Driving Simulator to Explore Driving Skills - Literature review Example

? Literature Review Literature review As the current number of automobiles on our roads keeps on increasing, driving skills have become part of our normal life. Although on road tests have previously been used, it is often considered difficult and dangerous and many therapists are increasingly adopting the use of virtual driving simulators to assess the skills of the drivers as well ass the effects of driving styles on the gender of the drivers. Driving simulation is an innovative technique that is currently being used not only to analyze the behaviors of drivers on road but also to verify some of the countermeasures to road accidents that are currently being used in our roads. Langan (2000) argues that this is particularly because the use of driving simulators provides a number of positive attributes some of which include effective environmental control, low risk of accidents and accurate findings. This literature review critically some of the publications regarding the effects of driving skills and gender driving styles on the performance of drivers as well as how such skills and gender driving styles can be explored using virtual driving simulator. Gender differences in driving styles and driving skills Driving style and driving skills are the two main components of human factors associated with driving. Driving style is the way in which a particular driver usually drives and this may include the speed, observation of rules, traffic violations, general attentiveness as well as attitudes to the other road users. Driving styles are not only influenced by experience of the drivers but also by their own values and personality factors such ass hostility and aggression. On the gender differences in driving styles; men usually report violent and more risky driving style compared to women. Women are of a higher propensity for an anxious driving style than men. More surprisingly no man and woman have careful driving styles (Schultheis, 2009). It is assumed that the more exposure a driver gets as a result of being used to driving automobiles the better the performance expected of them. In other critical terms means that the more exposed are likely less to be involved in or cause an accident. However, this is not usually the case as results portrayed by this study are of the contrary. The other fundamental research question is if gender undoubtedly affects the driving styles and patterns of drivers. There is a general perception that male drivers are better that their female counterparts as far as road usage and accidents are concerned (Landy et al, 2010). This paper is, therefore, going to look into detail the above research questions in regards to a study aided by a virtual reality driving simulator. According to Krahe (2005), there are a number of gender based differences in the driving styles and this is particularly attributed to a mix of psychological, biological and social factors. For example, it is widely believed that male drivers usually drive more aggressively, speed more and take more risks compared to their female counterparts. On the other hand, women drivers have been reported to be generally less aggressive during driving and have less driving stress compared to men. Gender based personality and behavior has always been well cited as one of the major causes of the differences in the performance and driving styles between women drivers and their male counterparts (Bartley, 2008). This is particularly attributed to the fact that the higher levels of testosterone found in men enhances their sensation seeking, risk taking and aggressive behaviors compared to female drivers. Additionally Tornos (1998) also concur that there is a variation in the number of accidents between women and men drivers and females have comparatively lower number of accident. It is however worth noting that driving skills and differences in driving styles may also be affected by a number of other factors such as the age of the drivers, driving experience and their individual personalities. Although other authors have suggested that the increased risky driving commonly associated with male drivers may be correlated to the fact that they tend to drive more, recent researches suggest there is little correlation between risky driving and greater driving experiences. The driving styles which involve aspects such as over speeding, overtaking and propensity to commit traffic violations have been found to be gender related as more men that women are involved in these reckless driving styles (Wong, 2007). Skills associated to driving that revolve around practice; learning and optimal performance of the same have been found to be easily integrated by men than women. With these factors at play statistics show that male drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents and violation of road rules as opposed to their women counterparts. Similarly, Kenrick (2004) reiterates that the nature of men being aggressive as opposed to their women counterpart is one of the factors that have contributed to the driving styles seen among men and not present in women. Most women are polite and take up the task of driving in a safer and organized manner unlike their male counterparts who appear to always in a hurry. Researchers such as Elander (2003) suggested that these different driving styles are expected for younger participants than for older ones. Young men normally tend to have poorer careful driving styles than women. Unlike disposition dormant and potential for engaging in certain actions and behaviors entail of precise actions both abstractly and operationally. In this regard, it can be argued that women have got own-related features and reported styles and they don’t violate traffic rules as more often as compared to men. In this regard, the more women drive, the lower their reported recklessness while the more men drive the more the increased tendency for careful style but increased violations. Psychology behind gender differences in driving styles or skills The psychology behind gender based differences in driving styles and skills as well as the correlation of driving behaviors with accident rates has been studied by a number of psychologists and experts. Dobson (1999) conducted a study which demonstrated that men have significantly higher rates of road accidents and car crashes as compared to their female counterparts. Generally, the scale of the gender differences with regard to accident involvement is very substantial. For example, in some cases, statistics have shown that men are twice more likely to be involved in crashes than women. On the other hand, according to Parker (1995), women have more perceptual judgment errors and are more likely to be involved in accidents related to unintended mistakes than accidents involving high speeding. Psychologists have established that men tend to be more aggressive and as such pick up quarrels on the road very fast. In addition the psychologists also agree that depending with socialization which aims at showing men as fighter’s protectors and competitors explains the disparity in the driving styles of men as compared to those of women As such more men are likely to commit offences while driving as opposed to their female counterparts (Barkow, 1992). When driving opinions, decisions and reactions to activities around g get into the mind. These aspects in addition to attitudes of the person determine the kind of reaction to be taken and as such explaining behavior on the road. In addition societal stereotype associated with driving also plays a major role in the kind of driving seen between genders. These aspects are internalized by the concerned gender and act to determine the styles of driving seen among women and men. In order to survive in the competitive environment, drivers have to be taken through intensive training drills that ensure they master the different types of scenarios that may arise as a result of road usage at any particular time (Krahe, 2005). Another group of psychologists argues that women and men have significantly different road rage triggers and this is often manifested in their different driving styles and driving performance. According to recent studies, aggressive driving in males as well as their tendency to be involved in accidents is attributed to their desire to control and risk. For example, men usually perceive their vehicles as safe zones offering them a metallic shield from the outside world (Parasuraman and Rizzo, 2007). Consequently, men tend to be protective of their territory and this may be a likely explanation to their aggressive driving. On the other hand, it women are usually not very aggressive when it come to driving and their behavioral tendencies enable them to maintain control even after dangerous encounters. Other psychologists have also sought to conduct empirical studies to determine whether men or women have better driving styles and driving skills. Generally it has been noted by many experts that women tend to drive slowly and sometimes have problems parking and this has some times been wrongly interpreted to mean men are better drivers. Recent accident statistics have however shown that male drivers are generally more likely to be involved in care accidents and nearly 70% of the fatalities related to car crashed are usually males (Elander, 2003). Analysis of these statistics reveals that women may actually be safer or better drivers compared to their male counterparts and this is attributed to their sex difference in driving behaviors. Most of the previous researches in gender styles and skills have focuses on the sex differences and its potential impacts on the driving behaviors of women and men drivers. For example, most of the researches revealed that men are generally more likely to violate driving rules while women are more likely to commit errors and unplanned mistakes while driving. With regard to the driving skills of women and men drivers, it has been noted that there is a clear gender based difference in most individuals. For example, according to Arnett (1992), male drivers tend to overrate their perceptual motor driving skills while they female counterparts have higher scores for safe driving skills. Another possible explanation of the sex and gender based differences in the driving skills of men and women are the fact that women and men brains tend to develop in slightly different ways. For instance, men have a larger inferior parietal lobule, an area responsible foe the manipulation and understanding of spatial information and this makes them less likely to make errors and unintended mistakes while driving. Bjorkqvist(1994), suggests that the marked difference in the brains of men and women can also be used to explain why men tend to be more technically skilled drivers compared to their female counterparts. For example, larger inferior parietal lobule enables men to have significantly better spatial processing abilities compared to women. It is however worth noting that this does not necessarily make them safer drivers. It is worth noting that increased risk among men is not limited to driving but men are also more likely to be involved in a wide range of other accidents and risks such as drowning among others. To some extent however, the gender differences with regard to the involvement can be explained by the fact that most of the licensed and tend to have greater mileage than their female counterparts. It is however evident that the risk-proneness of men is directly evident in a number of other areas. According to Crick (1995), some of the factors that are more likely to contribute to marked gender difference in driving styles and driving skills include greater risk taking associated with masculinity, high alcohol use among the male drivers as well as the disregard of injury and pain as well as other hazardous behaviors commonly associated with the male drivers. With regard to the perspective of evolutionary psychology, gender based differences in driving styles and driving skills can be best explained in the context of sensation seeking, aggression as well as tendencies of risk taking and violation of rules. Generally these factors often only manifest themselves in the driving behavior but also in other aspects of life. Many psychologists have sought to investigate the origin and cause of some of these clear gender differences. According to evolutionary psychologists like Blum (1997), these differences are explained by the marked differences in the brain development of men and women. For example, through the evolutionary processes, men’s brains have been designed to deal with particular social and environmental conditions different from those of their female counterparts. Generally some of the behaviors associated with masculinity such as aggressiveness and risk taking tendencies exist because such qualities have been used in the past to solve adaptive problems in the previous ancestral environments. During the early hunting and gathering periods, risk taking and aggression were some of the most important for survival because such qualities ensured adequate food supply as well as physical protection. It is argued that individuals who had some of these qualities were more likely to reproduce at a faster rate than those who did not have and where therefore in a position to pass such qualities to the future generations (Dobson, 1999). On the other hand, women have always been associated with child bearing and nurturing of infants and as a result, a separation of the roles between the males and the females in the society gradually emerged. For example, men soon acquired a number of appropriate skills for hunting such as aggression, spatial abilities, speed and ability to navigate hunting grounds while women develop skills appropriate for child rearing such as good communication abilities. According to this theoretical perspective, some of the basic human differences such as those seen in their driving styles and skills have their origins from the different evolutionary roles of men and women and this can particularly be used to explain why male drivers are more likely to engage in risky driving than female drivers. Evolutionary psychologists however concur that evolution is a continuous process and the behavioral tendencies of both men and women will eventually catch up with the prevailing conditions. With regard to the effects of the levels of driving exposure on an individual’s driving skills, Many researchers concur that gender differences in driving skills can be explained by the fact that most of the licensed and tend to have greater mileage than their female counterparts. The male gender is more likely to use automobiles in running different errands as opposed to the female and this may be a likely explanation of why men have better driving skills that women drivers (Kenrick, 2004). Driver motivation and satisfaction was essential in creating an impact, negative or positive, to performance. Positive leadership styles motivated the road users and authoritative style of leadership was pointed out to be in use in the major highways. The use of virtual simulators to test driving performance Virtual technology is as a cutting-edge technology way of offering driving lessons where a driving student is provided near-practical experience of taking on the road. There are many ways of virtual reality including Avatar image-based VR, projector-based VR, desktop based VR, simulation and True-immerse VR. After studies on persons with cognitive impairments and how they can be encountered with difficulties that may hinder their ability to drive automobiles. Rehabilitation experts are frequently assumed the task of determining capacity to drive with traditional assessment methods fraught with various limitations which a Virtual-Reality based assessment system overrides. A simulation based VR allows the development of pertinent driving scenarios that can issue objective and quantifiable measures of behaviors in driving. Simulation based VR allows for the creation of realistic and interactive driving at different levels of driving within different levels of challenge and complexity. It does allow drivers to experience the sense of real life driving resulting in behavior and responsiveness that maybe more predictive of real driving capability. The simulator normally consists of several systems including real-time simulation of vehicle dynamics, motion, visual and audio systems reproducing vehicle motion. It can as well be used to check on driving performance of adults with brain injury (Bartley, 2008). As the number of automobiles keeps on increasing, it has become a necessity as a mode of transportation in the modern day world. As a result, being equipped with proper automobile driving skills is necessary and a normal aspect of modern way of life. Nevertheless, road accidents do occur from time to time despite the rigorous training undertaken during the driving proficiency test. This is attributable to many different factors such as illness, weather conditions and poor road status. Other would be drivers are normally not in good condition to do an a practical road test, and; therefore, scientists have come up with a simulated driving environment which is used by the handicapped so as to do an assessment of their driving abilities and try to enhance them in a virtual environment (Westwood, 2003). There are a few factors that are put forth as those that affect the performance of automobile drivers such as age, gender, marital status and involvement in accidents. Various research studies have been conducted on this topic, and this will look into more insights driving skills and performance. Therefore, the principal purpose of this paper is to use the virtual reality driving simulator in exploring the driving skills and style effect on gender and driving performance. This field of study has been researched by various scholars with a diverse array of research objectives on the topic. The learning simulator has the objective of designing and providing methods for driving behavior so as to enable the driver to improve on performance in relation to environmental and safety rules (Bartley, 2008). The traffic rules and regulations employed to govern road usage help in avoiding accidents, causing collisions and injuries among casualties (Landy et al, 2010). In most cases, these experienced drivers end up causing accidents because of elementary mistakes such as driving while drunk, being ignorant of the traffic rules and highway codes. Most people obtain exposure through factors such as population changes, which show that, the major increase in population is a demographic change that influences the purpose and characteristics of transportation, demand and all the safety requirements. The more the population increase the more it results into more distance traveled and results into a larger level of exposure to accidents (Maki et al, 2012). This is evident in the increased number of vulnerability of road users to accidents. Even the older drivers with lots of experience have distinct safety risks associated with them. Schultheis (2009) argues that the age factor is also a pivotal factor since the number of young drivers is more than the older drivers, and they exhibit a significant high risk behavior because most of them are reckless and end up causing accidents. An increase in the concentration, in the urban areas, encourages people to move from away from the main cities so as to find affordable housing. The corporations are also moving away from urban cities or rather main cities and causes a shift in population that automatically increase distance coverage, which automatically increases the exposure to the roads. The fact that travelers are exposed makes them vulnerable to road accidents of which there is a higher possibility of crashing. Krahe (2005) carried out an empirical research to study of the perceptions of a driver by use of driver simulator, which is carried out on the efficiency of markings that vary in strip patterns and color mixture used at the rear of the vehicle mounted attenuators in work regions during day time, dusk and dawn. The study focused on determining the driver’s reaction depending on lane change distance, and the drivers are examined through a detailed survey of the subject. The analysis of variance was conducted to come up with findings as to whether there are significant variables affecting lane change distance that is for each time of the day, and a pair wise least-square means test is conducted to get the difference in lane change distance between markings (ICEC, 2007). A Kolmogorov Smirnov test is carried out to evaluate the significance of comparison between lane change distance frequency of the markings and the way they are distributed. In subject evaluation, the markings on the virtual road are ranked by participants showing their preferences using four different criteria for each time of day. The parties are also surveyed on features of individual markings and for most preferred markings. The vehicle mounted attenuators are crashed cushions mounted at the rear of vehicles and can decrease the severity of rear-end collisions with vehicles in work regions. The reviewed literature does not offer guidelines for choosing a vehicle mounted attenuator color mixture or the stripping patterns. The vehicle mounted attenuators are responsible for reducing the number of severity of crashes in work regions. The driving simulator was carried out to evaluate vehicle mounted attenuator for day time dusk and dawn. The driver’s awareness and behavior can be assessed by traffic modeling and simulation and field studies using a driving simulator. The popular microscope traffic simulator models do not incorporate driver perception such as vision, hearing, driver sight distance identification and it cannot be used to evaluate the colors and the blueprint. The field data collection can test a number of limited numbers of traffic control devices. The driving simulator studies allow the study hazardous driving circumstances which can’t be safely duplicated during the field test. it is prudent for drivers to acquire proper training on the driving skills that are appropriate for use in the highways. It is of importance that road users take the initiative to be protectors of other road users by observing strictly the highway code of conduct. This entails being conversant with the many road sign communications to road users, giving the right of way to traffic, being courteous to human traffic as they are a part of road users and above all observing the speed limits. It is evident from a study conducted by Bartley(2008) that performance can be enhanced for both genders by use of the virtual reality driving simulator. This module comes in handy as it reduces waste in the long run. It also comes in handy as a tool that greatly limits the number of times new trainees are exposed to the real highway when practicing their driving skills which reduces the chances of accidents occurring. It is also evident from the research carried out that the difference in gender also has some effect on the performance of a road user. The different genders are affected by different circumstances which prompt different reactions from each quota. The male tend to react bravely and steadiness in accident circumstances or near disaster scenes. The feminine counterparts on the other hand seem to be rather slower in coming to conclusions. As a result of this, the former gender has an improved likelihood of better performance as opposed to the latter under similar controlled circumstances. Various studies have also been carried out to determine whether drivers who are married have a higher likelihood of having better performance as opposed to those who are yet to be married. Broadly this is attributable to the fact that married drivers have a more sense of responsibility and other likely factors to make them be more careful, in their driving as opposed to the single that might be indulge in acts that may affect their driving skills such as drugs. Having a good infrastructure in terms of highways and more simulators can effectively improve the performance of road users. This facilities aid in having a smooth learning curve for the end users as all factors are held constant and factors such as poor roads, poor visibility and un roadworthy automobiles do not hinder the outcomes. It is clear that with proper infrastructure; training can be executed properly which improves the morale of the respondents used in this study (Langan, 2000). In summary, although most researches and literature reviewed have acknowledged the influence of psychological sex differences in the driving styles and skills, it is difficult to conclude that any particular sex has better driving skills or styles that the other. Instead, it can safely be argued that the sex differences enable men and women drivers to have different talents and be better than the other when it come to different driving situations. References Arnett, J. (1992). Reckless behavior in Male drivers: A developmental perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 339-373. Barkow, J. (1992). The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. NY: Oxford University Press. Bartley, G. (2008). Traffic accidents: Causes and outcomes. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Bjorkqvist, K. (1994). 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