Driver workload analysis using an interactive 3D driving simulator
Date Issued
October 2013
Abstract
Diagnosing the causes of road accidents and the development of effective countermeasures to
reduce accident rates is of key importance in road safety. Human error is one of the principal
influencing factors that leads to road accidents, and is attributed to increased mental workload
induced by distractions. Workload, however, is characterized by intrinsic properties that are
difficult to observe. Hence, phenotype behaviours, such as lane deviations, could act as good
predictors of driver workload. Driving simulators emerged as a promising technology for the
analysis of driving conditions and road users‟ behaviour in an attempt to tackle the problem of
road accidents. The work presented herein demonstrates the design and development of a driving
simulator, using a 3D game engine that aims to contribute towards evaluating black spots in road
networks by promoting rapid design of realistic models and facilitating the specification of test
scenarios. The developed simulator was employed to evaluate the impact of distractors on
driving behaviours of local road users for a chosen black spot in Limassol-Cyprus. Data
collected from the experiments are analyzed, and the main findings in regards to the above
relationships are presented and discussed.
reduce accident rates is of key importance in road safety. Human error is one of the principal
influencing factors that leads to road accidents, and is attributed to increased mental workload
induced by distractions. Workload, however, is characterized by intrinsic properties that are
difficult to observe. Hence, phenotype behaviours, such as lane deviations, could act as good
predictors of driver workload. Driving simulators emerged as a promising technology for the
analysis of driving conditions and road users‟ behaviour in an attempt to tackle the problem of
road accidents. The work presented herein demonstrates the design and development of a driving
simulator, using a 3D game engine that aims to contribute towards evaluating black spots in road
networks by promoting rapid design of realistic models and facilitating the specification of test
scenarios. The developed simulator was employed to evaluate the impact of distractors on
driving behaviours of local road users for a chosen black spot in Limassol-Cyprus. Data
collected from the experiments are analyzed, and the main findings in regards to the above
relationships are presented and discussed.
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