of sensori-motor deficits on gaze-hand coordination.

The Effect of Feedback on Attitudes Toward Cellular Phone Use While Driving: A Comparison Between Novice and Experienced Drivers

Objectives: To assess and compare the effectiveness of a simulation-based approach to change drivers’ attitudes toward cellular phone use while driving for younger novice and older experienced drivers. Methods: Thirty young novice drivers were tested on a driving simulator in this study. Their performance in dealing with driving tasks was measured for a single task and dual tasks (driving while using a cellular phone) and compared to 30 older experienced drivers tested previously in another study. Half of the younger drivers received video-based feedback regarding their performance in the two conditions, with an emphasis on the contribution of dual-tasking to degraded performance. The other half did not receive any performance feedback. Drivers’ perceptions and attitudes toward cellular phone use while driving were investigated by a questionnaire before, immediately after, and again one month following the simulation-based testing for both groups of drivers (feedback; no feedback) Results: All drivers (including the novice and experienced) reported willingness to engage in driving and talking on a cellular phone in some situations. The simulated driving test showed that a secondary cellular phone task significantly degraded driving performance for both the novice and the experienced drivers. The feedback treatment group (both the novice and the experienced) showed significant attitude change toward cellular phone use while driving (toward being less favorable), whereas the control group had no attitude change. At the one-month follow-up, the benefit of feedback was sustained more so in the experienced driver group than the novice driver group, although both groups still benefited relative to the control conditions. Conclusions: Simulation-based feedback training is promising for short-term education in novice drivers but may be more effective in the long-term for drivers with higher levels of experience. Drivers with more experience appear to have a greater, more sustained benefit from the training than novices. Additional research is needed to better tailor this education method toward novice drivers. Impact: Simulation-based participative education approach through feedback needs to be better tailored toward novice drivers.

In-simulator training of driving abilities in a person with a traumatic brain injury

Aim: This study reports the case of a 23-year-old woman (MC) who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury in 2004. After her accident, her driving license was revoked. Despite recovering normal neuropsychological functions in the following years, MC was unable to renew her license, failing four on-road evaluations assessing her fitness to drive. Method: In hope of an eventual license renewal, MC went through an in-simulator training programme in the laboratory in 2009. The training programme aimed at improving features of MCs driving behaviour that were identified as being problematic in prior on-road evaluations. To do so, proper driving behaviour was reinforced via driving-specific feedback provided during the training sessions. Results: After 25 sessions in the simulator (over a period of 4 months), MC significantly improved various components of her driving. Notably, compared to early sessions, later ones were associated with a reduced cognitive load, less jerky speed profiles when stopping at intersections and better vehicle control and positioning. A 1-year retention test showed most of these improvements were consistent. Conclusions: The learning principles underlying well conducted simulator-based education programmes have a strong scientific basis. A simulator training programme like this one represents a promising avenue for driving rehabilitation. It allows individuals without a driving license to practice and improve their skills in a safe and realistic environment.

User interfaces for first responder vehicles: views from practitioners, industry, and academia

By the nature of their jobs first responders have to interact with in-vehicle devices even as they drive under challenging road conditions. In this paper we assess the state-of-the-art in creating safe in-vehicle user interfaces for first responders, and we propose six research and development priorities for future work in this realm.

Walking a mile in another’s shoes: The impact of wearing an Age Suit

ABSTRACT The “Age Suit” described in this article was developed to enable future designers, business leaders, and engineers to experience navigating the world as many older adults must. Tools such as this Age Suit offer the opportunity to “walk a mile” in another’s shoes to develop empathy that can result in better design of spaces, goods, and services to meet the needs of a rapidly growing older population. This work first examined, through a series of clinical tests, whether younger adults’ physical capacities were reduced in a direction consistent with aging by wearing a suit developed by the MIT AgeLab. An experiential learning task was then completed with the suit to understand its impact on completion of an instrumental activity of daily living. Results showed that younger adults wearing the suit experienced changes in task performance consistent with expected changes associated with aging. Participants’ self-reports from the experiential learning task indicated that they were able to empathize with older adults regarding some issues they face while completing a grocery shopping task. Future research with the suit should involve a wider range of individuals from the population and examine what effect participants’ levels of fitness have on the experience of wearing the suit.

Driving Performance on the Descending Limb of Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) in Undergraduate Students: A Pilot Study

Young drivers are overrepresented in collisions resulting in fatalities. It is not uncommon for young drivers to socially binge drink and decide to drive a vehicle a few hours after consumption. To better understand the risks that may be associated with this behaviour, the present study has examined the effects of a social drinking bout followed by a simulated drive in undergraduate students on the descending limb of their BAC (blood alcohol concentration) curve. Two groups of eight undergraduate students (n = 16) took part in this study. Participants in the alcohol group were assessed before drinking, then at moderate and low BAC as well as 24 hours post-acute consumption. This group consumed an average of 5.3 ± 1.4 (mean ± SD) drinks in an hour in a social context and were then submitted to a driving and a predicted crash risk assessment. The control group was assessed at the same time points without alcohol intake or social context.; at 8 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. the next morning. These multiple time points were used to measure any potential learning effects from the assessment tools (i.e. driving simulator and useful field of view test (UFOV)). Diminished driving performance at moderate BAC was observed with no increases in predicted crash risk. Moderate correlations between driving variables were observed. No association exists between driving variables and UFOV variables. The control group improved measures of selective attention after the third asessement. No learning effect was observed from multiple sessions with the driving simulator. Our results show that a moderate BAC, although legal, increases the risky behaviour. Effects of alcohol expectancy could have been displayed by the experimental group. UFOV measures and predicted crash risk categories were not sentitive enough to predict crash risk for young drivers, even when intoxicated.

Driving assessment and rehabilitation using a driving simulator in individuals with traumatic brain injury: A scoping review

BACKGROUND Due to the heterogeneity of the lesion following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the complexity of the driving task, driving assessment and rehabilitation in TBI individuals is challenging. Conventional driving assessment (on-road and in-clinic evaluations) has failed demonstrating effectiveness to assess fitness to drive in TBI individuals. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine if driving simulators represent an interesting opportunity in assessing and rehabilitating driving skills in TBI individuals. METHODS We searched PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane library databases between 27-02-2014 and 08-04-2014 for articles published since 2000 with the contents of simulator driving assessment and rehabilitation. RESULTS Out of 488, eight articles with the subject of simulator driving assessment and two with the subject of simulator driving rehabilitation in individuals with TBI were reviewed. CONCLUSIONS Driving simulators represent a promising avenue for the assessment and rehabilitation of driving skills in TBI individuals as it allows control of stimuli in a safe, challenging and ecologically valid environment and offer the opportunity to measure and record driving performance. Additional studies, however, are needed to document strengths and limitations of this method.

Obesity, where is it driving us?

Obesity is recognized as an important issue that has an impact on several areas of our daily lives, such as driving. In the literature there exists an association between obesity and motor vehicle crashes. The goal of this article is to promote insightful reflection and discussion around this emerging topic. Searches were conducted on Pubmed. Search terms were “obesity” and “driving.” The literature was sorted into a summary of the general ideas and is presented for discussion. Relevant issues discussed include anthromechanical issues and car design, seat belt usage, and obesity-related health complications (ocular pathologies, diabetic complications, and obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnea). Finally, though limited prevention strategies exist for these issues in the literature, some strategies are presented for consideration. With such a complex issue, there is no simple solution. Education is the first step, and with a comprehensive understanding of the risks, actions can be taken to prevent these issues.