Transcript The Neon Drunk Driving Simulator

Cross-Platform Simulation Needs
for Novice (and other) Drivers
TRB Workshop on “Development of
Standardized Descriptions of Driving
Simulator Scenarios: Human Factors
Considerations
Jerry Wachtel
The Veridian Group, Inc.
January 9, 2005
Young Novice Drivers
We’ve been studying this issue for a
long time
 Must distinguish novice drivers from
young novice drivers

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Young Novice Drivers Have:
Excellent Reflexes
 Good hand-eye coordination
 Rapid perception-reaction time
 Ability to divide and share attention
 Wide range of body strength and motion
 Excellent peripheral and night vision,
contrast sensitivity

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These are essentially the
same factors that are
important for safe driving, but
compromised in the elderly
and known to contribute to
their elevated crash rate
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Young novice drivers also
have:
An inflated assessment of their abilities
 A high propensity to take risks
 Greater exposure to potential crash
situations
 A lack of driving experience, which leads to
 Unrefined perceptual and cognitive skills
critical for safe driving

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We Can See these Differences in
Crash Types and Consequences
Young novice drivers have high-speed,
single vehicle, run-off-road crashes
 Older drivers have low-speed, twovehicle, intersection, angled crashes
 Older drivers have high fatality rates
because they are physically frail
 Young drivers have high fatality rates
because they hit things hard

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Fatality Rates by Age 1993-2003
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Four Skills to Mediate Young
Novice Driver Crash Risk
Risk perception
 Attentional Control
 Time-sharing
 Calibration

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Training/Testing for These
Skills Amenable to Simulation
Traditional driver education not working
 Focus has been on vehicle control or
“passing the test”
 Focus should be on compressing the
learning curve for critical perceptual and
cognitive skills
 This is precisely where simulation is at
its best

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Traditional Arguments Against
Simulation
Cost
 Fidelity
 Validity (and the “criterion” problem)

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Two Less Obvious Arguments
Against Simulation
Motivation
 Challenges and “gold standards”

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The Role of Motivation
Motivation has been shown to affect
performance on simulators
 Traditional motivators include:

– Captive subjects (required to participate)
– Payment for service
– Zero-sum game
– Please the professor
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Negative Motivation
Young novice drivers may consider
“safe” driving boring and tedious
 Examples abound of simulators used as
race cars
 The Plymouth/Dodge Neon Drunk
Driving Simulator

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The Neon Drunk Driving
Simulator
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Inherent Motivation
Pass the simulator test, get your license
 Not as far-fetched as it may seem
 Used successfully in other industries
 Used with specific subsets of drivers:

– Police trainees
– Cognitively impaired patients
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How can we use the power of
simulation to provide positive
motivation and serve the
learning function?
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Challenges, and “Gold Standards”
Challenges are at the heart of our
simulation exercises
 We have a tendency to seek the “holy
grail”
 Subject matter experts can tell us what
is needed
 We should be coming together to
harmonize these events across sites

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Cross-Platform Compatibilities
Important for Younger (and all) Drivers
The Visual Data Base
 The Scenario
 The Simulation (including independent
variables)
 Dependent variables

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The Data Base
The road and the terrain
 ITE “Green Book”
 FHWA MUTCD

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An Example from the MUTCD
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The Scenario – and Signs
Signs as “environmental filler” vs.
actual triggers or independent variables
 Some have argued that poor visual
characteristics of simulated signs results
in fail-safe recommendations.
 This does not work for the novice driver

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Use of Supplemental Monitor
for Display of Signs
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The Simulation
Are objects intended to be background
or will they be used as triggers or
independent variables?
 The answer to this question might
dictate how precise we must be in our
specifications

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And if precision is needed,
“the devil is in the details.”
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Importance of Sign Size and
Placement Fidelity
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Dependent Measures
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