Naturalistic Driving Studies

A special issue of Safety (ISSN 2313-576X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2017) | Viewed by 18806

Special Issue Editor

Director of Occupant Protection Research, Friedman Research Corporation, Austin, TX 78754, USA
Interests: occupant protection; active and passive safety; injury biomechanics; driver behaviour; naturalistic data

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Naturalistic driving studies are becoming an increasingly important element in understanding the behavior of drivers and their performance on the road. The data from these studies can provide the breadth and depth of information necessary to investigate specific interests related to all aspects of road safety including, not only how crashes occur, but also the factors that are associated with good driving performance. With the advent of self-driving vehicles and increasing complexity of crash avoidance technologies, naturalistic driving data has become even more valuable as a tool to assist in their development. In this Special Issue, we will investigate the use of naturalistic data to inform the development of all aspects of the safe system approach for road safety from vehicle design to regulation and practice. Papers concerning the use of naturalistic data to support these goals are welcome. Such topics may include, but are not limited to, driver behavior, human–vehicle interface, crash causation, crash avoidance, autonomous vehicles, analysis and evaluation methods, and cost benefit analyses.

Dr. Garrett Mattos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Naturalistic driving
  • behavior
  • human factors
  • vehicle technology
  • big data

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

250 KiB  
Article
Teen Driving Risk and Prevention: Naturalistic Driving Research Contributions and Challenges
by Bruce G. Simons-Morton, Johnathon P. Ehsani, Pnina Gershon, Sheila G. Klauer and Thomas A. Dingus
Safety 2017, 3(4), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety3040029 - 18 Dec 2017
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 9789
Abstract
Naturalistic driving (ND) methods may be particularly useful for research on young driver crash risk. Novices are not safe drivers initially, but tend to improve rapidly, although the pace of learning is highly variable. However, knowledge is lacking about how best to reduce [...] Read more.
Naturalistic driving (ND) methods may be particularly useful for research on young driver crash risk. Novices are not safe drivers initially, but tend to improve rapidly, although the pace of learning is highly variable. However, knowledge is lacking about how best to reduce the learning curve and the variability in the development of safe driving judgment. A great deal has been learned from recent naturalistic driving (ND) studies that have included young drivers, providing objective information on the nature of crash risk and the factors that contribute to safety critical events. This research indicates that most learners obtain at least the amount of practice driving recommended and develop important driving skills. Unfortunately, most learners are not exposed during training to more complex driving situations and the instruction provided by supervising parents is mostly reactive and may not fully prepare teens for independent driving. While supervised practice driving is quite safe, crash rates are high during the first six months or so of independent driving then decline rapidly, but remain high for years relative to experienced drivers. Contributing factors to crash risk include exposure, inexperience, elevated gravitational-force event rates, greater willingness to engage in secondary tasks while driving, and social influence from peer passengers. The findings indicate the need and possible objectives for improving practice driving instruction and developing innovative prevention approaches for the first year of independent driving. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Naturalistic Driving Studies)
3293 KiB  
Article
Talking on a Wireless Cellular Device While Driving: Improving the Validity of Crash Odds Ratio Estimates in the SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study
by Richard A. Young
Safety 2017, 3(4), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety3040028 - 11 Dec 2017
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3986
Abstract
Dingus and colleagues (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016, 113, 2636–2641) reported a crash odds ratio (OR) estimate of 2.2 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) from 1.6 to 3.1 for hand-held cell phone conversation (hereafter, “Talk”) in the [...] Read more.
Dingus and colleagues (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016, 113, 2636–2641) reported a crash odds ratio (OR) estimate of 2.2 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) from 1.6 to 3.1 for hand-held cell phone conversation (hereafter, “Talk”) in the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving database. This estimate is substantially higher than the effect sizes near one in prior real-world and naturalistic driving studies of conversation on wireless cellular devices (whether hand-held, hands-free portable, or hands-free integrated). Two upward biases were discovered in the Dingus study. First, it selected many Talk-exposed drivers who simultaneously performed additional secondary tasks besides Talk but selected Talk-unexposed drivers with no secondary tasks. This “selection bias” was removed by: (1) filtering out records with additional tasks from the Talk-exposed group; or (2) adding records with other tasks to the Talk-unexposed group. Second, it included records with driver behavior errors, a confounding bias that was also removed by filtering out such records. After removing both biases, the Talk OR point estimates declined to below 1, now consistent with prior studies. Pooling the adjusted SHRP 2 Talk OR estimates with prior study effect size estimates to improve precision, the population effect size for wireless cellular conversation while driving is estimated as 0.72 (CI 0.60–0.88). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Naturalistic Driving Studies)
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1595 KiB  
Article
Pilot Testing a Naturalistic Driving Study to Investigate Winter Maintenance Operator Fatigue during Winter Emergencies
by Matthew C. Camden, Jeffrey S. Hickman and Richard J. Hanowski
Safety 2017, 3(3), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety3030019 - 14 Aug 2017
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4356
Abstract
Although numerous research studies have investigated the effects of fatigue in commercial motor vehicle drivers, research with winter maintenance (WM) drivers is sparse. This study pilot-tested the feasibility of evaluating WM operator fatigue during winter emergencies using naturalistic driving data. Four WM operators [...] Read more.
Although numerous research studies have investigated the effects of fatigue in commercial motor vehicle drivers, research with winter maintenance (WM) drivers is sparse. This study pilot-tested the feasibility of evaluating WM operator fatigue during winter emergencies using naturalistic driving data. Four WM operators participated in the study and drove two instrumented snow plows for three consecutive winter months. The operators also wore an actigraph device used to measure sleep quantity. As this was a pilot study, the results were limited and only provided an estimation of what may be found in a large-scale naturalistic driving study with WM operators. Results showed the majority of safety-critical events (SCEs) occurred during the night, and approximately half of the SCEs occurred when participants were between 5 and 8 h into their shifts. Fatigue was identified as the critical reason in 33% of the SCEs, and drivers were found to average less sleep during winter emergencies versus winter non-emergencies. However, one participant accounted for all fatigue-related SCEs. Although data were limited to two instrumented trucks and four drivers, results support the approach of using naturalistic driving data to assess fatigue in WM operators. Future on-road research is needed to understand the relationship between fatigue and crash risk in WM operators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Naturalistic Driving Studies)
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