Workload of younger and elderly drivers in different infrastructural situations

Schwarze, Anke; Ehrenpfordt, Ingmar; Eggert, Frank

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2014.06.017

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Specifically, older drivers showed more efforts to manage the driving performances when the complexity of the environment road scenes increased, or different procedures were simultaneously requested [68,69]. This phenomenon is probably due to the age-related decline in cognitive functions [69]. Nevertheless, older drivers revealed different compensatory skills (e.g., in the higher mental workload conditions, they would reduce speed to acquire a major control and to manage the performance) as compared to younger drivers [68].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Besides studies on sleepiness, some investigations on mental workload in driving simulated performances revealed that older people are more vulnerable to the workload increase in complex scenarios than the younger subjects [67][68][69]. Specifically, older drivers showed more efforts to manage the driving performances when the complexity of the environment road scenes increased, or different procedures were simultaneously requested [68,69]. This phenomenon is probably due to the age-related decline in cognitive functions [69].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, it is still not clear whether the need for sleep decreases itself as people age [60,70,71] or whether, conversely, the older subjects are not able to generate the amount of sleep they actually need [60,70,71]. Moreover, despite the impoverishment in cognitive functions and the vulnerability in the higher mental workload situations [67,69], older adults would show efficient compensation abilities to improve their driving performance [68]. For all of these reasons, it is necessary to carry out further studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Influence of Sleep Quality, Vigilance, and Sleepiness on Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities: A Comparison between Young and Older Adults

et al. 2020

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Background: Driving performance is strongly vulnerable to drowsiness and vigilance fluctuations. Excessive sleepiness may alter concentration, alertness, and reaction times. As people age, sleep undergoes some changes, becoming fragmented and less deep. However, the effects of these modifications on daily life have not been sufficiently investigated. Recently, the assessment of sleepiness became mandatory in Europe for people at risk who need the driving license release. Moreover, considering the expectation that people around the world are rapidly aging, it is necessary to investigate the relationships between senescence sleep changes, vigilance levels, and driving-related cognitive skills. Method: 80 healthy subjects (40 young adults and 40 elders) participated in the study. Sleep quality, sleepiness, and vigilance levels were assessed through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Driving-related cognitive abilities were assessed through Vienna Test System TRAFFIC, investigating selective attention, tachistoscopic perception, and risk assumption. Results: 2 × 2 between-subject ANOVAs showed less habitual sleep efficiency and worse performances in PVT in the older group. Unexpectedly, younger subjects show higher self-rated sleepiness. Moreover, older adults have lower performance in attention and perception tests, but they appear to be more cautious in situations involving traffic. Finally, the multiple regressions show age to be the only robust predictor of cognitive driving-related abilities. Conclusions: This is the first study that investigates the relationships among sleepiness/vigilance and specific driving-related cognitive skills on a sufficiently large sample. Nevertheless, the study should be considered preliminary and does not allow us to understand how specific changes in sleep architecture impact performances in the elders’ everyday life and, specifically, on driving skills.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Influence of Sleep Quality, Vigilance, and Sleepiness on Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities: A Comparison between Young and Older Adults

et al. 2020

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“…Many factors affect a driver's supply of mental workload, such as their age, the complexity of the driving environment, and changes in the infrastructure (9)(10)(11). Other factors can affect drivers' workload, such as using a cell phone, smartphone, or smartwatch (12)(13)(14).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibrating Design Guidelines using Mental Workload and Reliability Analysis

Habib

Gouda

El-Basyouny

2020

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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The generic nature of road design is indiscriminate to age, race, or gender, as it is implicitly assumed that there are few behavioral differences between drivers while traversing various alignment elements (e.g., horizontal curves, tangential segments, etc.). For instance, the perception reaction time required, which is based on an 85th percentile value, on a tangent section is the same as that on a horizontal curve. This suggests that current guidelines do not consider the complexity that some geometric features might induce on drivers, and consequently, there is a need to address the many considerations of diversity. In this respect, human factors should be explicitly included in design guidelines. One aspect of human factors that has received little attention in the literature is related to the mental workload. In this study, a procedure is presented to estimate the mental workload for stopping sight distance. Then, reliability analysis is conducted to compare the change in the probability of non-compliance owing to the available sight distance and based on the mental workload. By analyzing data from 12 horizontal curves in Alberta, Canada, the probability of non-compliance dropped from 9.1% to 0.7%, and a moderate correlation with collisions was found. The results of the analysis showed that incorporating mental workload into the geometric design process can improve safety performance.

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“…In a different study that investigated the relationship between age and MWL, three age groups were compared with respect to reaction time. The group of older drivers always needed more reaction time, especially at more complex locations, such as horizontal curves, which translates into a reduced ability to deal with complex situations when a high MWL is required ( 17 , 18 ). Roadside advertising was also found to have an adverse effect on driver attention and lateral control with respect to visual workload, and the effect was maximized on rural roads ( 19 ).…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Effects of Mental Workload on Highway Safety

Habib

Shalkamy

El-Basyouny

2019

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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The majority of vehicle collisions occur because of human error; in fact, studies have shown that approximately 95% of collisions are caused, at least in part, as a result of human mistakes. Therefore, it is important to study the main causes of human mistakes and develop mitigation strategies to reduce, if not eliminate, these errors from occurring. In this respect, designing highways that balance mental workload is a crucial task that ensures drivers have sufficient time to make appropriate decisions. However, the quantitative relationship between mental workload and collisions is not well documented in the safety literature. Enough evidence exists to support the reasonable conclusion that safety is affected by changes in workload, but there is no quantitative evidence of this effect. Consequently, this paper tries to investigate the relation between mental workload ratings and collisions on highways using data from Alberta, Canada. Horizontal and vertical curve parameters on two-lane, two-way highways were first extracted from LiDAR and GPS data using MATLAB algorithms, and the resulting features were summarized using Civil 3D. The mental workload ratings were assigned based on the presence of four major geometric features, namely, intersections, horizontal curves, vertical curves, and changes in cross-section. The results show that mental workload has a significant effect on safety for two-way, two-lane highways. Furthermore, the findings strongly indicated the need to integrate mental workload into the design process, to not only meet the operational needs of the highway, but also ensure that the geometric layout does not mentally overwhelm drivers.

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Workload of younger and elderly drivers in different infrastructural situations

Cited by 6 publications

References 47 publications

The Influence of Sleep Quality, Vigilance, and Sleepiness on Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities: A Comparison between Young and Older Adults

The Influence of Sleep Quality, Vigilance, and Sleepiness on Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities: A Comparison between Young and Older Adults

Calibrating Design Guidelines using Mental Workload and Reliability Analysis

Investigating the Effects of Mental Workload on Highway Safety

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