How (where) Does Music Background Hamper Driver Behaviour?

Objective: The current study examined the effects of music on Hazard Perception - a skill that serves as a proxy for safe driving.

Background: There is contradictory evidence whether or not music engagement leads to decremented driver performance and compromises traffic safety.

Method: In the study, 36 participants performed a standard Video-Based Hazard Perception Test under three aural conditions: Road and Traffic Sounds (RS); RS + Driver-Preferred Music; RS + Alternative Music.

Does gender affect the driving performance of young patients with diabetes?

Recent evidence suggests that poor glycemic control among young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has negative cognitive and physical effects, whose extent is gender-dependent. For example, female patients with diabetes present more physical and cognitive limitations than male patients in terms of cognitive adjustment, quality of decision making, and functioning. Studies about traffic safety report that diabetic drivers are at increased risk of being involved in road crashes, especially when driving in a state of hypoglycemia under which their blood glucose level is too low.

Driver distraction and its effects on partially automated driving performance: A driving simulator study among young-experienced drivers.

Drivers of partially automated vehicles (PAVs) are relieved from parts of the driving tasks allocated to the automated driver. Ironically, these drivers are obligated to continuously monitor the driving task at all times and keep their attention on the roadway. This reduction in the driving task's demands and cognitive workload may encourage drivers to engage with non-driving related tasks (NDRT), which may impair drivers' awareness of the road environment and, as a result, compromise safety.

The Effects of an In-vehicle Collision Warning System on Older Drivers' On-road Head Movements at Intersections.

With age might come a decline in crucial driving skills. The effect of a collision warning system (CWS) on older drivers' head movements behavior at intersections was examined. Twenty-six old-adults, between 55 and 64 years of age, and 16 Older drivers between 65 and 83 years of age, participated in the study.

Improving Drivers' Hazard Perception and Performance Using a Less Visually-Demanding Interface.

In-vehicle devices and infotainment systems occasionally lead to driver distraction, and as a result, increase the risk of missing on-road information. In the current study, a novel multi-touch interface for an in-vehicle infotainment system was evaluated, which potentially requires less visual attention and thus may reduce distraction and increase safety. The interface was compared with a functionally similar control interface in terms of hazard perception metrics and mental workload.

Acute hyperglycaemia can impair driving skill in young type 1 diabetes mellitus patients.

Aim: Drivers with diabetes are at increased risk of being involved in road accidents. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of acute hyperglycaemia (AH) compared with euglycaemia on driving ability in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Methods: Eighteen drivers with T1DM were asked to navigate twice through nine hazardous scenarios, using a driving simulator, during euglycaemia and then again during AH (mean blood glucose: 138 ± 34 mg/dL and 321 ± 29 mg/dL, respectively) in a counterbalanced crossover study.

Traumatic brain injury hinders learning of road hazard awareness by repeated exposure to video-based hazards.

Objective: To better understand hazard awareness abilities among traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors of which little is currently known. TBI survivors express degradation in driving abilities, particularly the proactive strategy in which indicators of potentially hazardous situations are sought and identified. The current study examined differences in hazard awareness learning between TBI survivors and noninjured control individuals matched for age and driving experience.

What can a hazard function teach us about drivers' perception of hazards?

Objective: Hazard perception (HP) is typically defined as the ability to read the road and anticipate hazardous situations. Several studies have shown that HP is a driving skill that correlates with traffic crashes. Measuring HP differences between various groups of drivers typically involves a paradigm in which participants observe short videos of real-world traffic scenes taken from a driver's or a pedestrian's perspective and press a response button each time they identify a hazard.

The effects of repetitive presentation of specific hazards on eye movements in hazard perception training, of experienced and young-inexperienced drivers.

Recent evidence shows that compared to experienced drivers, young-inexperienced drivers are more likely to be involved in a crash mainly due to their poor hazard perception (HP) abilities. This skill develops with experience and may be developed through training. We assumed that as any other skill, HP developed through implicit learning.

The effects of brief visual interruption tasks on drivers' ability to resume their visual search for a pre-cued hazard.

Driver visual distraction is known to increase the likelihood of being involved in a crash, especially for long glances inside the vehicle. The detrimental impact of these in-vehicle glances may carry over and disrupt the ongoing processing of information after the driver glances back up on the road. This study explored the effect of different types of visual tasks inside the vehicle on the top-down processes that guide the detection and monitoring of road hazards after the driver glances back towards the road.

Driving speed of young novice and experienced drivers in simulated hazard anticipation scenes.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to demonstrate analysis methods that are sensitive to speed-related differences between experienced and young novice drivers. These differences may be linked to determining which group is better at anticipating hazards.

Background: Awareness of hazardous situations, especially potential ones, is a major discriminator between experienced and young novice drivers who tend to misidentify potential hazards in the traffic environment.

Effects of cues on target search behavior.

Cues in visual scanning task can improve decision accuracy, and they may also affect task performance strategies. We tested the effects of cues on the performance of binary classifications, on the screen scanning procedure participants employed, and on the reported effort in a simulated quality control task. Participants had to decide whether each item in a 5 × 5 matrix of items was intact or faulty.

The effects of momentary visual disruption on hazard anticipation and awareness in driving.

Objective: Driver distraction is known to increase crash risk, especially when a driver glances inside the vehicle for especially long periods of time. Though it is clear that such glances increase the risk for the driver when looking inside the vehicle, it is less clear how these glances disrupt the ongoing processing of information outside the vehicle once the driver's eyes return to the road. The present study was aimed at exploring the effect of in-vehicle glances on the top-down processes that guide the detection and monitoring of hazards on the forward roadway.

Formation and Evaluation of Act and Anticipate Hazard Perception Training (AAHPT) intervention for young novice drivers.

Objective: Young novice drivers' poor hazard perception (HP) skills are a prominent cause for their overinvolvement in traffic crashes. HP, the ability to read the road and anticipate forthcoming events, is receptive to training. This study explored the formation and evaluation of a new HP training intervention-the Act and Anticipate Hazard Perception Training (AAHPT), which is based upon exposing young novice drivers to a vast array of actual traffic hazards, aiming to enhance their ability to anticipate potential hazards during testing.

Exploring the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception via real-time hazard identification, hazard classification, and rating tasks.

This study investigated the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception skills. These topics have previously been investigated separately, yet a novel approach is suggested where hazard awareness and risk perception are examined concurrently. Young, newly qualified drivers, experienced drivers, and a group of commercial drivers, namely, taxi drivers performed three consecutive tasks: (1) observed 10 short movies of real-world driving situations and were asked to press a button each time they identified a hazardous situation; (2) observed one of three possible sub-sets of 8 movies (out of the 10 they have seen earlier) for the second time, and were asked to categorize them into an arbitrary number of clusters according to the similarity in their hazardous situation; and (3) observed the same sub-set for a third time and following each movie were asked to rate its level of hazardousness.

Drivers' perception of vulnerable road users: a hazard perception approach.

The present study examined how experienced and young-inexperienced drivers (either trained in hazard perception or not) respond to and identify pedestrians when they appear in residential roads within populated neighborhoods and in urban roads located outside neighborhoods and usually less populated. As part of a hazard perception test, participants were connected to an eye tracking system and were asked to observe 58 traffic scene movies and press a response button each time they detected a hazardous situation. Analyzing all pedestrian-related events revealed that, regardless of driving experience or training, drivers detect pedestrians less often when they appear in urban areas and more often when they appear in residential areas.

The perception of pedestrians from the perspective of elderly experienced and experienced drivers.

We examined hazard perception (HP) abilities among elderly experienced and experienced drivers, with regard to the presence of pedestrians in residential areas. Two evaluation methods were used: (a) observation of traffic scene videos and pressing a button when a hazardous situation was identified, and (b) driving in a driving simulator. The results of the video observation method showed that elderly drivers had a longer response time for hazard detection.

Age, skill, and hazard perception in driving.

This study examined the effects of age and driving experience on the ability to detect hazards while driving; namely, hazard perception. Studies have shown that young-inexperienced drivers are more likely than experienced drivers to suffer from hazard perception deficiencies. However, it remains to be determined if this skill deteriorates with advancing age.

The relation between driving experience and recognition of road signs relative to their locations.

Objectives: Examine how driving experience and expectations affect the ability of experienced drivers to identify traffic signs--specifically, no right turn (NRT) and no left turn (NLT) at intersections.

Background: Failure to heed signs is a frequent cause of accidents, and the authors focused on the contributions of experience and expectancy to sign identification.

Method: Inexperienced and experienced drivers were connected to an eye tracker system and briefly exposed to various traffic scenes.