Intraindividual variability in driving simulator parameters of healthy drivers of different ages. (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Economou, Alexandra; Beratis, Ion; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Yannis, George; Papageorgiou, Sokratis G.
• Is Part Of: Transportation research. Volume 78(2021)
• Page Start: 91
• Page End: 102
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: Driver behaviour -- Age -- Traffic load -- Distraction -- Skilled performance; Automobile drivers -- Psychology -- Periodicals; Automobile driving -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; 629.283019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2021.02.002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8478

Abstract

Highlights: Intraindividual variability has been examined very little in simulated driving. High traffic resulted in increased variability of headway in rural, urban drives. High traffic resulted in decreased variability of lateral position in rural drives. Distraction had a small effect on headway variability in rural drives. Age was not associated with changes in variability in any of the measures. Abstract: Intraindividual variability is a fundamental behavioural characteristic of aging but has been examined to a very limited extent in driving. This study investigated intraindividual variability in driving simulator measures in healthy drivers of different ages using the coefficient of variation (COV) as a variability measure. Participants were healthy volunteers who were regular drivers, who were divided into a "young" group, a "middle-aged" group, and an "old" group. They drove in two environments (rural, 72 drivers; urban, 60 drivers), under conditions of moderate and high traffic load, without and with distraction (conversation). Significant differences in COV were observed in the rural condition for headway distance and lateral position as a function of traffic load, with high traffic (without and with distraction) resulting in increased COV of headway and decreased COV of lateral position. Significant differences in COV were observed in the urban condition for headway distance only, with high traffic (without and with distraction) resulting in increased COV of headway. No age effects were found for any of the driving conditions. The results indicate that traffic load affected headway distance and lateral position in opposite directions in all three age groups: high traffic resulted in increased variability of headway in both rural and urban conditions but in decreased variability of lateral position in the rural conditions compared to moderate traffic irrespective of distraction. The study indicates that driving conditions affect the intraindividual variability of driving measures in selective ways, which may be linked to the extent of automatization of the driving variables and to adaptive changes to traffic condition challenges.