Analysis of Driving Behavior and Workload of Elderly Drivers on Freeways

The aging problem is a significant issue in terms of overall aspects of society, and the need for making traffic safety policies is of keen interest because the increase in elderly drivers may have an impact on traffic safety. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of elderly drivers’ driving behaviors on freeways and to evaluate the workload of elderly drivers. The driving behavior of subjects was evaluated by utilizing the trajectory data optained from driving simulation experiments. In addition, the workload of subjects was estimated based on the ratio of beta waves to entire brain waves, which were collected while the participants were conducting the driving experiment. As a result, the average of elderly drivers’ speed was lower by 6% than non-elderly drivers. However, the average of the standard deviation of elderly drivers’ speed, which is a measure of effectiveness to represent the longitudinal driving stability, was higher about 25% than non-elderly drivers. Moreover, the average of the standard deviation of the lane position of elderly drivers on freeways, which indicates how they are stable on lateral driving, was higher about 31% compared to non-elderly drivers. Besides, the amount of beta wave of elderly drivers, which shows a driver’s psychological workload, was higher about 11% than non-elderly drivers. This study is expected to be utilized as a fundamental data when policies for elderly drivers are established in order to improve traffic safety in the aging society.