Approximately 270 articles on driving have been published in Human Factors over the past 50 years. This paper reviews this research, its contribution to driving safety, and emerging challenges. The review reveals that, to a large extent, current and past research has explored similar themes and concepts. Many papers published in the first 25 years focused on issues such as driver impairment, individual differences, and perceptual limits. Studies published in the past 25 years address similar issues but also point toward vehicle technology that can exacerbate or mitigate the negative effect of these issues. Conceptual and computational models have played an important role in this research. The findings indicate that although improved crashworthiness has contributed to substantial improvements in driving safety over the past 50 years, future improvements will depend on enhancing driver performance and improving driver behavior. The challenge will be to develop models, especially those that incorporate technology, to guide future research.
Abstract