Driving simulator scenarios and measures to faithfully evaluate risky driving behavior: A comparative study of different driver age groups

NeuroTracker baselines effectively predict driving safety for both younger and older adults, and experienced and inexperienced drivers.

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Aging
Driving

October 2017

in

PLoS One

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Aim

To investigate NeuroTracker baselines could be predictive of driving performance across 3 simulated scenarios, to see if these measures could be predictive of driving risks.

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Method

115 drivers were divided into three age and experience groups: young inexperienced (18-21 years old), adult experienced (25-55 years old) and older adult (70-86 years old). Participants were tested for 2 hours across three different driving scenarios varying in mental workload (low, medium, high), using a highly sophisticated driving simulator. A total of 18 different metrics on driving behavior were evaluated and compared to NeuroTracker baseline scores.

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Result

Statistical analysis of NeuroTracker results and driving performance metric yielded significant correlations, including being predictive of driving speed, breaking speed, and reaction to dangerous events. Low NeuroTracker scores effectively predicted elevated risks of crashes. Lower NeuroTracker scores also correlated significantly with slower average driving speed for older adults, providing evidence towards the theory that driving more slowly is related to the cognitive effects of aging.

Correlation between NeuroTracker speed thresholds (represented in log units) and mean speeds naturally adopted in the rural scenario.

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