Abstract
Background: Although various technologies are used to evaluate driving skill, there are some limitations such as the limited range of the monitor and the possible risk of causing cybersickness. The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in the hazard perception and cybersickness experienced between novice and experienced drivers measured in a VR hazard perception test with a head-mounted display (HMD). Methods: The novice (n = 32) and the experienced drivers (n = 36) participated in the hazard perception test through the VR of an HMD. Results: The total number of identified hazards was 1071 in the novice drivers and 1376 in the experienced drivers. Two of the hazards appeared to be only identifiable through the HMD. A chi-square test revealed that experienced drivers were more likely to identify the hazards than the novice drivers (p < 0.05). The novice drivers appeared to identify “hazard prediction of the current behavior of other road users” more than other hazard types, unlike the experienced group. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire scores indicated no significant difference in the different age or gender groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the VR hazard perception test may be useful for evaluating patients’ driving skills.
Highlights
Driver evaluation is an important area in occupational therapy, and this has been used to evaluate the driving skill of various subjects such as those who have had a stroke and aged people
The subjects’ response about Potential hazard (PH) and Hazard prediction (HP) types indicates that the method, which was developed based on situation awareness theory, is appropriate for this developmental study
As the experienced drivers appeared to pay more attention to predictable hazards such as Level 3 of situation awareness theory, our results appear to follow situation awareness theory. These results suggest that the hazard perception test using VR is reasonably useful for gathering the characteristics of novice and experienced drivers
Summary
Driver evaluation is an important area in occupational therapy, and this has been used to evaluate the driving skill of various subjects such as those who have had a stroke and aged people. The hazard type identified by novice drivers appeared to be different from the experienced. The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in the hazard perception and cybersickness experienced between novice and experienced drivers measured in a VR hazard perception test with a head-mounted display (HMD). Methods: The novice (n = 32) and the experienced drivers (n = 36) participated in the hazard perception test through the VR of an HMD. A chi-square test revealed that experienced drivers were more likely to identify the hazards than the novice drivers (p < 0.05). The novice drivers appeared to identify “hazard prediction of the current behavior of other road users” more than other hazard types, unlike the experienced group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the VR hazard perception test may be useful for evaluating patients’ driving skills
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