The PROLOGUE project sought to assess Naturalistic Driving observations by means of five independent field trials in order to show the current technical, methodological and organisational potential of this method. The Austrian field trial tried to assess the impact of a video-based feedback system on learner and novice drivers by analysing safety relevant behaviour from data collected in naturalistic circumstances. Relevant driving parameters of 12 novice drivers were collected up to two months after receiving their driving licence. A data acquisition system was used as in-vehicle data recorder, which captured video signals, GPS position as well as acceleration forces. The novice drivers were divided into an intervention group, which received video-based feedback additional to the standard driving education and a control group, which got no such additional video-based feedback. Three types of driving events categorised in severity levels have been classified, based on thresholds of either longitudinal or lateral acceleration values and a combination of both. Based on such events, risk scales were developed which are a measure of safety relevant events per hour driven. Some significant differences on the risk scales occurred between the intervention and control group showing more risk events for the control group after receiving their drivers licence compared to the intervention group. However, improvements concerning data reliability and automatic analyses procedures are necessary and the sample size of a large scale study would be needed for reliable statistical results. (Author/publisher) See http://www.prologue-eu.eu/ for more information and other reports about this programme.
Abstract