Proposal for Driver Distraction Indexes Using Biological Signals

Author(s):  
Michiko Ohkura ◽  
Kazuma Uchiumi ◽  
Yukou Saito ◽  
Koyo Hasegawa

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, driver inattention is a major contributor to highway accidents. Driver distraction is one form of inattention and a leading factor in most vehicle crashes and near crashes. Distraction occurs when a driver is delayed in the recognition of information needed to safely accomplish the driving task because some event, activity, object, or person within or outside the vehicle compels or induces the driver attention away from the driving task. Although some indexes of driving performance have measured distraction, they are the results of the distraction and not the distraction itself. We directly and quantitatively employ biological signals to measure the distraction by finding useful biological indexes from candidates of various biological signals. Our experimental results using a driving simulator showed useful indexes derived from EEG and ECG.

Author(s):  
Michiko Ohkura ◽  
Nobumichi Takahashi ◽  
Hironori Seki ◽  
Yukou Saito ◽  
Koyo Hasegawa

Driver distraction, which is one form of inattention, is a leading factor of vehicle crashes and near-crashes. Distraction occurs when a driver’s recognition of information needed to safely accomplish his driving task is delayed because some event, activity, object, or person within or outside the vehicle induces or shifts his attention away from the driving task. To measure the distraction, driving performance indexes are commonly used. However, we employed biological signals to directly and quantitatively measure the distraction. Our experiment results identified such useful biological indexes as EEG’s total power spectrum, beta wave ratio, ECG’s heart rate, and its LF/HF. In this article, we introduce our trial in which we applied the index candidates to assess the information display positions.


Author(s):  
Lisa Graichen ◽  
Matthias Graichen ◽  
Josef F. Krems

Objective We observe the driving performance effects of gesture-based interaction (GBI) versus touch-based interaction (TBI) for in-vehicle information systems (IVISs). Background As a contributing factor to a number of traffic accidents, driver distraction is a significant problem for traffic safety. More specifically, visual distraction has a strong negative impact on driving performance and risk perception. Thus, the implementation of new interaction systems that use midair gestures to encourage glance-free interactions could reduce visual distraction among drivers. Methods In this experiment, participants drove a projection-based Vehicle-in-the-Loop. The projection-based technology combines a visual simulation with kinesthetic, vestibular, and auditory feedback from a car on a test track. While driving, participants used GBI or TBI to perform IVIS tasks. To investigate driving behavior related to critical driving situations and car-following maneuvers, vehicle data based upon longitudinal and lateral driving were collected. Results Participants reacted faster to critical driving situations when using GBI compared to TBI. For drivers using TBI, steering performance decreased and time headway to a preceding vehicle was higher. Conclusion Gestures provide a safe alternative to in-vehicle interactions. Moreover, GBI has fewer effects on driver distraction than TBI. Application Potential applications of this research include all in-vehicle interaction systems used by drivers.


Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Arca ◽  
Kaitlin M. Stanford ◽  
Mustapha Mouloua

The current study was designed to empirically examine the effects of individual differences in attention and memory deficits on driver distraction. Forty-eight participants consisting of 37 non-ADHD and 11 ADHD drivers were tested in a medium fidelity GE-ISIM driving simulator. All participants took part in a series of simulated driving scenarios involving both high and low traffic conditions in conjunction with completing a 20-Questions task either by text- message or phone-call. Measures of UFOV, simulated driving, heart rate variability, and subjective (NASA TLX) workload performance were recorded for each of the experimental tasks. It was hypothesized that ADHD diagnosis, type of cellular distraction, and traffic density would affect driving performance as measured by driving performance, workload assessment, and physiological measures. Preliminary results indicated that ADHD diagnosis, type of cellular distraction, and traffic density affected the performance of the secondary task. These results provide further evidence for the deleterious effects of cellphone use on driver distraction, especially for drivers who are diagnosed with attention-deficit and memory capacity deficits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and directions for future research are also presented.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1471
Author(s):  
Yongxiang Wang ◽  
William Clifford ◽  
Charles Markham ◽  
Catherine Deegan

Distractions external to a vehicle contribute to visual attention diversion that may cause traffic accidents. As a low-cost and efficient advertising solution, billboards are widely installed on side of the road, especially the motorway. However, the effect of billboards on driver distraction, eye gaze, and cognition has not been fully investigated. This study utilises a customised driving simulator and synchronised electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking system to investigate the cognitive processes relating to the processing of driver visual information. A distinction is made between eye gaze fixations relating to stimuli that assist driving and others that may be a source of distraction. The study compares the driver’s cognitive responses to fixations on billboards with fixations on the vehicle dashboard. The measured eye-fixation related potential (EFRP) shows that the P1 components are similar; however, the subsequent N1 and P2 components differ. In addition, an EEG motor response is observed when the driver makes an adjustment of driving speed when prompted by speed limit signs. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed measurement system is a valid tool in assessing driver cognition and suggests the cognitive level of engagement to the billboard is likely to be a precursor to driver distraction. The experimental results are compared with the human information processing model found in the literature.


Author(s):  
Patrick Siebert ◽  
Mustapha Mouloua ◽  
Kendra Burns ◽  
Jennifer Marino ◽  
Lora Scagliola ◽  
...  

This study used both cellular phones and analogue radio to measure driver distraction and workload in a low fidelity driving simulator. Thirty-four participants performed a simulated driving task while using either a cell phone or a radio in conjunction with a secondary task assessing their spare attentional capacity. The results showed that more lane deviations were made during the cell phone and radio tuning use than both of the pre-allocation and Post-allocation phases. The secondary task errors were also higher during both the cell phone and radio tuning allocation phase than the pre-allocation and post-allocation phases. These findings indicate the greater workload load levels associated with the use of telemetric devices. These findings have major implications for driver safety and telemetric systems design.


Author(s):  
Walter W. Wierwille ◽  
James C. Gutmann

In a previously reported experiment involving a moving base driving simulator with computer-generated display, secondary task measures of workload showed significant increases as a function of large changes in vehicle dynamics and disturbance levels. Because the secondary task measures appeared less sensitive than desired, driving performance measures recorded during the same experiment were later analyzed. Particular emphasis in examining the driving performance data was placed on (1) determining the degree of intrusion of the secondary task on the driving task as a function of the independent variables, and (2) on comparing the sensitivity of the primary and secondary task measures. The results showed the secondary task does intrude significantly upon the driving task performance at low workload levels, but that it does not significantly intrude at high workload levels. Also, when the four primary task measures were analyzed for sensitivity to the independent variables, new information was obtained indicating greater sensitivity than is obtained with the single secondary task measure. Steering ratio, for example, is found to affect performance at high disturbance levels—a result not obtained in examining the secondary task by itself. The merits of primary and secondary task performance analysis are discussed, and suggestions are made for future work.


2013 ◽  
Vol 321-324 ◽  
pp. 1518-1521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Long Pei ◽  
Lian Zhen Wang

The bus drivers have to suffer from very high labor intensity every day. Driving fatigue among the bus drivers is very common and has very dangerous risk for traffic safety. Fourteen male bus drivers, divided into two groups according to two kinds of work schedules, participated in a control experiment. The driving session was performed in the real road scene. Each driver was asked to finish a five-laps driving task. The Stanford Sleepiness Scale score was recorded to measure the subjective fatigue feelings of the bus drivers. Choice reaction time and PECLOS indicators were used to assess the driving performance. One-way ANOVA was used to examine significance of data variations with SPSS. Person’s correlation coefficient was employed to explore the correlations among the three indicators. The results reveal that driving duration has a significant effect on the vigilance level of the bus drivers. There are evident positive correlations between the three indicators. And the two kinds of work schedules have different effect on the bus drivers’ prevention of driving fatigue.


Author(s):  
S. Azzi ◽  
G. Reymond ◽  
F. Mérienne ◽  
A. Kemeny

In this experiment, 28 participants completed an urban driving task in a highly immersive driving simulator at Renault’s Technical Centre for Simulation. This simulator provides a 150 deg field of view in a fully instrumented cockpit. Two different eco-driving assistance devices were added: a visual display on the midconsole and a force feedback system on the gas pedal, in order to apply an additionnal reaction torque on drivers’ foot. The feedback information was computed by comparing the car’s instant acceleration with an optimal acceleration level based on a proprietary consumption model of a Renault diesel engine. This experiment has three main goals: I. Assess the contribution of verbal instructions to eco-driving performance; II. Quantify the additional contribution generated by two eco-driving assistance systems (visual and haptic); III. Measure drivers’ acceptance of haptic eco-driving assistance system. Basic eco-driving instructions, such as changing gears under 2000 Rpm, yield significant decrease of polluting emissions. Assisting drivers with visual, haptic, or visual-haptic on-board devices, in addition to low engine speed verbal instructions, lead to supplementary significant savings of polluting emissions. There is no significant difference between assistance feedback type; suggesting that the haptic feedback provides the same ecoperformance as visual feedback. In particular, subjects show good adaptation to the haptic feedback pedal at first utilization of the system. They apparently relied more on haptic modality to achieve the eco-driving task, when they used both visual and haptic assistance.


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