The antecedents, experience, and coping strategies of driver boredom in young adult males

Abstract

The findings present an opportunity for the road safety and automotive technology community to address the issue of under-stimulation through safety interventions aimed at increased task engagement. Our work can also aid in investigating driver experiences in partially automated driving, which is likely to induce boredom as well.

Risky Gadgets to the Rescue - Reframing In-Car Technology Use as Task Engagement

“…The latter are common antecedents of low levels of engagement (Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) and should therefore be at the focus of gamified driving.…”

“…Inner city driving is often related to congestion, low visibility, and fear of being caught speeding and, as such, often associated with high levels of vigilance and stress (Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) . Added stimuli in these conditions may cause distractions or incentivise unsafe behaviour.…”

“…in low traffic, or on long distance drives (Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) . Similarly, the mundane nature of low engagement driving situations may trigger equally dangerous behaviours, such as speeding (Schroeter et al 2015; Matthies et al 2012; Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) .…”

“…Distractions such as unsafe phone use can be caused by a lack of engagement in the driving task (Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) . Our previous studies indicate that driver boredom is most likely to occur in low stimulation conditions such as routine drives, speed maintenance, cruise control, or low traffic.…”

“…This is, e.g., useful in situations where drivers manoeuver their vehicle on familiar routes, in low traffic, or on long distance drives. The mundane nature of such situations may trigger risky behaviours, such as speeding or checking social media (Steinberger, Moeller, et al 2016) . We propose to address such situations by enhancing the driving experience.…”