About this Research Topic
Recently, considerable efforts have been devoted to developing tools that modify driving habits to enhance road safety. This has led to the release of various driver support systems that collect performance data. Such systems deliver feedback in real-time and offline to reduce risky behaviors and help drivers adopt safer driving styles. In this field, performance variable analysis of on-road and simulated driving might provide relevant insights. Currently, several technologies are available, but the way they affect psychological mechanisms underlying driving behaviors have not yet been fully explored.
The Research Topic is strictly linked to the concept of driving style since assistance devices are supposed to affect relatively stable driving habits. Consequently, discussions and conceptualizations about how driving styles are modeled and the extent in which they can be modified play an important role in research aimed at investigating the effectiveness of driver assistance systems and the persistence of the effects they induce.
This Research Topic is aimed at providing a wide framework to integrate evidence related to driver support system effectiveness in terms of driving performance, with studies that cast light on cognitive and psychophysiological processes involved in driving, especially attention and hazard perception.
Studies focusing on feedback characteristics and their relationships with behavioral modulation, as well as the persistence of drivers’ induced performance changes over time, are especially encouraged. Contributions regarding the effects of these systems on motorcycle and car driving are also welcomed.
Contributions (including Original Research, Systematic Review, Methods, Review, Mini Review, Hypothesis and Theory, and Brief Research Report) addressing the following issues are especially (but not exclusively) recommended:
• Psychological processes implied in learning to drive safely.
• Effectiveness of an alert system on driving behavior.
• Methods to model driving habits or driving styles.
• Persistence of the effect of Driver Assistance Systems.
• Studying individual differences among the road users related to their driving style
• Effect of Precision Teaching on driving behaviors and the underlying psychological processes.
The overall aim is to provide suggestions that improve road safety by affecting human behavior and contribute to the development of effective safety support systems for prevention and training purposes.
*Guest Editor, Dr. Mariaelena Tagliabue received financial support from Assicurazioni Generali and Garmin Switzerland. All other Guest Editors declare no other competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.*
Keywords: driver support systems, driving style modification, risk perception, attention, psychophysiological processes, real-time driving feedback, off-line driving feedback, driving behavior changes, long-lasting effect of ADAS effectiveness.
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