Young males are over-represented in road crashes. Part of the problem is their proneness to boredom, a hardwired personality factor that leads to risky driving. This research aims to design innovative technologies to make safe driving more pleasurable and stimulating for young males than risky driving.
Two ubicomp design concepts will be evaluated in an Advanced Driving Simulator:
- Can the replacement of risky driving stimuli with alternative stimuli reduce risky driving?
- Can the simulation of risky driving reduce actual risky driving?
This research furthers our understanding of driver boredom in general and informs the future design of personal ubicomp devices that reduce risky driving behaviours.
This study will pioneer research to explore the following hypothesis, which has not been explored to date: Providing safe, driving-related and pleasurable stimuli through digital technologies in the car can replace the urge for risky driving behaviours in young male drivers.
Fabius Steinberger shows how video games have inspired research to improve driver focus and safety on Scope TV.