COMPARISON IN SENSIBILITY AND BEHAVIOR BETWEEN TWO TYPES OF DRIVERS BY ROAD CONVENTION

Abstract

This paper deals with the sensibility difference, the characteristics and behavior of drivers who are accustomed to drive on the right-hand side of the road, drive on the left-hand side, and comparison with left-lane drivers. A left-lane driver is defined as a person who is accustomed to drive on the left-hand side of the road. A right-lane driver is defined as a person who is accustomed to drive on the right-hand side of the road. SD (Semantic Differential) method was used for comparing the driving sensibilities of the two types of drivers. GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) was measured to obtain changes in the physiological signal in terms of objective evaluation while driving on simulated driving. Driving mental workload was also evaluated based on MNASA-TLX (Modified NASA-TLX) as a subjective evaluation. Results indicate that the sensibility and characteristics of the right-lane drivers were shown different in comparison with those of the left-lane drivers when driving on the opposite lane due to their habit and traits. The result of SD method is that right-lane drivers presented a feeling of incompatibility by the road convention, left-lane drivers, however, presented a feeling from driving simulator as the first factor. In the result of mental workload, the right-lane drivers were in higher stress condition than left-lane driver due to driving on opposite lane that they were not used to. Consequently, driving habit has influence on driver's sensibility and mental workload.