Identification of fitness-to-drive performance indicators for driving assessment in driving simulators

Abstract

Fitness-to-drive refers to the physical and mental health of driving a vehicle. A driving simulator provides a feasible method to assess driving competencies. Currently, in most countries around the world, including Singapore, only on-road tests are available to assess fitness-to-drive and driving safety of drivers, which have higher technical difficulty, liability insurance cost and risk compared to driving simulation. Although driving simulator has been thought to be a better option than on-road testing, current driving simulator tests only assess parcels of driving-related skills, yet none presently exists to thoroughly assess fitness-to-drive and driving safety of drivers. In Singapore, in order to control the traffic congestion and environmental pollution, Singapore government releases limited and high-price Certificate of Entitlement for driving. This policy leads to a situation that a large population of citizens with driving licence do not have the opportunity and experience in driving. And after a few years, the driving training they had for their driving licence may not be proficient anymore. Hence, the assessment of fitness- to-drive of this group becomes essential for their own safety as well as that of other users. Driving simulator can be a useful tool to assess the fitness-to-drive for the above situation. Driving simulator can measure many indicators of fitness-to-drive, such as brake reaction time, hazard recognition, judgment, driving knowledge, driving procedure and habit, perceptual skills, executive function, attention, impulse-control, self-awareness and planning.