TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Driving simulator scenarios and measures to faithfully evaluate risky driving behavior: a comparative study of different driver age groups
JO  - PLoS one
A1  - Michaels, Jesse
A1  - Chaumillon, Romain
A1  - Nguyen-Tri, David
A1  - Watanabe, Donald
A1  - Hirsch, Pierro
A1  - Bellavance, François
A1  - Giraudet, Guillaume
A1  - Bernardin, Delphine
A1  - Faubert, Jocelyn
SP  - e0185909
EP  - e0185909
VL  - 12
IS  - 10
N2  - To investigate the links between mental workload, age and risky driving, a cross-sectional study was conducted on a driving simulator using several established and some novel measures of driving ability and scenarios of varying complexity. A sample of 115 drivers was 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 on three different scenarios varying in mental workload from low to high. Additionally, to gain a better understanding of individuals' ability to capture and integrate relevant information in a highly complex visual environment, the participants' perceptual-cognitive capacity was evaluated using 3-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT). <br><br>RESULTS indicate moderate scenario complexity as the best suited to highlight well-documented differences in driving ability between age groups and to elicit naturalistic driving behavior. Furthermore, several of the novel driving measures were shown to provide useful, non-redundant information about driving behavior, complementing more established measures. Finally, 3D-MOT was demonstrated to be an effective predictor of elevated crash risk as well as decreased naturally-adopted mean driving speed, particularly among older adults. In sum, the present experiment demonstrates that in cases of either extreme high or low task demands, drivers can become overloaded or under aroused and thus task measures may lose sensitivity. Moreover, insights from the present study should inform methodological considerations for future driving simulator research. Importantly, future research should continue to investigate the predictive utility of perceptual-cognitive tests in the domain of driving risk assessment.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1932-6203
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185909
ID  - ref1
ER  -